Through every stage
What you need changes across your life. Here’s how we help at each stage, with a full page on each.
Enhancing fertility
Trying to conceive can take over your life, with appointments, tests and a lot of waiting. We help you make sense of your cycle and test results, give practical advice on nutrition, timing and lifestyle, and treat what we find. If you have a male partner, we suggest an early semen analysis too, so you’re both working on it together.
IVF support
IVF is physically and emotionally demanding, whoever you are and however you got here. We support you through each stage of your cycle, help you manage the stress that comes with it, and work alongside your fertility specialist.
Supporting pregnancy
Pregnancy doesn’t always bring the glow. Nausea, reflux, poor sleep, and back, hip or pelvic pain are common as your body changes. We offer gentle treatment and practical advice alongside your midwife, GP or obstetrician, right through to preparing for birth.
Post-natal care
Once the baby arrives, the focus is on them and it’s easy to run on empty. We help with recovery, sleep, feeding difficulties, sore wrists and thumbs, and the stress of the early months, alongside your GP and maternal health nurse.
Menopause
Hot flushes, broken sleep, mood changes and dry skin can start years before your periods stop. We help you through perimenopause and menopause with treatment and diet and lifestyle advice, alongside any care from your GP.
What brings people in
Most women who come to us have lived with this for years. These are the concerns we see most often.
- Period pain: cramping, pain that stops you working or sleeping, pain that needs painkillers every month (see also Pain)
- Irregular or missing periods: long or unpredictable cycles, periods that have stopped, cycles that haven’t settled after coming off the pill
- Heavy periods: flooding, clotting, feeling wiped out around your period
- PMS and mood: irritability, low mood, bloating, sore breasts, poor sleep before your period
- PCOS: irregular cycles, skin and hair changes, support alongside your medical care
- Endometriosis: pain, bloating and fatigue, support alongside your specialist’s care
- Hormonal skin and headaches: breakouts that flare before your period, headaches or migraines that follow your cycle
Why it keeps happening
Your period is a monthly report on how the rest of you is going.
Pain, timing, flow and mood are all connected to sleep, stress, digestion and energy. Treat one symptom alone and it often eases for a cycle or two, then returns.
So we ask about the whole month, not just the days you bleed. When your cycle starts, how long it runs, what the pain is like, what changes the week before. In Chinese medicine these details matter, because two women with the same diagnosis can need quite different treatment.
Then we treat both: the symptoms, so the hard days get easier, and what’s behind them, so your cycle has less reason to keep repeating the pattern.
What to expect
1. Discover
Your first visit is longer. We go through your cycle and health history in detail and work out what we think is driving the problem. You’ll have treatment in that first session, and you’ll leave with a plan.
2. Resolve
A clear course of treatment, typically weekly at first. Because we’re working with your cycle, we judge progress over a few cycles, not a few days. We check in every visit, and if it isn’t working we’ll tell you straight and suggest what to try instead, including who else to see.
3. Whole again
Once things have settled, you choose. Some women come back once a cycle to stay on top of it. Others just call when something changes. Either way, you stop planning your month around your period.
What treatment involves
Your practitioner will choose from the following, depending on what you need. Most plans combine two or three.
- Acupuncture. Fine, single-use needles placed at specific points. Most people find it far gentler than they expected, and many fall asleep on the table.
- Chinese herbal medicine. A formula prescribed for you individually and adjusted as your cycle changes.
- Moxibustion. Gentle warmth applied over points on the abdomen or lower back.
- Nutrition and lifestyle advice. Practical changes to how you eat, rest and move through the month, so the work we do in the clinic carries on between visits.
Alongside your GP, gynaecologist or specialist
You don’t have to choose between us and the care you already have. Many of our patients see us alongside their GP, gynaecologist or endocrinologist, and we’re happy to work with them.
If you’re on the pill, have an IUD or take other medication, we work with that. We won’t ask you to stop anything your doctor has prescribed.
Bring any blood tests, scans or reports to your first visit. Very heavy bleeding, bleeding between periods or sudden severe pain should be checked by your GP first, and if anything suggests you need a medical review we’ll tell you.
Who you’ll see
Every practitioner at the clinic is AHPRA registered in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.
Kerrie Dick
Compassionate and practical, with time for women whose symptoms haven’t been taken seriously elsewhere. Particular interest in menstrual irregularities, fertility and pregnancy.
Michelle McNeill
Trained in Melbourne with a hospital internship in Taipei. Builds movement, meals and daily habits into her treatment plans. Particular interest in women’s health, sleep and mental health.
Nick Conquest
Holds a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a focus on chronic illness and women’s health. Particular interest in period pain and hormonal cramping.
Adriana Dalic
A grounded, whole-body approach that looks for the root of the problem. Particular interest in skin health, stress and the nervous system.
Questions people ask
Can I come in while I have my period?
Yes. Treatment is fine at any point in your cycle, and for period pain it can be useful to come in just before or during.
How long until I notice a change?
Everyone responds differently. Because your cycle only comes around once a month, we look at how things shift over a few cycles. We’ll give you our honest view at each visit.
Do I need to stop the pill or other medication?
No. We work alongside whatever your doctor has prescribed. If you’re thinking about coming off the pill, talk to your GP, and we can support you through the change.
Do I need a diagnosis or a referral?
No. You can book directly. If you do have a diagnosis or test results, bring them along.
Does acupuncture hurt?
The needles are very fine, far thinner than the ones used for injections. You may feel a brief pinch, then a dull, heavy or warm sensation. Most people find it relaxing.
Can I claim on private health insurance?
Rebates may be available through private health funds with extras cover, depending on your policy. Check with your fund, and see our consultation fees.
I’m trying to conceive, or I’m pregnant. Can you help?
Yes. See our pages on fertility, IVF support and pregnancy.
Not ready to book yet?
Download our free Women’s Health Checklist. It’s a short list of diet and lifestyle steps you can start at home today.