When I was 18, I moved from Slovenia to the UK in pursuit of independence and freedom.

In the UK career eventually took me to train as an Occupational Therapist. I worked in a clinical setting at the North Bristol NHS Trust, rotating from rheumatology, orthopaedics, stroke, care of the elderly, medicine, Parkinson’s disease and fall prevention services, before I specialised in Chronic Fatigue and Pain Management services where I worked 10 years. Parallel to this I also worked at the RUH in Bath for the CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) service. Whilst my job in OT had always been about empowering individuals, the Pain Management role extended to coaching around behaviour change and transformation.

I absolutely loved my work and I thought that I had the best job under the Sun.

However, during my pregnancy with my second son, a geneticist and paediatric cardiologist suggested that I’d do well to abort the baby as the scans showed a number of physical abnormalities and they predicted that he’d have mild to severe learning difficulty. I chose to keep him. After his birth the doctors pushed for him to be on prophylactic antibiotics for the rest of his life and that he should have all the vaccinations available as he was immuno-suppressed. I did not agree with this and sought ways to support his immunity rather than suppress it.

This took me on a slightly different career trajectory. After visiting many complementary therapists I found that homeopathy was the most comprehensive system of health. As a healthcare professional I was able to train with the Faculty of Homeopathy, at what was then Bristol Homeopathic Hospital and their wonderful and supportive team of homeopaths. Coming to homeopathy that I found what felt like homecoming. A health system, that made sense, one that sees and helps heal the whole person.

Once qualified, I continued to work as an OT alongside running a private practice doing homeopathy and later applied kinesiology and coaching. However a sense of discord grew greater and greater. The protocol in Pain Management, based on limitations of conventional medicine, was that we help our patients accept that they may live with chronic pain for the rest of their lives. In most cases this acceptance helped people move on however I by then understood that one can heal chronic pain and I had tools to help people achieve just that.

I gave up the safety of my well paid NHS job and focused on developing my private practice so that I could help people on a deeper level. Read about it here. I now integrate Occupational Therapy into my practice.

PS: My son is now 21 years old. He is healthy, intelligent and about to start a uni course. I am thankful that I listened to my heart.