Working Life: I found my corner in sexual health because it’s hopeful, pragmatic, and real

David Field, clinical nurse specialist — sexual health advisor, HSE

David Field, clinical nurse specialist, sexual health advisor with the HSE. Photograph Moya Nolan

“My route into nursing began at home. My grandad lived with us and had dementia. Caring for him taught me patience, listening, and the power of simply showing up, long before I ever stepped into a ward or clinic. Nursing felt like a natural extension of that early caregiving.

“I found my corner in sexual health because it’s fast-moving, hopeful, pragmatic, and real. The last decade has seen real transformation, especially the knowledge that people living with HIV on effective treatment cannot pass the virus on to partners.

“I was always drawn to the social inclusion side of this work: The belief that services should feel like they genuinely belong to the people who need them most, especially those who may have felt like they don’t belong where they are.

“As a clinical nurse specialist who works as a sexual health advisor, there is no such thing as a predictable day. One moment I can be sitting with someone who is anxious about something that happened a few hours earlier and needs reassurance, grounded information, and a plan. The next, I’m working with the team to tweak workflow and identify where people get stuck in the system.

David Field, clinical nurse specialist, sexual health advisor with the HSE. Photograph Moya Nolan

“The best part is when someone leaves lighter than they arrived, not because everything is magically resolved, but because they have knowledge that reduces fear and a path they can act on. That shift matters.

“Alongside clinical practice, I am completing a PhD, exploring how gay men conceptualise and make meaning of sexual health risk. I wanted to better understand how risk is lived, interpreted, embodied, and negotiated, not only how it is statistically defined or clinically managed.

“That research helps make me more comfortable with nuance. It also gives me a greater appreciation of how health psychology can directly change everyday clinical communication, especially in sensitive, shame-prone, and intimate contexts.

“If there’s one thing I’d like people to know, it’s this: Sexual health is just health. If you’ve never tested, that’s OK, start now. If you’ve questions, ask. We’re here to help, not judge. And if you’re nervous, bring a friend, write your questions down, or tell us straight out you’re bricking it, we’ll meet you where you are.”

• This week, the HSE launched a report on young people and STIs. 
• Visit sexualwellbeing.ie to find the report, as well as more information about STI prevention and testing