It is a holistic approach where you also look at the bigger picture: your general health, your sleep, whether you have had children… As an osteopath, you are focused on restoring balance in the body and activating its self-healing capacity. To give an example: suppose you have pain in your knee. Where a physiotherapist only looks at your knee, I also examine your ankle and hip to see where you are out of balance. It is so interesting how the body works. That was also what attracted me to this profession: it is scientifically challenging and you immerse yourself in people.
I had been working as an osteopath for three years in Melbourne, where I come from. After Covid, my girlfriend and I had a great desire to live and work in Europe for a while. We thought it would be a great experience to get to know ourselves better and to see more of the world. And to be accredited here in the Netherlands, I had to learn the language. I had always wanted to learn a second language, so I was happy to do it. But it was hard work! That grammar with all those exceptions! My Dutch teacher said: ‘Don’t ask yourself why something is like that. Just learn it by heart.’ And that’s what I did.
With full gusto! We have already made so many beautiful trips from here. But also being in Amsterdam itself is fantastic. Meeting new people from different countries, the festivals, the cultural excursions, there is always something to do. A fixed tradition is to go to the Noordermarkt with my girlfriend on Saturday and be inspired by the fresh offer. Last week we bought and prepared a kilo of octopus!
