About Olivia Turner
Olivia Turner
Learning & Development Consultant/Director
Olivia Turner, our Learning & Development Consultant and Director, is the heart of our operations. With over two decades of experience as a registered nurse, healthcare assistant and clinical instructor, Olivia brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her role. Her journey has seen her working with internationally educated nurses, providing valuable OSCE preparation and support, and designing successful training programs tailored to the nuances of care home settings. Olivia’s dedication to meaningful, practical learning experiences is the cornerstone of our philosophy.
Olivia is a registered nurse (RN), former health care assistant (HCA) and experienced clinical instructor, having worked for over 24 years in various roles within health & social care, including trust, independent & corporate care home settings. Alongside BSc (Hons) in Adult Nursing, she holds a wide variety of instructor qualifications, with further study on the horizon.
Olivia began working with Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN’s) in 2019, quickly discovering a passion and drive for excellence, observing a wide range of organisational approaches and a requirement for additional support and individualised approach in this area, particularly care homes. During this time, she was extremely fortunate to learn from and work alongside a team of experienced and dedicated OSCE/Nurse Development Facilitators from a leading UK-wide care provider corporation. This team taught her the importance of transparency, constructive feedback, and individualised, inclusive pastoral support in successfully progressing IEN’s through their OSCE journey and post NMC registration career development.
This experience was followed by a period working as part of a regional care home support team during the first 18 months of the pandemic. This time included a wide variety of short- and longer-term secondments across approximately 25 + homes and was an excellent opportunity to collaborate with and learn from numerous talented colleagues.
Following transfer to a leading Northern Ireland care home group in July 2021, Olivia was presented with the opportunity to gain further, varied experience with Internationally Educated colleagues at stages of their journey, from recruitment, onboarding, OSCE preparation and in the period following NMC registration. During this time, she worked in collaboration with various care home teams and was responsible for the design, development, and delivery of a successful OSCE preparation and support programme, as well as a variety of other mandatory and clinical training programmes.
Over the years, Olivia has provided learning & development, pastoral support, and mentorship to an extensive variety and number of care home staff and nurses (international/return to practice/newly qualified/experienced), with consistently positive results and feedback. Olivia’s ethos for learning & development is that it should not be a “tick box” exercise, but an opportunity for meaningful development with reflection, discussion, and learner involvement throughout.
Olivia’s unique perspective working in collaboration with a variety of providers, management, care home teams and internationally and locally educated colleagues allowed an in-depth awareness and understanding of the complexities and advantages of the induction and ongoing learning & development process within care home settings. These observations and the feedback gained, demonstrated that high quality care delivery, team satisfaction and long-term retention is achieved only with a “whole team” approach, quality induction, staff development and ongoing consistent, individualised support.
Olivia’s mission is to share her experiences and observations to empower organisations to continue providing a nurturing and inclusive environment for internationally educated staff and wider team learning & development, maximising the opportunity for successful integration and long-term retention of team members into the care home workforce. Outside of learning & development, Olivia loves all kinds of music, all things vintage and most importantly, time with her family and multiple pets at home.
Olivia began working with Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN’s) in 2019, quickly discovering a passion and drive for excellence, observing a wide range of organisational approaches and a requirement for additional support and individualised approach in this area, particularly care homes. During this time, she was extremely fortunate to learn from and work alongside a team of experienced and dedicated OSCE/Nurse Development Facilitators from a leading UK-wide care provider corporation. This team taught her the importance of transparency, constructive feedback, and individualised, inclusive pastoral support in successfully progressing IEN’s through their OSCE journey and post NMC registration career development.
This experience was followed by a period working as part of a regional care home support team during the first 18 months of the pandemic. This time included a wide variety of short- and longer-term secondments across approximately 25 + homes and was an excellent opportunity to collaborate with and learn from numerous talented colleagues.
Following transfer to a leading Northern Ireland care home group in July 2021, Olivia was presented with the opportunity to gain further, varied experience with Internationally Educated colleagues at stages of their journey, from recruitment, onboarding, OSCE preparation and in the period following NMC registration. During this time, she worked in collaboration with various care home teams and was responsible for the design, development, and delivery of a successful OSCE preparation and support programme, as well as a variety of other mandatory and clinical training programmes.
Over the years, Olivia has provided learning & development, pastoral support, and mentorship to an extensive variety and number of care home staff and nurses (international/return to practice/newly qualified/experienced), with consistently positive results and feedback. Olivia’s ethos for learning & development is that it should not be a “tick box” exercise, but an opportunity for meaningful development with reflection, discussion, and learner involvement throughout.
Olivia’s unique perspective working in collaboration with a variety of providers, management, care home teams and internationally and locally educated colleagues allowed an in-depth awareness and understanding of the complexities and advantages of the induction and ongoing learning & development process within care home settings. These observations and the feedback gained, demonstrated that high quality care delivery, team satisfaction and long-term retention is achieved only with a “whole team” approach, quality induction, staff development and ongoing consistent, individualised support.
Olivia’s mission is to share her experiences and observations to empower organisations to continue providing a nurturing and inclusive environment for internationally educated staff and wider team learning & development, maximising the opportunity for successful integration and long-term retention of team members into the care home workforce. Outside of learning & development, Olivia loves all kinds of music, all things vintage and most importantly, time with her family and multiple pets at home.
Professional Affiliations and Credentials
As a testament to our commitment to quality and professional excellence, Avant-Garde is associated with respected organizations and adheres to the highest standards set by regulatory bodies like the NMC. We are continuously enhancing our programs in line with the latest guidelines and feedback from our community.
