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Specsavers Newry has announced the appointment of Will Stevenson as an Ophthalmic Director, after four years as an Optometrist with Specsavers.
Mr Stevenson will join fellow Newry locals and store partners Alison Dunne, Sharon Fegan and Michelle Linden in his director role at the store, where he has been working since returning to Northern Ireland from Scotland in 2019.
After attending St. Colman’s College in Newry, Will gained his Optometrist qualifications in Coleraine before moving to Edinburgh and joining Specsavers in 2018. He moved home to Northern Ireland, settling in Newry with his family in 2019, and in 2021 completed Specsavers’ Pathway programme, which prepares optometrists, optical dispensers and retail managers for practice ownership.
Will explains: ‘Pathway equips you with all the skills and knowledge to become a partner within a regional Specsavers store, and throughout the course you take on a project to make an impact on your current store. My project was on improving mental health in the workplace, which I implemented by pulling together a mental health team in-store, who will be trained in Mental Health First Aid to help promote staff wellbeing and support our colleagues when required.’
Mr Stevenson will continue to work as an Optometrist at Specsavers Newry, meeting customers daily and undertaking routine eye tests and regular appointments.
He continued; “I’m really honoured to be joining Alison, Sharon and Michelle as a partner at Specsavers Newry. We are all local to the area and our entire team prides itself in being trusted faces, providing healthcare for our local community through our testing and clinic services, including our two hear care clinics per week.”
The appointment follows the recruitment of two local optometry students who will gain practical experience within the business, bringing the number employed at the store from the local area to more than 50, allowing even more services to be offered.
Such services include Specsavers Newry’s growing audiology business which provides a wide range of hear care for the local community, including wax removal clinics bi-weekly.
Alison Dunne, Partner at Specsavers Newry added: ‘Will joined the team with an ambition to expand his skills and expertise, as well as making our business an even better place to work.
‘We were thrilled to put him through the Pathway programme, which was created for this very reason to allow staff to move up the ranks and experience all areas of working with Specsavers. We’re passionate about bringing a wider range of accessible healthcare services to our local community, and we can only do that by providing training and employment opportunities locally. We’re very proud to have a great local team with faces our patients and customers can trust.’
To book an appointment and for more information on Specsavers Newry, visit www.specsavers.co.uk
