A little bit about me
Like many holistic health practitioners, I came into this field because of personal experience of the benefits that these natural treatments provide. I first had acupuncture aged 13 – I had been unwell for a couple of years and nothing was helping. My mum, fed up with getting nowhere with conventional medicine, decided to take me to see a leading Acupuncturist. I was a functioning, healthy teenager again in no time. It was this practitioner, who really listened to me, empathised and, most importantly, believed me who inspired me to train in Traditional Chinese Medicine myself. I met him again at the BAcC Annual Conference a couple of years ago, where he was the keynote speaker and he was delighted to hear how I had followed in his footsteps. Amazingly, he also remembered me after all those years. That is the difference, I think, between Complementary Therapists and Medical Doctors – we have the luxury of time to devote to really getting to know our patients and their stories. We will remember you in 20 years’ time.
In the intervening years I had embarked on a teaching career. I got very stressed. I got ill again. This was when I remembered my teenage dream to make others feel better so I left my teaching job to go back to university and retrain as a clinical aromatherapist and acupuncturist, studying in London and York, qualifying in clinical aromatherapy in 2009 and acupuncture in 2012.
Now I run a successful practice and am very lucky to be able to combine my various skills and interests in my work. I teach on the Acupuncture Degree course and am a clinic supervisor at the NCA in York. In recent years I have become a student again, gaining a Diploma in 2021, and recently completing my MSc in Chinese Herbal Medicine.
In my practice it is important to me to build positive therapeutic relationships with my patients. I remember how much having someone listen to and validate me when I was at my most vulnerable made a difference in my life and I hope my patients feel that I do the same for them. I only see one patient at a time to ensure that the time being paid for by the patient is being entirely spent on that patient. If you want me to stay with you and have a chat that is what I will do. If you’d rather some peace and quiet I will leave you alone to relax. In practice I devote a lot of extra time too, outside of the appointment time, researching treatment approaches and taking CPD courses that I think will most benefit my patients. It is important to me that I offer the best possible treatment, one individually tailored for each patient which takes into consideration that person’s lifestyle and commitments.
