Transition to Practice
Christine Pope
This year ATMS is running Transition to Practice in Sydney and Adelaide to support students to set up and run successful practices. The first event was held in Sydney on the 8 February 2025 at UTS, and the second is being planned for Adelaide in June.
Cheryl Alderman and Christine Pope
The Sydney event was facilitated by two experienced presenters, Naturopath and previous ATMS Director, Christine Pope, and Executive Coach, Cheryl Alderman. Christine developed Transition to Practice in 2016 with Robert Medhurst. Cheryl Alderman is the owner of Social4U, a social media marketing business which provides Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin marketing services for small businesses.
At the Sydney event this year we also had support from ten ATMS sponsors. This was an ideal way for students to see various product ranges, meet their suppliers, and set up accounts. This year’ s sponsors were Bioglan / Medlab, Eagle Clinical, Oborne, Bio Practica, Vital. ly, natural script, Activated Probiotics, Herbal Extract, Interclinical and ATMS Biz Club. It presented a great mix of products, testing, dispensary and business coaching services.
It was good to see 100 students and recent graduates in the room getting ready to set up their practices. There were also a few members who were already in practice and looking to expand their skills in marketing and social media. They contributed so much to the day with the wisdom of their years in clinical practice and a desire to start using social media to promote their business.
The topics covered over the course of the day included setting up your clinic, key legal requirements( depending on your type of practice), building a website and promoting your clinic. The expectation from most attendees was that social media will be an important part of the mix for marketing, as well as a website. Many were surprised to see that another important skill developed at Transition to Practice was networking, and the group enjoyed the interactive session demonstrating the key networking techniques.
Feedback from the event was very positive and included these testimonials:
“ I ' m a teacher and I ' ve been in practice a long time. So I ' m very glad to go and I ' d go again in a few years to update my resources for students. I will advise all my students to attend this day. It ' s terrific.”
“ Noteworthy information not taught in my tertiary studies.”
“ I felt the day was packed with insightful and imaginative presentations!!”
Of course, no feedback is complete without input on the food and the breaks.
“ The whole day was perfect and well-paced. The information and interactive parts were good. Very professional presentation. I loved the food choices at morning and afternoon tea and lunch. Please keep the afternoon tea break. ❤️ Most of us start to flag a bit after lunch!”
For those members who have been inspired by Transition to Practice the next step is to join the next quarterly intake of ATMS Biz Club. It’ s an affordable business coaching program for ATMS members, designed to take your practice to the next level. The four quarters cover Practice Building, Marketing Success, Client Growth and Operational Excellence, and you can join it at the start of each quarter.
Annie Gibbins, CEO ATMS
JATMS | Winter 2025 | 101