Dipping into Acupuncture - An Interview with Christina Smith
Acupuncture is a medical practice that involves stimulating certain points on the human body with a needle penetrating the skin to help relieve pain or certain heath conditions. Christina Smith is an acupuncturist. I had the very lucky chance to get to interview her.
“When people hear you’re and acupuncturist they say things to me like ‘so did you just wake up one day and think you wanted to stick needles in people’ and actually it’s really not like that at all”. “Let’s say a patient is with you for and hour
you talk for about 30-40 minutes then based on the conversation and the diagnosis and the points you choose it takes about 3 or 4 minutes to place the needles in the spots for most people they hardly feel it then the person falls asleep.”, “It is really about figuring out why the patient has the symptoms they have and working to reverse them.”
When I asked her what she found most rewarding she said, “When a patient has had certain symptoms for a long time and put up with them for a long time and it causes pain and feels bad, they decide ‘right that’s it I’ve got to do something about this’ and they're the ones that need help the most and obviously if you can make a big difference for them it’s the most rewarding for everyone so the more someone needs the treatment then the more I get out of it in terms or satisfaction.”
If anyone is at all considering a job in acupuncture, this might be helpful for you. “Like the same advice I would give anyone considering any career, it is one thing when you read something and say ‘that sounds kind of cool’ but one thing when you're actually experiencing it and asking yourself ‘can I really imagine myself doing this?’ not just being interested in it but also really enjoy doing it. If there is anyway to shadow someone who does it that would be the best. If you were to shadow me as an acupuncturist you would see how I interact with patients.”
The qualifications you need to be an Acupuncturist can of course vary in which country you would want to study in. Christina advised that one should qualify in acupuncture in the country you would want to practice as it’s regulated differently in different countries. "Most countries now have university degrees in acupuncture, so the qualification academically is that you have to do a university degree in it. Then you have to pass something that gives you a licence. In the UK you can finish the course in 3 years.”
A typical work week is nicely “flexible”. “You can basically make your own hours, if you had a family and doing acupuncture as well there is a further amount of study to keep your licence in addition to this. If you've got a small child maybe you want to work from 9.00am to 1.00pm or maybe you want to work on certain evenings, you can commute to work or have a part of your home for work, depends really!”
Helen Schunemann
Sydenham High School
