One of my best mates became interested in it which got me thinking, and so, with a bit of research, this is where I set my aim.  After graduating high school, both myself and my friend were accepted into University and so we started our journey to becoming Optometrists.

My first exposure to Optometry was when I was in primary school. We took the big trip into Brisbane city centre to see our family Optometrist and they found I had significant eye issues. One of my eye examinations I can remember clearly because the Optometrist put this weird looking trial frames and lenses on me and made me sit out in the waiting room for a while - as a 9 year old, this was not good! Even worse, I needed to get spectacles which were not very cool.  Needless to say, I did not wear them much until later into high school.  When I became an Optometrist, I promised myself I would not recreate my childhood experience for any kids that came through my door. 

Somewhere in the early 1990’s, I enrolled in a Masters in Optometry with Behavioural Optometry as my main interest, however, at the time I was working for another company in Toowoomba which made practicing Behavioural Optometry very limiting.  Many courses and conferences later it became clear that this was my passion and I needed to be able to use the new knowledge I had, and so in 1999 Geoff Somerville and I took the plunge and started our own practice.  From this time I have been able to expand the practice of Behavioural Optometry with the time and space to do it.  We now also have a Vision Therapist, Johanna Baker, who takes children through vision therapy programs that assist in developing the child’s visual awareness and visual skills that are lacking.  

Now, I see children from all round the Downs and beyond - helping children to improve in their development and progress at school is very rewarding. I thank my friend who introduced me to the idea of becoming an Optometrist, all of a sudden 38 years have gone by and I have enjoyed my chosen profession very much. 

Geoff and I have a fantastic team around us now; we thank them for their hard work and dedication, plus they make work a fun place to be!

John Merrin

Optometrist