Karen Robinson – BSc (Hons) Ost. – Clinical Director

Karen is the Clinical Director of Shefford Osteopathic Clinic,  which she established in 2000.

Karen has been in private practice since graduating in 1997 from the European School of Osteopathy. She has been a clinic tutor at the British School of Osteopathy and on the international teaching faculty at the European School of Osteopathy.

Karen was President and Chairman of the British Osteopathic Association from 2006-2008, which is now the Institute of Osteopathy, and she remains a member. She is also registered with the General Osteopathic Council and the British Medical Acupuncture Association.

Karen is firmly committed to updating her skills and knowledge. In the past 20 years she has completed a large variety of courses and subjects. These include: Paediatric and Cranial Osteopathy, Medical Acupuncture, Shiatsu, Ergonomic assessment and DSE assessor (see our Ergonomic Assessments page), First Aid, and MRI imaging.

In the last couple of years she has been:

• Training in Systemic/Family constellations – a facilitated process that reveals hidden dynamics and resources that can bring resolution to internal issues within any relational system (personal, professional or organisational),
• Studying an online Pain Management course, and
• Researching into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how an unresolved trauma may present years later as pain.

Karen is not offering clinical sessions at this time.  She is spending time supporting the practitioners and making sure that the clinic continues to offer the high quality of care that it has become known for over the past 20 years. You will find her now writing health information blogs and she is continuing to expand her knowledge by being currently enrolled on a MindBody Therapy 300 hours certificate course.  She is thoroughly enjoying this and is bringing this way of working with body and mind to her individual monthly meetings with the team members.

Karen says:

“I have been practising now for over 20 years and it was a difficult, but necessary, decision following a family bereavement to step away from the clinical hands-on involvement with people.  I will miss working and supporting patients individually, but am hopeful that I will return in the future.  I am now embracing a new role, where I will be able to spend time supporting the practitioners and working on the clinic, making sure that we not only continue to provide the exceptional care that we are known for, but to look at the future and what the local community will be needing – and how Shefford Osteopathic Clinic can provide it.

“Outside of the Clinic I try to practice what I preach with regular meditation, practising yoga, growing my own vegetables, playing the piano and spending time with my family and pets.”

We asked Karen:

What do you love about your job?

“I love working with my practitioners, and discussing how we view health, how we find health, how we can work with our patients helping them find health so that they can live their lives fully.  I am passionate about providing health care to the local community, and am looking forward to developing what we offer here at the clinic. Whilst we may not be able to help everyone all of the time, I know that we do help many people most of the time.”

What is your best piece of lifestyle advice?

“Get to know and listen to YOUR body. It really does tell us what is going on for us, but many of us have forgotten how to listen and the wisdom the body has. Simple things such as going to bed or resting when we are tired. Eating when we are hungry. If we are ill we need to rest and allow our body to fight the bugs and then repair, heal and recover. Many of us feel the need to get back to work a.s.a.p, taking medication to do so, using caffeine and sugar to get us through the day – not necessarily the best course of action for our well-being.”