Sue started her career as a nurse and after having her first child was inspired to train as a midwife in 1989. She has been utterly privileged to work for the last 20 years in a midwifery group practice that places the woman and her family in the centre of their care and where continuity of care and carer is priority.
In practice this has meant that she has been in a position to contribute to making each couple’s birthing experience the most positive it could be as her pattern of work has allowed for precious time with each couple to support and guide them through their unique journey to confident birth and parenthood.
Sue has formed strong relationships with women and their families and this she believes is testament to the value of such an individualised system. Sadly this arrangement of care has been discontinued but Sue firmly believes that those same principles are at the heart of the Chinese medical philosophy and was one of the main reasons that she was drawn to this exceptional medicine.
Sue’s extensive experience as both a nurse and midwife working within the NHS for 32 years allied with her more recent skills in Chinese Medicine gives her a solid grounding for understanding health and illness from a Western and Eastern perspective. Her approach to acupuncture and Tui Na is firmly rooted in her belief that Traditional Chinese Medicine can work effectively both in parallel with Western medical treatments and as a stand-alone remedy. She is able to combine the pertinent aspects from both traditions to achieve the most appropriate and relevant treatment plan.
Sue’s starting point for any treatment is a perspective that sees the patient as a ‘whole’ entity and that a positive treatment may only commence once the patient is understood as such. Therefore the first steps in her treatment method are always to take time to understand all the factors that may be affecting the energetic balance of the individual – these may be physical, environmental and emotional. This appreciation is a central foundation of Sue’s therapy.
Sue feels fortunate to have discovered the world of Chinese Medicine that positions the entire person at the heart of any treatment and whose priority is the preservation of health. She continues to be excited by the possibilities it offers us in terms of ‘new’ alternatives or additions to current systems and more personally by the never-ending journey of learning and discovery that it affords her.