Making connections – we are all in it together!
When you become an acupuncture student at the NCA you become part of a wider community of graduates and other acupuncture practitioners. A family of acupuncturists! You may have already started to build these connections during your exploration of studying acupuncture and a good number of our students decide to study with us after being inspired by one of our graduates. These connections will start right from the get-go and develop throughout your training. As well as getting to know fellow students in your cohort, you will be working with students from different year groups during your clinical practice. Graduates tell us that the friendships they made in clinic and class can often lead to handy business connections later down the line. You will also make connections during your POVs (short for Practitioner Observation Visits). These days are exactly what they say on the tin – visits to practitioners to see how they run their clinics and treatments. You have two of these in Year 1 and three in Year 2. These days are a perfect opportunity to connect with practitioners in your local area – or to explore an interest in a specialty of practice. A mixture of both is a good model. You will also become a student member of the BAcC and start to tap into the many connections you can make as a member of the professional body. Social media is also a great way to connect! Students who make the time to network with practitioners in their local area, and make contacts within the profession during their training, can have a smoother passage into successful practice. So, we encourage you to start making those connections!
NCA graduates who have joined the connection dots are Chris Buckley, Alexandra Illingworth and Duey Krische-Duenas who connected with each other as they all live in the Huddersfield area – and they work together in the acupuncture practice “Clinic 118”in Holmfirth.
Chris says – “The clinic (then Stacey Ash Therapies) was founded by Stacey Ash where she built an enviable reputation as acupuncturist, herbalist and teacher until her recent retirement. Duey was invited to practise at the clinic in 2020 – and soon after Stacey asked if I would want to practise from there. I had built a relationship with Stacey before I started study. Stacey has become not just a landlady, but friend, collaborator, and mentor! It was the perfect opportunity as I could see then that the existing website and clinic image would be a fabulous launchpad, not just for me, but for a small ‘community’ of acupuncturists, so, I persuaded Stacy to alter the name and include both of us as practising therapists from the clinic. Alex lived locally and was in my class at the NCA – so I approached her about joining us.”
Alex says: “I’m really excited to bring paediatric acupuncture to Clinic118. Paediatric acupuncture is a specialism I’ve always been interested in – acupuncture can help so many children and young people, with a wide range of conditions. Huddersfield has a number of active parent and child groups and getting in touch with them is helping spread the word that Huddersfield now has a paediatric acupuncturist!”
Duey says – “I first met Stacey in 2019 after seeking her out for acupuncture treatment soon after my graduation at the NCA. She kindly invited me to join her and a small group of local acupuncture colleagues for regular meet-ups over coffee. This had an element of an informal peer support group where cases could be discussed, the knowledge and experience of the group could be shared collectively, and advice sought. In 2020, Stacey invited me to practise at what is now known as Clinic 118. Since that time, I have been treating clients with a really wide and diverse range of issues. The clinic is well situated to offer treatments to people from a large geographical area, covering many of the towns and villages surrounding Holmfirth. I have found that people will travel some distance for acupuncture treatment, as it is often effective for chronic conditions that may not be responding well to standard care. The training and support I received at The NCA gave me the crucial foundations and confidence to develop my professional practice beyond graduation.”
Find out more about Clinic 118: https://clinic118.co.uk/