CHAT SESSION 61 with Kerry Marshall
Topic- Holistic approach to improving the mental wellbeing of young people.
Catch up and listen to our chat session https://megaphone.link/LCRUI2833376024
Monday 24th June 2024 1pm https://rppfm.com.au
Kerry is an acupuncturist with 20 years clinical experience both in the UK and Australia. For the past three years she has been treating adolescence children aged between 10 –18 at Jimmy’s Youth Wellbeing Sanctuary in Rosebud. Within this time, she has furthered her studies in Paediatric Acupuncture and recently opened a specialised Pregnancy, Post-natal and Children’s clinic.
For Kerry the seed that became the growing tree of her career started in the early 90’s on a hillside town in Northern India. Here she became very ill with food poisoning and was directed to a local Tibetan Doctor. He felt her pulses on both sides, looked at her tongue and gave her a small bag of what looked like rabbit droppings that were Chinese herbs. She did what she was told chewing on them with hot water and within 24 hours she was well, in fact felt extremely vital, trekking a mountain, sleeping in a cave, and watching the sunrise at the base of the Himalayas!
This introduction to an ancient medicine fascinated Kerry. It was abstract and mystical but somehow made perfect sense to her. That seed started to sprout about seven years later when she was working in a complimentary health clinic in London. She would observe patients before and after their acupuncture treatments as she rebooked and took payments. She was curious, “how does this work, how do I learn and please book me in”.
She followed her heart, and some might say calling, attending an open day at The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in reading, signing up and starting her training with the next intake.
Fast forward 24 years, Kerry is still loving her job and the tree is still flourishing.
While working in London Kerry found her mentors and pathway. She learnt early that collaborating with patients’ health care providers and integrating different medicines was not only resulting in the best health outcomes but was also what patients were mostly looking for. She worked alongside GP’s, fertility Specialists and Obstetricians, set up low-cost clinics, ear acupuncture for detox settings and attended patient’s labours and fertility procedures with her tool bag in tow. She loved how treatments could be effective for current health that make lasting impacts on future health. For her fertility patients wanting to start a family the positive changes made for conception to occur that would also be a catalyst for a healthier pregnancy and baby. For her pregnant patients birth preparation treatments could help for a spontaneous and more efficient labour. Now treating children, she can see how supporting a child to heal and thrive will positively impact health in their teenage years and growth into adulthood.
As much as she loved her life and work in the UK she chose to relocate back to Melbourne and not long after moved to the Mornington Peninsula where she has resided for 12 years.
Kerry knew from her college days what type of patient she wanted to treat and found like-minded practitioners to work with. She also furthered her education in the field of fertility and pregnancy but in 2020 to her surprise ventured on a different pathway that she had not considered prior. This is when she met Jeanette Horsley manager of Jimmy’s Wellbeing Youth Sanctuary. Jeannette was looking for an acupuncturist to join the team in the new purpose-built centre in Rosebud.
It was an exciting opportunity to work in a unique progressive place with a holistic approach to the mental wellbeing of young people. For Kerry this has meant introducing acupuncture to a cohort (10–18-year old’s). Most of the young teenagers had never heard of acupuncture, so navigating their responses to the word ‘needles’ and doing lots of demonstrations reassured them that they were in safe hands. Jimmy’s offers a calm clinical space that has two beds set up that can offer young people treatments alone or with a peer. Other young people can observe or just sit quietly in the room if they wish. The treatments are free to all the participants engaged at the centre and they can have a treatment as often as they would like. Kerry has also come up with some creative ways to gain rapport, trust, and communication. As well as demonstrations, talks and charts Kerry is happy answering any questions especially the one “does it hurt?” But it is not all about needles. The great thing about paediatric acupuncture is plenty of non-needle techniques. She uses small metal tools for rubbing or tapping on the surface of the skin called Shonishin, Chinese massage (Tuina), silicone cupping, medical press tacks and seeds and Moxibustion, a herb used for warming the body. These can be applied as a stand-alone treatment or with needles therefore adapting to what is best for both the patient and the treatment outcome.
The benefits observed treating young people with acupuncture at Jimmy’s are:
-Helping young people link their physical and emotional symptoms, recognising how their body functions
-Addressing sleep issues and calming the nervous system
-Regulating emotions as sometimes the behaviour is masking the true struggle of their feelings. Learning appropriate expression of emotions.
-Nourishing depleted energy and supporting a healthy functioning digestive system which will result in healthier food choices, regular bowel movements, improved energy, and uptake of nutrients
-Supporting a child through difficult times
Adolescence and puberty are a state of growth and flux with hormonal body changes and big rolling emotions. If we add in social media, busy schedules, a difficult home life or many other pressures our young people are facing today we can see an overload on their systems. As a result, we are observing more psychological and emotional conditions like anxiety, depression, and behaviour disorders.
Kerry’s approach is about looking at everyone’s unique case and health presentation and then applying an acupuncture treatment to help a child cope, improve resilience and feel supported to navigate what they may be dealing with.
This new road Kerry has taken into treating children has now expanded into her launching a private clinic where she is treating children of all ages from infants to teenagers. In the past three years she has observed and studied how paediatric acupuncture has so many benefits to support children’s health physically, emotionally, and mentally. She intends to create awareness in this area giving parents and guardians more options in helping their children thrive.
My hope is that when you’re looking at yourself in the
‘The Daily Mirror’
YOU SMILE
EMBRACE BEING YOU
AND FIND 10 MINUTES IN YOUR DAY TO NOURISH YOUR SOUL!
To get in touch with Cathy email smileinthedailymirror@gmail.com
'The Daily Mirror' acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.