Suzie John has composed a new career for herself as a nurse

A graduate from Torphichen is celebrating after a major career change saw her swapping the stage for ward rounds.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Having spent the last two decades as a composer, Suzie John graduated as a nurse from the University of Stirling on Friday, November 24.

There to see her achievement were her husband Ewan and their children Verity (9) and Dylan (11).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It represents a major milestone for Suzie, who balanced the final year of her studies with writing, recording and touring a new album.

Suzie celebrated with her husband Ewan and their children Dylan and Verity.Suzie celebrated with her husband Ewan and their children Dylan and Verity.
Suzie celebrated with her husband Ewan and their children Dylan and Verity.

She said: “I’d never been anything else other than a musician before I applied to study nursing and there’s been a lot of hard work and sacrifices between that point and now.

“At 40-years-old I learned a new profession and have been on an incredible journey – I’m very proud of myself.”

As a celebrated composer, Suzie, who worked under the name Suzanne Parry, has produced music for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Borders Heritage Festival and former BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Hannah Rarity.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She recently released a new album funded by Creative Scotland and completed a three-date Scottish tour – likely to be her last as a professional musician, having now embarked on a new career as a mental health nurse.

Suzie said: “Covid was a particularly horrific time for the arts and on day one of the first lockdown, I saw every event, teaching project and workshop I had planned for the foreseeable future cancelled.

“My initial response was I needed to work – so I applied to work for the NHS during their Covid recruitment campaign and got a role as a porter in St John’s Hospital.

“I found a whole new side to myself. Not many people were running into an acute hospital at the height of Covid! I felt useful and people appreciated me. I felt like it was the start of a re-writing of my identity.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The experience spurred me on to apply to study mental health nursing. I didn’t know at the time whether I would see it through but I became a very strong student. I am appreciative to Stirling for taking a chance on me – an unusual applicant and they made a really confident nurse out of me!”

Now working in inpatient older adult mental health services in NHS Lothian, Suzie is enjoying her new role.

“Being a musician, especially a composer, is very introspective,” she said. “You’re thinking about yourself completely, you’re at the centre of your world. Being a nurse is the complete opposite; it’s about other people and using your strengths to help others.”

Although leaving her musical career behind for now, it’s something she is hopeful may come in useful in her new career.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Suzie added: “I think I have a unique skill set and would like to be involved in research to do with using music to improve the lives of those living with dementia.

“As a creative person, there’s something I find fascinating about memory and the fragments of who we are that get left behind and mixed up. I find that very poignant.

“In the future, I would love to write the first ever nursing home opera, it’s such an interesting area and older people just do not get stage time. It would be unique and groundbreaking!”

Related topics: