Amy’s work weaves together threads of Classical Chinese Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, birth preparation and empowered mothering practices to redesign the way the transition to mothering unfolds.
About Me: Amy O’Brien (she/her)
I am a woman and a mother in Melbourne.
I am late-diagnosed Autistic and ADHD (AuDHD) and recent years provided space to know these pieces of myself more intricately.
I’m a netballer. A tea drinker. An indoor plant lover. A long walker. A truth teller. A deep conversation haver.
I live on the Mornington Peninsula with my two kiddos. I experience single and neurodivergent motherhood.
Professionally: I am a Classical Chinese Herbalist. An Acupuncturist. A Birth Support Person. A Motherhood Studies Practitioner.
In my work I focus on the transition to motherhood. After a decade practicing as an Acupuncturist and Chinese Herbalist preparing women for birth, I became a mother and felt the reality of the transition for myself.
It was not until I met my own motherhood / mothering experience that I realised how woefully inadequate a congratulations card and a follow up email with a non-specific offer of help is for women in their early postpartum years.
This provided a rocket fire catalyst for my own ravenous upskilling.
I studied to become a Birth Support Person (doula) and a Motherhood Studies Practitioner. These new knowledge overlays allowing me to understand our experiences with broader perspective. To look backwards, forwards and identify all the contributing and protective factors.
The root driving force of my work can be reflected by the idea from Desmond Tutu - ‘There comes a time when we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in’.
I now know how to create impactful positive change for women and mothers. I deeply understand how to elevate individuals experience. How to elevate our entire societal story for mothers to create glorious collective change.
I am here to foster maternal thriving and rewrite the mother story.
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This is so much more than the acupuncture pins and the herbs you may receive during our time together. I am here to catalyse and clarify your thinking so that you can always be aware of the trajectory you are taking. So you can align your choices and actions for these mothering years with your values.
By encouraging new ways of thinking and challenging taken-for-granted assumptions, I intend to build a system that lifts its gaze to a world of maternal thriving.
I want the new pathways and perspectives you gain from our time together to fill your mind for the months and years to come after our treatments. I want it to infuse possibility and ripple change for your entire transitional years. To inform your decisions. And to cradle you in good health.
Qualifications
Bachelor Applied Science (Chinese Medicine) / Bachelor Applied Science (Human Biology)
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This five year double degree included a semester long internship in a hospital in China. I also administered acupuncture in the Emergency Department of The Northern Hospital, Epping, weekly for the final two years of my study. Treating pregnant women hospitalised with severe nausea in the ED is where my love for acupuncture in the treatment of acute and severe morning sickness was born.
Professional Post-Graduate Advanced Training in Canonical Chinese Medicine
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When I met Arnaud Versluys I realised there was so much more to Chinese Medicine than what we had been taught in University. With training from ICEAM I can proudly say in the past decade of my clinical practice every single herbal formula and modification I have made have been based on original Classical Chinese Herbal texts compiled thousands of years ago. This study was intense. I found my first grey hair the day I graduated.
Birth Attendant Training
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This course expanded my thinking, and opened up the possibilities about how best to support women up to and down from their birthing experiences. I also learned more about the delicate art of holding space for women. This course sparked me to continue to deepen my own learnings about birth story listening, birth trauma, postnatal mental health, and how to prepare ahead of time for the postpartum. It also consolidated my passion for filling the gaps in care for pregnant women and mothers in the early years. I have also had the opportunity to attend births with highly skilled doulas and learnt so much through these opportunities.
Motherhood Studies Practitioner Certification Training
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This course has been the missing piece for me, finally filled. In my years of study and work in ‘holistic medicine’ I have encountered a complete lack of acknowledgment of the systems and structures that have the power to detrimentally impact our health outcomes. This training has helped me to understand how our cultural practices and embedded ideologies influence the situations we find ourselves in. These illuminations have been deeply enriching, and helps provide a framework to understand all the common threads I have been putting together myself over my years in clinic.