Dr Holly Carruthers

So I would say the way that I got into paediatrics was out of pure terror.

I remember working in my first clinic and a child booking in, and thankfully there was another more experienced practitioner at that clinic at the time, and so I could refer the patient on to the more experienced practitioner and simply observe.

So I like to think that, you know, fear is the greatest motivator sometimes and the outcome has been extremely positive for me.

So as soon as a paediatric course became available at this time, I think it was 2011, Helen Gordon ran a three-part series in Melbourne and Sydney on practical paediatrics.

So I jumped on that train and she was such a clear presenter and just gave a step-by-step process so that when I came back to my practice, I had somewhere to start.

And at that time, I guess I just was trying to find a bit more of a focus point based around women and gynaecology and paediatrics as well as psycho-emotional disorders.

And so the next course that became available was one in Bali where we got to run an afternoon clinic for women and children.

So this was with Soma Devi or Soma Glick, and in the morning she would give us the lecture and the demonstrations and give us the skills to then take into the afternoon clinic to practice.

And I came back from that Balinese clinic just wanting to adopt like 20 Balinese babies.

And I knew probably at that time the joy and the love between patient and practitioner of just care.

I think that was the hook for me.

I love that.

That's such an inspiring way to get into a field, I think.

Just having the fear and the terror of... treating a patient motivate you so strongly to literally travel to another part of the world to do the kind of training you would need to really immerse yourself in it and grasp it in a way that lets you give them the kind of care that you know that you can give them and that they deserve and that they're there to see you for.

Yes.

And in a clinic or in a location like Bali, it really tests the skills of the practitioner because it's us or nothing else.

And so there were times where it felt really important to be getting our diagnosis and treatment right because for some of those children, it was a matter of life and death.

And so if SOMA could identify a patient that was is on that cusp knowing their background or what they would be going home to, maybe a lack of nutrition or maybe extreme exposure to the environment and the elements, she would step in and we would observe her of how to how to support that patient.

And she used Chinese herbs at that time, a little bit of homeopathy, and then our Shoni Shin and acupuncture, Moxibustion, those practical skills.

So that was the first time I had seen Shoni Shin.

And that was a method of more the kind of Chinese medicine version of Shoney Shin.

And once I saw that, I had heard that, well, I bought the book of Thomas Wernick's Shoney Shin, which is more Japanese style.

And I know you two are probably excellent readers.

I'm a very practical face-to-face learner.

And so when I read that book, honestly, it was so hard for me to read.