ATMS extends huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists in our annual Natural Medicine Awards for 2023!
On Friday 10 November, the 2023 Practitioner of the Year, Clinic of the Year and Student of the Year winners were announced at the ATMS Awards Gala Dinner. All winners demonstrated excellence in their contributions to their modalities, industry, and overall commitment to the advancement of the health of the Australian community.
Special thanks to everyone who entered or nominated in the awards. We had an impressive volume of entrants, and we applaud the efforts of every single entrant for their contribution to natural medicine in Australia.
We are thrilled to introduce the 2023 winners for the ATMS Natural Medicine Awards!
Meet your 2023 Practitioner of the Year
Carla Wrenn
Naturopath and Nutritionist
Peninsula Herbal Dispensary
Carla Wrenn is a qualified Naturopath with over 20 years of experience.
Carla studied for five years at the Australian College of Natural Medicine, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Health Science in Naturopathy and Diplomas in Naturopathy, Nutrition, Herbal Medicine and Classical Homoeopathy. Carla continually studies and has completed postgraduate studies in Integrative Oncology, Autoimmune Diseases and Functional Medicine.
Carla is a passionate integrative medicine practitioner, with the professional aim to change statistics on the complex and chronic disease crisis in Australia and around the world.
Carla predominantly consults with patients experiencing complex health complaints and those requiring Oncology support before, during or after their treatment. Carla uses a holistic assessment approach to provide each person with an individualised and integrative treatment strategy, using nutritional and herbal medicine, diet and lifestyle advice to achieve significant health improvements and restore optimal health status.
Our Practitioner of the Year finalists:
Rebecca Winter
Remedial Massage Therapist and Myofascial Therapist
North Avoca Holistic Wellbeing
Rebecca completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 2007, however couldn’t find any career that she particularly wanted to do. Rebecca enrolled at Nature Care College to study a short course in Swedish Massage and fell in love with it.
Rebecca completed a Diploma of Remedial Massage at the College of Natural Therapies Holgate where she specialised in Remedial Massage, Trigger Point and Hot stone Therapy. Additionally, she offers Therapeutic, Pregnancy, Sports, Lymphatic and Myofascial Release.
One of her specialities is in the treatment of frozen shoulders. Increasing the range of movement and decreasing painful symptoms, through the use of combined Trigger Point, Bowen, and Myofascial techniques. Rebecca says, “there is nothing better than being able to alleviate someone’s pain.”
Kimmi Katte
Clinical Nutritionist and Lifestyle Expert in Lymphoedema and Lipoedema Management
Kimmi Katte Nutritional Synergy
A dedicated Clinical Nutritionist and someone who personally understands the challenges of living with lipoedema and lymphoedema, Kimmi Katte provides compassionate support and guidance for improved health and well-being.
Kimmi specialises in working with women who face these unique conditions, tailoring her approach to address specific needs and goals. With a deep understanding of the complex relationship between nutrition and these conditions, Kimmi’s mission is to empower clients with the knowledge and tools necessary to make positive, lasting changes.
Kimmi studied Nutritional Medicine and practiced as a Clinical Nutritionist. She is passionate about reimagining nutrition protocols for lymphoedema and lipoedema, working almost exclusively with women who have these conditions. Kimmi brings delicious food, science, lifestyle modifications, and practical tools to the forefront of helping patients.
Liza Twohill
Naturopath
Liza Twohill Holistic Health
Liza Twohill is a highly skilled and experienced Naturopathic clinician who has been in clinical practice since 1998. She is a business owner, educator, speaker, mentor and is involved in research.
Liza specialises in burn-out and the impact chronic stress has on health outcomes. Most of her patients present with fatigue, anxiety, depression, food sensitivities and complex health issues. Liza has a high level of clinical knowledge, experience, and expertise in the practical elements of patient care, the application of pathology, food as medicine and lifestyle medicine. Liza is skilled in a wide range of health conditions, treating newborn babies to the frail aged
Liza has worked in regional and remote health practices since 2004 both as a sole practitioner and in a multidisciplinary medical practice. Her passion is in grassroots evidence based complementary medicine and her focus is to empower, educate and assist healing for her patients. Her aim is to work collaboratively with fellow medical and allied health practitioners within the primary healthcare sector.
2023 Clinic of the Year winner
Jackie’s Sports Massage
jackiessportsmassage.com.au
Jackie’s Sports Massage is a Remedial Massage centre for all types of people and fitness levels. From busy corporates, occasional gym goers, athletes, Mums and Dads, pregnant ladies and even high school kids.
Established over 28 years ago by Jackie Messaike in Sydney, the mission is pain relief and body awareness for all body types and fitness levels. They aim to help people achieve and maintain a high level of health and wellbeing so they can reach their personal fitness, work or life goals pain and injury free. The team are passionate about massage excellence and providing a premium service.
They want to educate everyone on the importance of regular remedial massage therapy for all stages in life – “The greatest wealth is health”.
Our Clinic of the Year finalists:
Life Essence Natural Therapies & Counselling Centre
lifeessence.com.au
Providing natural and holistic health care to individuals, families and workplaces for the last 18 years. Clients describe Life Essence as a sacred place where they come to improve their health and wellbeing on all levels – body, mind and soul. It is a place where they feel at peace as soon as they step through the front door.
Sonja Meier is the founder and owner of Life Essence Natural Therapies & Counselling Centre, located in Beenleigh QLD.
Rebalance Chinese Medicine
rebalancetcm.com
Rebalance Chinese Medicine based in Melbourne, offers services in Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, Moxibustion, and Cupping. The team have a passion for treating women’s health, fertility, infertility, pregnancy, post natal care, anxiety, depression, digestive disorders, migraines, headaches, pain management, insomnia and many other issues.
Julia Bartrop is the owner and founder of Rebalance, she is a qualified Chinese Medicine practitioner who has a Bachelor of Applied Science, and Cert IV in Massage.
Tonic Natural Health
tonicnaturalhealth.com.au
Tonic Natural Health Centre is located in Adamstown, NSW. Their aim is to enlighten and help clients work proactively to ensure optimum health. They don’t have a “one size fits all policy” understanding clients don’t have a “one size fits all” history or genetic make-up.
Led by Kylie Armstrong, a Medical Herbalist completing a Bachelor in Health Science, with 20 years’ experience, Tonic Natural Health use the best that nature has to offer in the form of herbal remedies and nutritional remedies, often only using food as medicine.
2023 Student of the Year winner
Olivia Croker
Endeavour College of Natural Health – Sydney
Olivia Croker is a fourth-year naturopathy student at Endeavour College of Natural Health. She is committed to becoming a knowledgeable, capable and competent Naturopath, living her mission of providing affordable, accessible and effective health promotion education to individuals and communities.
Olivia is active in her learning and has been a part of the Student Partners program since 2020. This program involves monthly meetings with the Student Life team, escalating student feedback, organising student-led projects and campus events in collaboration with the college, writing newsletters summarising the Student Partner achievements, representing on college councils and committees and contributing to the ongoing development of the Peer-Assisted Study Session (PASS) program as the mentoring leader.
Olivia also contributed to the global health community through a Public Health and Nutrition project in Fiji in June 2023. For two weeks, she travelled to urban and rural Fijian villages delivering nutrition education and providing basic health checks to identify individuals at risk of non-communicable diseases alongside a team of health professionals.
Our Student of the Year finalists:
Deb Sant
Australian Institute of Fitness – Adelaide
Deb Sant is a registered Nurse, Massage Therapist and is currently studying a Diploma of Remedial Massage, at the Australian Institute of Fitness. Her goal is to study oncology massage and LDM with a view to assisting client’s comfort through their treatment and beyond. Deb is passionate about women’s wellness and fitness as they age, with further designs to study this in the future.
Deb also volunteers at her local football club as a Remedial Massage Therapist as well as assisting with sports training throughout training sessions and game days for both men’s and women’s teams.
Rah Cechellero
Torrens University – Sydney
Rah Cechellero is a fourth year Naturopath regional student passionate about Naturopathic care for women’s health and fertility. Every week Rah makes a 12-hour round-trip to see clients in student clinic in Surry Hills.
When not on the road, Rah works in a dispensary assisting a qualified herbalist and encourages the local community to try evidence-based herbal or nutritional support for their health conditions.
During her time studying, Rah has created 4 different social groups to support new students who are enrolling or are in their first few years of study. She also helped create a low-cost herbal dispensary providing low to no cost herbal tinctures to healthcare card holders, seniors, and our local elders. Rah is really passionate about getting herbal medicine back into the communities’ hands!
Christopher Loukas
RMIT – Melbourne
Christopher Loukas has been a stand-out student in the first two years of study at RMIT, firstly in the Diploma of Remedial Massage, which he completed in June 2023, and now completing an Advanced Diploma of Myotherapy. Not only has Chris had excellent results in all his studies, but he has also gone above and beyond to mentor his classmates and ensure all students can reach a higher standard. Chris has jumped at opportunities for external placements and received excellent feedback on his professional demeanour.
Chris has volunteered as a part of an optional student placement with the RMIT treatment team at the Essendon Football Club with the AFLW team. Chris treated the team for one season to ensure that the players optimised their recovery between games. He received excellent feedback from the head of medical at the club. Chris also joined a local allied health practice during his studies of Remedial Massage and received additional guidance from the experienced clinicians. This experience resulted in Chris being able to offer reduced-cost treatments to the local community whilst he completed his training.
A big thank you to all our finalists, and those who nominated and applied for the awards in 2023.
Congratulations to all our winners!
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