Osteopathy since 1991… So how does that work?
Osteo Republic was founded in 2021 by me, Dr Michael Kelly, but the clinic flies the banner “Osteopathy since 1991”. So how does that work?
Well, the story goes like this…
I studied to become an Osteopath between 1986 and 1990 at Phillip Institute of Technology (now RMIT Bundoora campus). The course was new in 1986 and in 1991 I was in the first group ever to graduate into a profession that had thirty-nine osteopaths in Victoria at that time.
With such a small profession there wasn’t much work about so I moved to NSW to find my fortune (sic). I spent three months in Nowra working for Michael Barwick when he went off overseas, then I took a position as an osteopath/masseur at The Man From Snowy River Hotel in Perisher Valley, part of NSW’s Perisher-Blue Cow snowfields. I think this was a first in Australia; an osteopath working full time in a pub in a ski resort!
Once the snow melted I moved again and settled at Osteopathic Group Services in Dee Why on the northern beaches of Sydney. The next three years there was like an apprenticeship with a bunch of very senior osteopaths who had a philosophy of teaching on the job to new people who joined their clinic. Their generosity stayed with me so when I returned to Melbourne in 1995 and began working in St Georges Road Northcote I took teaching roles at both RMIT and Victoria Universities to share what I had learned in practice.
The first rule of teaching is always “Never let the students know how much you learn from them” so I continued teaching and learning at RMIT until 2016 when the Uni took a change of direction.
My many roles in teaching over the years has seen me as the President of the Osteopathy Australia’s Continuing Professional Development Committee, I wrote articles for years on manipulation in the Osteopathic Associations’ quarterly newsletter, I presented at national osteopathic seminars, I spoke at little weekend seminars on manipulation around Australia, I organised two day multi speaker seminars in the snowfields at Mount Hotham in Victoria and Hakuba Japan, I taught two week-long courses on diagnosis and manipulation to osteopathic students in Tokushima Japan, and I had five trips to India to supervise Australian osteopathic students on hospital placement.
So back to the question we started with:
Osteopathy since 1991… So how does that work?
I have been an Osteopath since 1991 so when you see me for treatment you get Osteopathy since 1991. But what about if you see someone else at Osteo Republic who doesn’t seem as old as me?
Anyone who joins The Republic has access to me and to Osteopathy since 1991. But as this is a republic, a group of people working as equals in the same sphere or field, it’s not my role to be the hero but to be the guide and bring out the best in people.
“You should respect your elder’s advice, not because they are always right, but because they have more experience of being wrong.”
“Osteopathy since 1991” doesn’t’ just happen without effort. There is structure and organisation at Osteo Republic to ensure that what I have learnt gets passed on effectively; a day by day, week by week process that everyone here has to sign onto - a commitment to provide an experience consistent with “Osteopathy since 1991.”
That’s who we are and that’s what Osteo Republic is.
The Best of 1991.
Dr Michael Kelly B.App.Sc.(Osteo) graduation photo 1991.
Triple J Hottest 100 winner 1991.
http://www.livenirvana.com/digitalnirvana/discography/nirvana/dgcs_5.html
