No regrets! Kim’s acupuncture adventure
Entrepreneurial Sheffield Acupuncturist Kim Shepherd talks about her journey from NCA student to fully qualified acupuncture practitioner and how she worked towards achieving her goal of owning her own practice focusing on women’s health.
“I opened my acupuncture practice here in Sheffield 3 weeks before the first lockdown which was interesting! It’s been quite a journey since then and it’s taken me a while to get to this particular point but it was always something that I knew I wanted. Even though I was told very early on, that I could never make a living out of this, I want to say straight off that that is complete nonsense. If your heart is in it and you are completely dedicated to pursuing this as your path, you can absolutely get to the where you want to be.
Being told that I wouldn’t be able to make a living was a big driving force for me as I really wanted to achieve that and prove these people wrong and I’m now in a position where I’ve created something that I have dreamt about for a very long time.
Life and Lemons is a specialist women’s health and fertility clinic which I created because there is such a lack of support for women’s health within in the current medical system. I’ve personally experienced this and that is one of the reasons I decided to train in acupuncture so now I can support others, so they don’t have to feel like I did.
I wanted to be able to create a safe space for women to come to where they could start to engage in their health, learn about themselves and find a route forwards without being passed from pillar to post within the medical system.
Here at Life and Lemons we collaborate with consultants, doctors, and other health practitioners in an integrated way. We facilitate our client’s growth and development through education and empowerment. The very foundation stone of our ethos is self-advocacy in the clinic and in life. Everything we do is through a multi-modality approach – an integrated approach to women’s health and fertility.
Studying acupuncture at the NCA
One of the things that surprised me about my time studying acupuncture at the NCA was how I could remember the points on a body. Everyone comes in and worries that there are hundreds of points to remember but you just have to keep practicing because the more you feel different bodies, the more you will gain that level of sensitivity in your fingers and the more you will start realising that every body is different.
During my time at the College I really valued how much we got to practice on each other. Everyone is different – different sizes, different shapes, etc. so over time you realise that those points are the same regardless of who is lying in front of you. All those experiences actually helped re-enforce my memory. It was a big learning curve because I was completely overwhelmed by it initially but now I really value that time.
Final words of Advice
For anyone thinking about studying acupuncture at the NCA, learning is a beautiful foundation of support but the real learning is going to happen in clinical practice. The more you can get hands-on experience, at College and afterwards, the better. Clinical practice is where the real learning takes place.
But that is just the beginning. If you really dedicate yourself to your acupuncture career and have, you will inevitably make it a success like anything. So, burn you bridges, have no plan Bs, and you’ll never look back!”