Starting Without the Stress 
Being plain about this, because it is the commonest reason people book here. An hour of massage or acupuncture reliably changes how you feel for a day or two. Most people sleep better that night, carry their shoulders lower, and notice their jaw has unclenched. That is a real effect and it is temporary.
What it does not do is change the demand that produced the tension, which is why the same pattern returns by the following week. A monthly appointment because you like how you feel afterwards is perfectly sensible and needs no clinical justification. A twelve-session package sold as a treatment for stress is a different proposition and we do not offer one.
Where treatment here does more than that: when the tension has produced a specific problem — tension headaches that have become regular, a neck that is now restricted, jaw pain, sleep that has not been right in months. Those get an assessment, a plan with something you do between appointments, and a review.
Where it goes elsewhere: persistent low mood, panic attacks, avoidance, or drinking more to cope all belong with your GP and a mental health treatment plan for psychology sessions. Lifeline is 13 11 14 if you need someone now.
We are in Lane Cove at 2 Austin Street, opposite the library. Tell us about blood thinners, pregnancy and recent procedures before treatment.
Most people put this off longer than they meant to. Not because the problem went away, but because booking means admitting it is a problem, and because nobody wants to arrive somewhere and discover they have come to the wrong place.
So before anything else: asking costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You can describe what is going on, hear whether it is something we work with, and decide afterwards. Plenty of those conversations end with us pointing someone somewhere else, and that is a perfectly good outcome.
You do not need a referral. You do not need a diagnosis. You do not need to have tried everything else first, and you do not need to have it clearly explained in your head — "I just do not feel right" is a reasonable way to start, and it is how a lot of people start.
You also do not need to be in crisis to deserve an appointment. Waiting until something is unbearable makes it harder to shift, not easier.
Any test results, scans or specialist letters. A list of what you are taking, including supplements. And if you can, a rough sense of when this started and what makes it better or worse — not a timeline to the day, just the shape of it.
If you have none of that, come anyway. It is a first appointment, not an exam.
Three things worth asking before you commit to anything:
This kind of care works over weeks. If you are dealing with severe pain that came on suddenly, a serious injury, chest pain, or thoughts of harming yourself, that needs a doctor or an emergency service now — not an appointment next week. In Australia, 000 is the emergency number and Lifeline is 13 11 14, at any hour.
When you want to take the next step, the contact page is the way in. The next thing that happens is the first consultation, and it is worth knowing what that looks like before you walk in.
