Ela Hamer

Ela's Story

After spending years working in administration, Ela Hamer decided to embark upon a different career path – one that would allow her to help others. She graduated in Psychology from the University of Stirling in 2014 – and then decided to stay on for a further three years to study a BSc Nursing.

“I didn’t even apply to any other universities because I know that Stirling is, not only absolutely beautiful, but has a great reputation. It has become a second home for me,” said Ela, who grew up in Ross-shire. “My undergraduate degree, combined with a personal interest and passion in helping others at their most vulnerable, led me to choose mental health nursing as a career.”

Ela, 29, is complimentary about the teaching at Stirling and attributes her development to the extracurricular activities she participated in too, including more than 2,400 hours of clinical placement.

“The teaching in the nursing degree is led by staff who have backgrounds in nursing, or who are still working with the NHS. This allows teaching staff to impart interesting, valuable and current knowledge to students.

“I was a class representative in my second year, and Faculty Officer for Health Sciences in my third. Although challenging, these roles provided me with a platform to develop my leadership, problem solving, and communications skills. But most importantly, the roles allowed me to make positive differences to the student experiences of my peers.”

Ela describes her time at Stirling as “inspiring, picturesque and thought provoking” and is now working as a mental health nurse with NHS Forth Valley. She added: “I very much look forward to helping others and contributing to the training of future nursing students.”