Shelley approaches her practise by considering the health and well-being of the whole person. Rather than suppressing symptoms, she aims to identify the underlying cause, so that long term change can be sustainable with less reliance on intense treatment. Following a thorough assessment, a treatment plan will be formulated using options chosen from the many different branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Chinese herbal medicine (prescribed individually)

Shelley recommends individualised herbal prescriptions, administered as granules or liquid glycerine extracted, but also can access pills, capsules, plasters, liniments and even prescribes therapy foods. By the way,  glycextracted liquid herbs have  only 5% alcohol for preservative- this means they taste better than western herbal alcohol herbs and are more easily digested.

Acupuncture (needles, electro- or laser). The points  may be prescribed using the balance method of evaluating the channels that are “sick” or internal medicine approach.

Ear point therapy (using seeds or tiny metal balls). If used, the image of the sick organ is stimulated on the ear surface , to extend the effect of treatment between  consultations.

Ear candles, Cupping and moxibustion may be supplementary to a treatment if indicated, but only can be applied during an acupuncture private consultation (with no herbal medicine). There is only time for comprehensive bodywork , or only acupuncture with herbs. Shelley routinely uses the stronger needling Chinese style, but can also do gentler Japanese style acupuncture and even gentler needling for babies and infants.

Chinese Dietary Therapy (traditional use of foods).Chinese diet does not break foods down as we understand in the west. Rather, foods are matched according to your current TCM diagnosis. This can be a pleasure exploring matched foods with suggested recipes.

Lifestyle counselling If you are doing something that aggravates your complaint, Shelley identifies alternative strategies so you can choose to have more control.

Exploration of the body-mind (talking and listening). Chinese medicine does not separate the body from the mind. Talking is one way to keep the energy flowing

Since working with children over many years, Shelley has found that children don’t NEED needles. However, she believes that done gently, a quicker response can be far more dramatic. A baby is more visibly upset by having a nappy changed. More often the surprise on their face indicates acupuncture is not traumatic for a baby.

She offers a gentle approach that examines diet & lifestyle, supplemented with laser treatment in the clinic, then herbal granules if needed. Needles are reserved for acute serious conditions such as middle ear infection, high fever, acute pain, difficultly breathing, or to speed up a process that has been responding to laser herbs and foods, but could shorten the therapy and reduce the time in the clinic. Needles takes seconds with few insertions, laser takes many more points and much longer in minutes. As the child ages, needles are retained from 2 -10 minutes as required.

Shelly has undertaken hospital internship training in Guangzhou & Hanzhou in 2000 and 2005, choosing Paediatrics, Dermatology, and Febrile diseases (viral/bacterial conditions). As a result, she has developed much more clinical expertise in these areas. She has further consolidated her longstanding speciality in Gynaecology with China hospital internships between 1989- 2005. Additionally she regularly attends practitioner seminars in Paediatrics, gynaecology, and infertility in Australia and also in Germany.

Over the previous years, she has sought to further update her knowledge of the use of Chinese Medicine in treating infertility and it’s combined use with IVF- through self-study, professional seminars and international collaboration.  Shelley has further developed her paediatrics by working with well-known Australian specialists- Peter Gigante in Melbourne and Helen Gordon in Sydney. She has also updated her range of skin salves by collaboration with Safflower. She has glycextracted creams and has currently devised her own liquid prescriptions for eczema and  immune support.

For treatment of viral/bacterial conditions Shelley still refers to the classics, also updated with self study and international specialists presenting in Germany and locally, over many previous years.

Since arriving back in Australia in 2023, she has already resumed studying herbs and pulse with Jimmy Chang, Treating emotional & physical pain using Yamamoto scalp acupuncture with David Bomzon, Revised Dr Tan’s Balance method of acupuncture and studied with international experts integrating Chinese medical approaches to supporting Mental Health issues.

With increasing use of pharmaceuticals and people’s desire to still use Chinese herbs, Shelley has dedicated her enquiry to ensure up to date knowledge of western drugs and likely interactions with Chinese herbs/foods. She is confident prescribing herbs safely with drugs, provided she knows all that you are taking.

A diet can assist, OR hinder your health. Shelley explores your diet according to TCM analysis and advises accordingly- what to avoid, what to include according to your individual CM diagnosis. TCM classifies foods from hot to cold, with flavours being familiar to you once identified- such as sour (lemon), pungent (curries), bitter (redicio lettuce) sweet, salty (obvious) and plain. In some conditions, sweet and pungent foods may be contraindicated, while bitter foods can help. There are many combinations to explore.

Shelley particularly enjoys working in co-operation with other health care practitioners. This allows the use of complimentary healing methods as the need arises. Liaison with other professionals ensures compatibility, enhancement of treatments, or monitoring with Western Medicine where appropriate.