Turning great people into great acupuncturists
Find an NCA graduate practitioner in your area
2008 marked our 20th anniversary. We also celebrated our achievement in having trained a generation of highly qualified acupuncturists who have gone out into the world and made a huge difference to people's health and well being.
We are very proud of all our graduates and chances are that you will have an NCA trained acupuncturist in practice near you. To find one simply click on your county on the map of the UK and you will find a list of practitioner's in your area. Alternatively use the "search by alphabetical list of counties" button at the top of the page.
We regularly hear from our graduates about their successes - couples who have had babies after many years of trying, older people with arthritis who can knit and garden again and many more. With their enthusiasm and high level of training our graduates are taking acupuncture out into their communities and finding new ways of making it accessible- including services within the NHS. We see a bright future for acupuncture, moving more and more into main stream and serving an ever increasing public desire for a more holistic approach to medicine. The government organisation NICE have recently endorsed acupuncture as one of their recommended NHS treatments for lower back pain ( the NCA clinics took part in the initial research that helped this study reach this conclusion).
Paul Underhill Cohort of 2003
I graduated from the NCA in 2006 and have since been practising in my own clinic in a small town in the Yorkshire Dales. It was through my long-held affection for Tai Chi that I was drawn to studying acupuncture at the age of 55. Having spent 35 years analysing, building and maintaining engineering systems, what greater challenge and privilege is there than helping the most complex system of all ? human beings? But it is the Daoist philosophy that underlies Traditional Chinese Medicine that fascinates me the most; to maintain balance within ourselves (which is the TCM definition of good health and well-being) and with our environment is paramount; not to do so only leads to trouble and disease. I give talks and write extensively on the subject, and have created a small group of like-thinking people, ?Dao in the Dales?, who meet on a regular basis to discuss how Daoist thinking can help us in today?s world. There is no doubt that studying the Eastern arts changes you as a person, and challenges you when applying them in a Western context. It makes you feel enormously alive and gives you a worthwhile purpose in life.
Khalid Zaman Cohort of 2005
As a doctor I have gained first hand experience of the strengths and limitations of Western medicine. Over the years I travelled extensively throughout South America, India, Tibet & China where I was introduced to a variety of indigenous health systems. Several years of reflection, research and personal experiences finally brought me to the NCA in 2005. Chinese medicine is a science and art that attempts to deal with health on many levels. By integrating my Eastern and Western training I have become a more complete practitioner. Since graduating I have been in the process of setting up a TCM based NHS funded pain clinic in general practice. This will provide access to traditional acupuncture for socially disadvantaged groups suffering from chronic and acute pain syndromes. I strongly believe in building bridges between TCM and Western medicine. Both disciplines have a lot to teach each other and patients will benefit from this integrated approach.
Jess Buck and Di Shimell
Cohort of 2005We graduated from the NCA in 2008 and are already enjoying putting our training to good use. Di: I am busy building up my practice in Sheffield, whilst carrying out my MSc research. Jess: I am a locum for a busy practice in Edinburgh and volunteering for a community based acupuncture project in Manchester. In January 2009 we are planning to volunteer our newly acquired acupuncture skills in Palestine, to provide treatments for people living in refugee camps. We will be travelling out with a group of volunteers through World Medicine, which is a charity offering complementary therapies to people around the world suffering the effects of trauma, disaster and poverty (www.worldmedicine.org.uk). We see this as a great way of developing our skills and developing flexible work practices, whilst offering much needed help. Jess says "It is a fantastic opportunity to offer our skills to people who have been found to really benefit from what acupuncture can offer."
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