About

Joanna Ellner

Credentials

Awarded a First Class BSc Hons degree in Chinese Medicine: Acupuncture at the prestigious University of Westminster, and during this time completed a placement at the NHS Gateway Community Clinic, in London.

Licensed by the British Acupuncture Council, of which she is also a member, Joanna is continually engaged in continuous professional development and complies with the BAcC’s framework of safe, ethical practice. She holds a current QA Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF) certificate.

I found Chinese Medicine early — as an eleven-year-old with acute seasonal allergies. Acupuncture enabled me to breathe freely, to ride my bike outdoors, and to be liberated from the asthma that had bound me.

Later, after completing a BA hons degree in English & Publishing in 2006, I joined the world of fashion magazines as a wide-eyed beauty intern, fascinated by expressions of ‘beauty’ in their myriad forms. Beauty Editor and Beauty Director positions followed at The Sunday Times, Style and Stylist magazine, respectively, for which I was honoured to receive nine awards for journalism between 2007 and 2016. It was performance-based skincare that I fixed my gaze upon, a thread which I continue to weave through treatments today.

In 2013, I found acupuncture once again – this time further afield, on the shores of Hainan Province, off the coast of China, where I’d been sent to review a health spa. There, a respected TCM doctor checked my tongue and pulse before listing, via a translator, every major and minor ailment that had ever befallen my body. I was floored. From that moment, the seed was sewn.

The years that followed were spent delving into the founding principles of Chinese Medicine. This, in tandem with a growing sense of disillusionment in writing about beauty trends, left me resolute that the pathway to wellness was an inside job. In 2016, I began training full time to be an acupuncture practitioner.

Two years later, I gave birth to my daughter, Noah. As a working mother, I hold a deep affinity for the often-complex journey women travel between career and motherhood and I’m committed to supporting their physical and emotional bodies so that they may confidently navigate both worlds.

Acupuncture has formed an ever-present thread in my life — soothing the menstrual cramps that rendered me immobile in my twenties and clearing the debilitating migraines took hold in my thirties, enabling me to eschew conventional forms of medication and practice greater agency over my health. I’m now honoured to extend that same healing to other women and witness it making a profound difference to their lives, too.

This site uses uses cookies to perform necessary web functionality, improving your experience. By using this site, you agree to the cookie policy.