Following What Lifts You Up In Your Career

A conversation with paediatric acupuncturist Rebecca Avern about her career path as a practitioner, teacher, author and host of international practitioner community HOPA.

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I had the pleasure to chat with acupuncturist Rebecca Avern, as part of our series where I interview holistic healthcare practitioners about their career paths, specialities and wide range of work experiences.

For previous editions I spoke with homeopath Caroline Gaskin on creating content that resonates with your audience, acupuncturist Steve Kippax about his insights on client retention, osteopath Kerry Dowson shared her experience integrative osteopathy with breathwork, and acupuncturist Sean Cleere showed us his international career trajectory that brought him to running a busy multi-bed clinic in London today. I hope these conversations leave you feeling inspired, support you in your own career or simply give you new insight into what’s happening across the holistic healthcare space!

It was a joy to speak to Rebecca last December for one of her podcast episodes, you can listen to our conversation here (it’s free to create an account so you can access the recording), and of course I invited her for an interview in The Well so you can all enjoy her insights into holistic paediatric care, and how she navigated her career path.

Whether you’re an acupuncturist or not, Rebecca’s insights into the field of paediatrics and her impressive professional trajectory will be interesting for all holistic health practitioners who are interested in treating children, and for those who are curious to explore a career path that’s unique to them.

Rebecca Avern is an internationally renowned paediatric acupuncturist with over 24 years of experience. As the author of two books, including a standard textbook on paediatrics used in acupuncture colleges worldwide, she is a trusted authority in her field. Rebecca also teaches paediatrics to acupuncturists across the UK, Europe, America, and Australia, sharing her expertise on a global stage.

With decades of experience and thousands of children helped, Rebecca combines exceptional clinical skill with an extraordinary ability to connect with her young patients. Her warmth, empathy, and talent for putting children at ease make her uniquely suited to provide the highest standard of care. Alongside her acupuncture practice she also hosts an international community of acupuncturists who are interested in strengthening their knowledge and skills in paediatrics.

Rebecca, thank you so much for sharing your insights with our community in The Well. Can I start by asking what your career trajectory has been like leading up starting Panda Clinic, your private practice dedicated to treating children? Was the move to paediatrics an organic transition or a deliberate change?

I can’t say that I ever had a plan! Generally in my life, I have followed my gut and allowed things to happen. When I became an acupuncturist nearly 25 years ago, I had no idea at all that I would end up treating children, definitely not only children. But after a few years of practice, more and more children seemed to come my way and I realised that my spirit lifted when I looked at my diary and saw I had some children in clinic that day. I then decided to do some more post-graduate training in paediatrics, and that meant even more children came my way. I got to a point where I was turning away children but had nobody to send them to. So I took the leap and handed my adult patients over to colleagues so I could focus solely on children. Looking back, it was a leap of faith but it didn’t really feel like it at the time, it just felt like the obvious thing to do. I have certainly never regretted it.

It’s beautiful how a career path can move so organically into a niche, as in your case when more and more children made their way to your clinic. You've also set up The Little Acupuncture Room, which is a low-cost multi-bed clinic run by a group of acupuncturists. Having set up two spaces specifically for children, how did you adapt the practice workflows and set-up to treating children. Are there any unique challenges you face with this focus on paediatrics?

Yes, I set up The Little Acupuncture Room because I didn’t feel comfortable with the fact that I was only really treating children from middle class families who happened to be able to afford treatment. It increasingly didn’t sit right with me. There are certainly some practicalities that are different when working with children. You need an appropriate space to start with. I don’t think it works particularly well if you are in a really smart clinic and you want to treat children! They, and their parents, generally feel far more relaxed if you have a cosy, fun and inviting space that also doesn’t feel too medical. And then there are the times of day you need to work. Whilst there are an increasing number of kids who are too sick to go to school or home educated, the majority of children need to come after school so you need to make yourself available at those times. And when working with children there is inevitably a bit more ‘outside of clinic’ stuff that has to be done – chatting to parents etc.

Now, I’d like to explore the wider scope of your professional life. Because in addition to your acupuncture practices you're also the author of not one but two books, and an educator in your field. What's been the driver behind these activities, and how have you navigated your career path?

I realised that most acupuncturists get about half a day on paediatrics in their under-graduate training and are almost scared off treating kids. So it has become a passion of mine to educate and enthuse as many practitioners as I can to welcome young people into their practices. I also realised that the paediatric text books I was using didn’t have much in them about the kinds of conditions I was seeing day in day out in my clinic. A lot of these are very ‘modern’ conditions, such as food allergies, ADHD, anxiety and depression etc. So I decided to write a book to include the treatment of these conditions.

Again, it was never really a plan to write books or to teach. I was very fortunate that I worked with an eminent acupuncturist many years ago when I first qualified and helped him to write a book. The publisher of that book remembered me and had heard I was focusing on paediatrics, saw there was a need for a ‘new’ book and asked if I would write it. My second book is aimed at parents (Chinese Medicine for Childhood Anxiety and Depression). This is another passion of mine – to educate parents to the Chinese medicine way of thinking and to let them know that there is so much our medicine can do to help their children.

Given your experience in paediatrics, could you tell us a bit more about what you've been seeing in your clinic over the years - and give us a peek into the future as well. For example, what changes have you observed in the types of conditions parents are bringing their children in for?

This is a very interesting question and I ponder it a lot! Sadly, the number of quite young children, as well as teenagers, that I see with mental-emotional difficulties has gone up and up since I started practising. And since covid, it has risen even more steeply. I also see more and more kids with conditions associated with neuro-diversity such as ADHD and autism. And ever more children with food allergies…….. I suspect that this trend will continue. Whilst it’s incredibly sad that this is the case, the good thing is that there is much that acupuncturists and other holistic practitioners can do to help.

And are there any emerging needs that you are you seeing in children's health, and that holistic practitioners are uniquely positioned to address?

Well, all of the conditions I mentioned just now. I would say especially anxiety-type conditions. I think that as holistic practitioners we are in a much better position and have more appropriate tools to treat these types of issues. I also think that we can, to some degree, take the place that a traditional GP used to have. In a world where (certainly in the UK), you rarely see the same doctor twice, we can be a consistent witness as a child grows and develops. We can know what their base line is and what their norm is, and therefore are in a good position to step in and help during stressful periods or where things go awry. I treat some teenagers of 16 and 17 now who I first saw when they were babies. It’s wonderful for me to see them evolve but I think it’s also really nice for them that I have been a consistent figure in their lives. Having had treatment from such a young age, they also grow up with the knowing that there are alternative ways of helping themselves other than necessarily always choosing allopathic medicine. I think that’s really valuable.

Changes in the wellbeing of younger generations has been in the news a lot recently. How has parents' openness to holistic treatments for their children, and the interest from other healthcare professionals in conventional paediatric care as well, evolved over your career?

It’s definitely going in the right direction. I think there are an increasing number of parents who are looking for drug-free ways to support their children. Again, especially since covid, families are having to wait such a long time to get medical appointments that it means they are looking elsewhere. I also have an increasing number of paediatricians who send children my way. I feel that younger doctors are more open to ‘alternatives’. But the world is changing and the culture where everybody just did exactly what their doctor said is breaking down. Parents are becoming more empowered to look for effective and natural interventions for their child’s health.

It seems that your work really ties in with this change in culture and openness to acupuncture that’s been steadily gaining momentum over the year. You also run HOPA, an international community for paediatric acupuncture that includes guidance for parents, and also training and support for acupuncturists looking to specialise. What do you see as the biggest opportunities for holistic practitioners in paediatric care today?

Welcoming young people into your practice can add an incredibly rewarding element to your work. There is really nothing quite as magical as seeing a child change from being burdened by suffering to thriving, and also witnessing the effect that has on the whole family. It can also set you apart from your colleagues. I always say that the only prerequisite to working with children, other than having the appropriate training, is simply enjoying being around them. You don’t have to be a parent, you don’t have to have worked with children in a previous career. You just have to enjoy their company!

For more info on Rebecca’s work, please visit www.rebeccaavern.com and if you’re interested in joining Rebecca’s Hub for Paediatric Acupuncturists have a look at their website here: practitioner.paediatricacupuncture.com