What happens in a consultation & treatment with me
Here’s a peek inside what it looks like to work with me.
There is a high degree of adaptability in my work, so not every appointment follows this exactly. But this is the basic framework.
Sometimes (especially our first appointment) more of the time will be invested in the consultation and discussion pieces. Other sessions will be less conversational and more focused on combining different treatment methods into one session.
Here’s an overview of a typical appointment with me.
You'll fill out a form to explain how I can best support you.
This will be a snapshot of your goals, as well as things like any terminology you want to use or avoid.
This allows you to provide me with clarity around your priorities in your own words. It also allows me to provide you with a greater sense of comfort.
I’ll refer back to these priorities and goals to check our progress over time.
I’ll welcome you into my space, and we’ll talk about why you are coming in in detail.
We’ll sit together and begin to unpack exactly what you’re feeling.
When it started. What kinds of things make it better, and worse. What any central symptoms feel like, and anything else that co-occurs.
This can sometimes involve putting pieces together through pattern recognition that you might not have been aware of before.
I understand that some of these topics (chronic gynae pain, infertility, mood changes, motherhood challenges… all of them really) can be delicate.
It’s always my intention to provide respectful, spacious and safe place for you to speak about your experiences.
We’ll fill in the whole picture around it.
We’ll explore all aspects of your health. Energy, appetite, digestion, bowel function, sleep, mood patterns, menstrual cycle (gosh do our cycles tell us a lot if we know what we’re looking for), any pain, body temperature changes etc.
We pull apart these things because what feels ‘normal’ for you can often be clinically relevant.
For example, you might come in for period pain, but also have very cold hands and feet. To you, the cold hands and feet is just your ‘normal’ but to me it’s part of a whole picture about circulation.
Having no appetite until lunchtime might feel ‘normal’ for you because it’s been that way for a long time. Having a slow bowel transit might feel ‘normal’ for you. But it’s all important.
That is to say: things that might not seem interesting to you, become relevant here.
I’ll feel your pulse at your wrist.
In Classical Chinese Medicine, when we feel the pulse we are feeling so much more than beats per minute.
This means I’ll feel your pulse for quite some time. There’s no need to be alarmed! I promise you’re fine!
There’s a lot of information available through pulse diagnosis. This is a major component of Classical Chinese Medicine diagnosis - we invest years into training our fingertips to interpret the pulse picture. So it’ll probably look like I’m concentrating. Very specific information is gained - certain pulses and combinations indicate particular treatment and herbal strategies.
We’ll open up a discussion.
I’ll pass on some education around why things may be happening, what things may be linked, how we can foster change.
I’ll build your awareness of influencing factors.
I’ll give you some useful frameworks to understand what’s happening. I love me something like a traffic jam / garden hose / cooking pot or similar analogy at this point to help you see things clearly.
We’ll discuss what would be interesting to keep an eye on between now and our next visit.
If you’re comfortable, we’ll shift to the treatment table for abdominal palpation.
There is information about our bodies in all sorts of places.
Abdominal palpation involves me putting my hands on your belly. I’ll do a series of palpation techniques and see how it feels and responds. I’m looking for things like temperature changes, pulsations, knots, discomfort.
Abdominal palpation is very gentle. Your comfort and sense of safety is always prioritised.
I like to think of pulse diagnosis and abdominal diagnosis as being similar to going to a GP and getting a blood test and an ultrasound. Two things that provide different pieces of information about the internal workings of the same body through different means.
We’ll talk about herbs.
If I think herbs would be advantageous, we’ll discuss what that means: what they taste like, how to take them, how often, the benefits and the focus of herbal treatment, the cost, the synergy of using herbs and pins together.
This is a two way conversation and your questions and curiosities are always welcome. We co-design this treatment plan together.
We’ll do some acupuncture.
It’s okay if you’ve never had acupuncture before, or you feel nervous. Always let me know how you’re feeling.
Acupuncture pins are the same thickness as a strand of hair. Because they’re so tiny the experience is very different from what you might be expecting!
If you’re hesitant, we take it at your comfort level. There’s no rush. This might mean two pins, and then after 10 mins, adding another two. It’s all completely guided by your sense of safety - your autonomy is the most important thing.
For acupuncture we’ll need shoes and socks off. If your pants wont comfortably fold up to the knee (without restriction) we might swap them for covering you with a towel.
On average I use 4-8 needles per treatment. This is a relatively small number. It’s important to me to focus on the most important and deepest changes we can create.
Most acupuncture treatments will be lying on your back / facing upwards. In late pregnancy it’s more side lying.
Most points I use are on the arms and legs. Some are on the belly and the face.
Acupuncture is interesting in that the best point for premenstrual migraines is on your feet. The best point for nausea is at your wrist. Lots of period pain points are on the inside of the lower leg. So coming for acupuncture for period pain or fertility support doesn’t mean a whole lower abdomen full of pins.
Any parts of the body can be avoided if for some reason it’s not right for you.
Lots of people I’ve worked with have described the process of having their pulse taken, their abdomen palpated and acupuncture from me as like watching me tuning an instrument. Careful active listening to the instrument, noticing small things and then using therapeutic tools to recalibrate. And I love that reflection because that’s exactly what it feels like to me too.
Once the pins are in, we’ll get you warm and comfy.
This can include: heat packs on your feet, a heat lamp over your abdomen, blankets. You should feel snuggly and completely relaxed. There is also an eye pillow to help focus inward.
I’ll pop on some music or give you some headphones so the outside world disappears and you can focus on restoring.
I will leave the room while your pins are in for around to 20mins.
I’ll pop out if you’re comfortable with it - and only if you’re comfortable with it.
I can also come back half way through to check in and make sure you are comfortable and feeling supported.
There are all sorts of accomodations we can make according to your needs.
Unlike most Acupuncturists, where it is common practice to treat multiple people at the same time, you have me all to yourself for the time we have together.
This allows me to provide a depth of care that aligns with my values. And to really spent time bringing in all the other facets of my practitioner skills into the consultation.
Care with me is always designed to be transformational - not transactional - meaning the value grows over time, rather than dissipating. The best feedback I get from people I’ve treated a decade ago isn’t necessarily around the acupuncture I gave them, but the fresh perspective and knowledge I imparted to them that follows them through their life long after our time together.
While I’m out of the room, I’ll make up your herbs.
If we’ve decided herbs will be useful, I’ll be at my herb cupboard making the magic happen.
I’ll also be using the time to continue to reflect on your care, and ways we can best support and optimise your experience.
I’ll come back into the room.
I’ll take the eye pillow, headphones, pins, all the blankets and heat packs off again. You can slowly hop off the table and back into your chair. This is always the hardest part - removing all the cosy - so we’ll let you adjust slowly back to the world. There’s usually lots of yawning.
We’ll discuss the essentials.
Chances are, you’ll be in the post pin relaxation mode - meaning it’s not a great time to take in too much more new information.
We’ll focus on the most important things: discussing how to take your herbs (if prescribed) and how often to come in.
I do a bit of a capacity assessment at this point to decide how much more to share. Some people are hungry for details about what’s in their herbs, the design of the formula from 2,000 years ago, it’s original use in those days, want to know more about the acupuncture they’ve just experienced, share what they felt during the treatment.
For other people, they feel cosy - their mind is at ease and they need white space and time rather than any more information and engagement.
Either is fine.
I’ll have written out some notes about things we’ve discussed. Things like:
foods to include / avoid
realistic lifestyle accomodations to work towards
resources to explore
relevant tools, skills, frameworks, mindsets
acupressure points
any recommended referrals
You will leave with clarity around:
what’s happening from my perspective
what we are working on
how we are working on it
our goals, expectations and what to look for
when to come in next / how often to come in
what you can do between treatments to support yourself and positively influence your circumstances
I’ll encourage you to be aware of changes between treatments. To jot any questions or info you might want to share in your phone notes for our next appointment.
I’ll send you to reception to schedule your next appointment and pay, and then send you back out into the world.
When Conflict Continues - Give Me The Keys
Gaza isn’t ‘out there’ any more.
It’s in my kitchen
in my pantry, my fridge
in my car
our cosy beds
filling the space between my kids’ skin on my skin.
It’s at school drop off.
It’s in my kitchen.
Clean drinking water pours freely
and my heart twists with unease.
Squeezing tight for all the faces I’ve seen
begging for water.
It’s in my pantry and my fridge
every time I hear ‘mum, I’m hungry’
- it’s nothing for me to assemble food
to fill their glorious, growing bellies.
And yet, the instant ache of a gutpunch I feel
for all the adults of Gaza –
no longer only mothers and fathers –
there can’t be enough of those left –
but anyone old enough to hear those words
and want desperately to provide
but who also have nothing to offer.
It’s in my car
where the hardest thing I navigate is driving cautiously
over speed humps
so the steel drink bottle at my daughters lips
doesn’t find her teeth.
I look back at her, something shifts and my bloodstream is frozen
thinking about precious 6yo Hind in her car.
They are the same age - the girl in my backseat
and the preious, beautiful girl that spent
her last 12 days on this earth – trapped and afraid
away from her mother
and suffering for nothing.
Where do we put these unfathomable realities?
Because Hind wasn’t found ‘dead’ as Western media report,
she was found killed.
I’m furious and aching.
Gaza is tucking my littles into cosy beds
in peaceful places knowing
every child deserves this.
And I’m certain that every child could have this, if us adults could get our shit together.
How much guilt I feel that all I can do is write these words
and sign petitions, show up locally and help my own children.
The discomfort that it’s by sheer luck my own kids
have no sense of fear in their hearts
while so many equally precious littles
walk around broken and shaken.
Even if they do survive, they’ll be lost for their lifetime.
How many of us are wishing and willing our arms
could somehow be long enough
to reach them.
Gaza is in the sweet skin-to-skin touch of my kiddos cheek on my cheek
Tiny soft faces on my face.
Their love and vitality is so close. So intense and precious and sacred.
But it meets ripping grief for
the thousands of children and mothers – entire linage lines
whose warm cheek will never meet warm cheek again in this life.
Miracles and beauty and joy. Severed. For nothing.
The shudder of what it must be
to press yourself against the sweet cheek of a baby
and find it cold.
None of it is right.
Gaza is at the school drop
where my biggest worry is that it will be hot today and
I hope they drink enough. Get enough shade.
It all seems so pathetic. To worry
when they are held in such a state of safety.
My children are at school today
to learn and grow and play.
No one lives and dies using schools as shelters
in the streets of my world.
But the haunting knowledge of Gaza’s schools fills my body.
How is everyone not crushed by the weight of it?
The ballooning gratitude I feel for the safety and simplicity of my own life
mixes and merges with profound grief and injustice.
Right now,
that very sense of safety and simplicity
is being obliterated,
intentionally severed
on mass scale
And I don’t know where to put that.
I don’t know where to put that
And I’m done with asking ‘Where the hell are we supposed to put this?’
The depth of rage
for ‘leaders’ who aren’t leading at all.
I want to scream
GIVE ME THE FUCKING KEYS.
Give me the keys to all the powerful places
where all the powerful decisions get made
and I will give them to the courageous.
Redistribute power to those who’ve
retained their humanity in the face of complicity.
Give the keys to those who ache to end this otherworldly horror.
Give me the keys to all the positions of power
I’ll give them to the people genuinely ready
to choose compassion and humanity
over whatever ridiculous thing it is that has led to your silence.
This breaking and severing needs to STOP.
Gaza is in my living room.
It’s everywhere I go and everything I see.
Give me the fucking keys.
I’ll give them to leaders worthy of the privilege.
Mothering Alongside a World in Conflict
My body is here
but like so many, my mind and
my love and my fear and my
desperation are in Gaza.
Twenty times a day; more
I find myself tussling with and frustrated by
my own mothering realities. And then the
rolling in of
a now familiar sensation - my heart
dropping through the floor -
feeling this, a tiny sliver of what Mothers
in this same world
are holding and traversing in this moment.
In my on life I’m adjusting to new medication
and struggling with it.
And I find myself thinking about Hind Khoudary -
a journalist in Gaza -
who reports she’s struggling to find access
to an asthma puffer.
It’s been a rough year for me,
I’m on wobbly baby deer legs,
unlearning what feels like
lifelong survival mode.
But what could I ever know about survival mode, really?
I’m past my capacity and it frustrates me that
I don’t have food for dinner…
But duality smacks me in the face because I know
my kids and I
could survive a month
on the abundance we have
right here in our kitchen.
How many don’t?
The split between our experiences -
where do we put that?
I’m dreading bathing the kids -
I don’t have the energy or the capacity
to handle it.
I begin the task and my heart breaks into pieces
tears soak my cheeks in acknowledgement of the abundance
right here - fresh clean water
as soon as I turn the tap.
Every humans right.
And my heart disappears through the floor again
thinking of families
rationing their water intake.
The ripping, unjust lopsidedness of it all.
If I am facing capacity challenges,
what of the weary fatigue
and shattered capacity
Of the remaining Mothers of Gaza.
If what I feel is stretched too thin, what is beyond that?
The hurt and the privilege
and the pain smash up against
each other inside me.
I’m feeling it all and
quite honestly, I don’t even know where it lands me.
It’s the next day, and I’m back - grounded
in the comfort of my contrastingly mundane reality.
I’m annoyed - it’s a beautiful day
and I’m not well enough to enjoy it.
I worry that I’m loosing days
to this weird space of not quite illness
but defiantly disability.
At the same time I feel unfairly and absurdly insulated
by the privilege of knowing that
chances are, for me
New days will come.
How many don’t feel that?
I worry that my kids won’t feel
their single birthday present
is enough
and at the same time I shatter
because so many people
Just want to stay alive. All they wish is
for their people to
keep breathing. Keep beating.
So many people just want to keep their people.
A precious gift they’re being denied
hour upon hour upon hour.
I’m annoyed with my kids
overwhelmed by the noise of them
and desperate for space away.
And I know I can want that space away
because we’re likely to all be alive and well tomorrow.
How closely would I press them up against me if I didn’t have that knowing?
My son cries at the thought of
a Christmas tree being cut down - the idea of
it’s decaying and dying
for our short lived pleasure.
It doesn’t feel right to him.
And as he speaks about the pain it would cause him to witness
that tree
slowly die
my heart runs mental footage
of traumatised,
lost and rubble covered babies and kids
who so deserve for their biggest concern
to be about a single withering tree.
Their beautiful little eyes
just shouldn’t know how to see like that.
Shouldn’t look like that.
Wishing I could somehow reach out and
accomodate those precious little ones
like I can for my own son.
More than wishing. Yearning. Aching.
In the night,
my daughter has a nightmare.
She calls out for me, scared.
‘You’re safe’ I say
because she is
and I wonder what on earth you say
to children who scream in the night
in a war zone.
I go outside, fresh crisp air
darkness
and the beauty of stars. These skies entirely safe.
Entirely peaceful.
For the Mothers of Gaza tho
there is no such safety
and no such reprieve. No moment to recentre.
The reality of their sky is stinging, even from here
and I’d give anything
for my desperation and love -
for our collective desperation and love
to possess the strength to usher them
into comfort and warmth and safety.
From the sturdy safe walls of my house
and the comfort of my head on
this soft pillow
my nervous system rattles
and winces and whirs. Nausea rises again.
Photographs and footage
so horrific
fill my mind and my blood stream.
Everything we see is haunting.
Nothing we do is enough.
This heart break.
Where do we put this?
It spills everywhere.
My body holds back ovulation
and my menstrual cycle is long.
Exactly as it did during the 2020 bushfires.
How many women
across the world
witnessing this
will have their entire body physiology -
as evidenced by their menstrual cycle
impacted
by the terror
of the truth
of what’s happening
on the face of this world
we’re all spinning on?
We are so smugly certain that we are pieced out as individual humans -
separated clearly by a covering of skin
that delineates the ‘me’ from ‘everyone else’
but it’s a lie
and my menstral cycle shows it -
influenced by conflict unfolding
13,757kms away from where I am as I write this.
How many others ache?
How many ways can a body and soul ache?
Heart broken and softening again.
I allow the magnitude of it all.
I allow my emotions their full
intimidating, incredible, overwhelming
powerful and flooring expression.
The guttural, visceral discomfort of it
honoured as sacred. As important work.
And I breathe it in and use it all as fuel
to galvanise me.
Solidify me.
To remind myself that as a collective
so many of us
are drawing into our power -
steely eyed, determined and ready
to use the tools we have
to influence
systems of change
for the rest of our breaths.
To demand a humane world.
I envision all the women who
Won’t Stay Quiet
and Won’t Play Nice anymore.
We’ve felt more than we can feel
and it’s time for reclamation.
Inside our collective despair, I feel a pulsing growing bud
of collective courage and bravery
palpable enough to give me goosebumps.
How many of us have awaked
into taking up more space…
How many of us will step forward and into,
when we previously would have stepped back and away…
How many of us will set our sights on higher positions…
How many of us feel clarified in our purpose…
Ready to stop allowing others to silence us
in order to get on with the monumental and worthy task
of creating greater impact
and carving real change.
We are passionate and creative and resolute.
We are going to use the tools we have to
crush the barriers blocking the existence of
a genuinely humane world.
All I can know
is that I am here.
And I plan to use that gift wholly.
For all people.
And Always.
All I can know
is that as Mothers we are split and aching and torn
just as we have been before.
We know this terrain - this confusing mess.
We are
Cracking Open now
just as we have cracked open before.
It’s all eerily, strangely familiar.
This otherworldly discomfort
echoing something we know too well -
the way we are torn and changed and cracked open
and entirely disoriented by birth and in motherhood.
The way we entirely reimagine ourselves
amongst the messy chaos
and potent terrain of birthing and growing children.
Now we feel that same thing, on monumental scale,
to birth and nurture
a new world.
The depth of what this experience of witnessing
has stirred…
Just as with the birth of our children
I am (we are) forever changed.
Never going to be the same.
It feels like everything is reset. Factory settings and embedded
Good Girl and Perfect Mother stories wiped clean. We start as humans anew.
With fresh eyes and wobbly legs, messy and integrating
and deciding our actions anew.
Just like after the blur of birth and motherhood,
after feeling the fullness of these months
I stand now
as a new evolution of the women I was before.
And my bones know it’s not just me.
Stronger, louder, more tenacious and more determined.
Forever changed. Ready to reimagine
and rebuild through
myself, my motherhood and through every action
I (and we) take from here.
I bow down and marvel
to see
What we grow from here.
Foundational Values of Reverence Story
Reverence Story is underpinned by a strong foundation of core values. These values are Reverence, Storytelling, Mastery, Power Alongside, Creating Meaningful Change and Tenacity.
REVERENCE
I come from a place of deep reverence for all that you are and all that you are moving through. Reverence is my way of offering the kind of encouragement that allows the tender beauty of this transition to open and flourish. Reverence is my way of honouring and encouraging all women towards the reclaimation of their own power.
STORYTELLING
Storytelling is a beautiful way to feel heard and held. To learn. To mobilise away from shame and self-blame. Telling and receiving stories has the power to see our experiences in new ways. To imagine new possibilities.
MASTERY
I value mastery in my skills and knowledge. I am constantly evolving my understandings. For me, mastery is the layers. In the possibility of pulling research, theories and practices from different fields, and embedding them into mother care for the most comprehensive and supportive outcomes.
POWER ALONGSIDE / POWER WITH
Power Over is the current dominant power structure of our culture. And it has its hands all over pregnancy, birth and mothering. I strongly value the creation of an alternative - Power Alongside - model of care.
This means I stand alongside you - rather than on a pedestal above you, pointing down at you. It means I’m not here to “should” all over you, or to Tell You What To Do. I am here to encourage and assist you in the co-creation of your own best health experience. I am here to remind you of the choices and possibilities you already own. To optimise the moment you are in.
This is your work - your power - I simply walk alongside you.
CREATING MEANINGFUL CHANGE
Maternal thriving changes the world we live in.
When we create space to foster maternal thriving, we rewrite the mother story. This is allowing for prevention and early intervention for maternal health conditions.
Improving maternal outcomes improves the wellbeing of the mother-baby dyad, flowing positive change through generations.
TENACITY
The determination and persistence to stand for my purpose. Tenacity to reorient our culture story and healthcare practices towards maternal thriving.
Asking For A Supported Postpartum
If you’re growing a babe there’s a good chance that beautiful people around you are considering what gift to send your way.
It’s okay to communicate that more things are not what you need right now. Indeed, as you prepare for life with a little one, things do truly start to accumulate on every surface. And that can feel overwhelming.
It’s okay to say: We’re set up for babe, and now we want to consciously redirect our resources to supporting us through this transition.
To ask your loved ones to join with you to help create a more supported postpartum experience.
It can feel like an awkward ask, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, using your voice to communicate your needs clearly is such a fantastic skill to carry into the early mothering years. This as an opportunity to be brave, and to practice asking for what you need.
Compared to a heap of cute onesies, cot blankets and toys, a supported postpartum is the one thing that will really make a tangible difference – improving the experience ahead for all of you.
I’ve got some ideas about how to ask for a supported postpartum in lieu of gifts. You could attach a version of the below text to your baby shower or mother blessing invites, or share around with your community via email. Whatever makes sense for your story and your relationships.
The best part of it is, when you take brave steps like these, you give others the permission to do the same. And pretty soon, no one will end up with fifty 00 size onesies, and instead they’ll have the funds to call in a psych, an acupuncturist or a women’s health physio. To put the money towards what they need. That’s the world I wanna live in.
Feel free to use my words. Borrow as much or as little of the text below as you like. Alter it to align with your values, circumstances, needs and wants.
Flex that asking muscle. It’s a skill well worth learning. You’ve got this.
***
We’re having a baby, and look forward to celebrating with you.
We acknowledge that it’s tradition to bring a gift to occasions like these. The truth is we are already prepared to meet babies needs.
We’ve poured over all the essentials like clothes and blankets. They’re washed and ready. Getting organised has helped us feel more connected and prepared for our new arrival.
Having prepared the material things babe will need, we are now looking to shift our attention to the supports networks, services and health professionals we might draw upon to support our whole family units health and wellbeing over the coming months.
We want to honour postpartum. We want to put our best foot forward for breastfeeding. We understand and acknowledge the common occurrence of mental, physical and emotional load of this transition.
We’ve gathered together a list of services and health professionals that we might engage over the coming months. For those wanting to support us by means of a gift, we would love your support in building a Postpartum Fund that will allow these things to be within reach should we need them.
A Postpartum Fund will allow us the possibility of considering support like:
Meal Prep Service
Postnatal Doula
Lactation Consultant
Acupuncture / Chinese Medicine / Naturopathy / Nutritional Medicine
Osteopath / Women’s Health Physiotherapist / Massage
Psychologist / Mental Health Professionals
Home Cleaning
Dog Walking
We don’t know exactly what is going to be important for our story in the coming months, but we’re keen to seek supports like these as needed. We know they will allow us to share the load when things do feel overwhelming.
Our current culture can make it uncomfortable to ask for what we want. We are choosing to challenge this because we know (and many of our friends, family and health professionals have reiterated to us) that a supported transition matters. We know our new family has the best chance to thrive with supports like these services and professionals in place.
In lieu of gifts we would be grateful for you to consider making a financial contribution towards our Postpartum Fund. Any amount will ripple a clear positive impact, and it’s important to us that you don’t feel pressure to offer beyond your means.
$5 incentivise a sleep deprived parent to walk to the shops with babe for some fresh air, a hot drink and a chance to engage in adult conversation. $20 buys us dinner so we don’t have to cook or clean up. A bunch of $10 contributions becomes a massage for sore muscles or a psychologist to speak to. It all takes the pressure off. It all matters.
This ask is completely optional. We love you and we feel your support.
We’re excited for you to be a part of our new lives with babe.
Yours in gratitude,