Canadian Chiropractors Wanted in Australia!

THE MOVE TO OZ

I didn’t know what to expect as I traveled to Australia barely a month after I graduated from CMCC. I was just hungry for an experience, a life experience. I had lived in Toronto for 27 years and needed a change.

Practice-wise, I was a blank slate. Tabula rasa. I wanted to learn as much as I could from someone I respected. Someone who would be patient and teach me how to become a competent chiropractor. I was looking to learn how to become a proficient adjuster, a caring and compassionate health practitioner.

I was vying for a mentor, looking for that person who would answer my dumb, repetitive questions and would teach me the basics.

When Nita (a fellow CMCC grad who had worked in OZ) mentioned Melinda and a possible associate position at her clinic in Mackay, I was really eager. Intuitively, I knew that she was exactly what I was looking for, despite never having met Melinda personally, and had only spoken to her and mostly her husband, Iain, a handful of times.

THE DECISION TO GO NORTH

Eric (my boyfriend, an urban planner) and I decided that this seachange was exactly what we both needed. He was looking for a change as well and after having only been dating for six months, we took a leap together. The original plan was to move to Australia and try our luck in Queensland, a booming state filled with possibilities. Melinda’s practice was located in Mackay, North Queensland. When we arrived, Eric was bombarded with job opportunities in Brisbane (the capital of Queensland State). I visited a few clinic opportunities in the city, but my gut instinct told me that Mackay was where I needed to start my career, with the support and coaching Melinda would provide. So after careful contemplation and many, many pros and cons lists later, Eric and I mutually decided that I would take the position in Mackay and he would try his luck in Brisbane to work, where opportunities for urban planners were plentiful. Although only 1.5 hour plane ride north, Mackay seemed an eternity away from Eric. We promised we would visit each other every other weekend and we held to that for the next year and a half.

MACKAY

I traveled to Mackay, a small farming and mining centre in Central North Queensland, not knowing what to expect. After the initial shock of the “rural-ness” of Mackay wore off, I began to see what small town life was all about. Good, loyal and down to earth people.

I began my associateship in September 2007 full of motivation and a thirst to learn. Melinda was a great mentor and I began to learn different methods of adjusting. I began to feel more confident in my skills and slowly started building a patient-base of my own. I started with about 40 regular patients per week, all of whom were being adjusted biweekly or monthly. Soon, the number of weekly patients increased to 90 and I expected an even greater boost in numbers when Melinda went on maternity leave in July 2007. I felt that this could be an opportunity to show patients what I had been learning from my mentor over the last 8 months. I grew in numbers and confidence exponentially and quickly became established as the only female chiropractor in the practice. The clinic’s other young chiropractor and my good friend, David, also thrived in practice growth.

MINERS, FARMERS and TRADIES

We were adjusting miners, cane farmers, tradespeople, really big and tough workmen (or workies, as they call them). Tough patients with really damaged backs. This made me work harder. I recall a few times when these big guys came in and took one look at me and decided that I was going to be useless for their backs. This attitude ignited me and I was set to show them that I was more than capable to help them get better. I am a firm adjustor and recall patients noting to our CA, Gillian, that I “was tiny but packed a punch”. Gillian just smiled at them knowingly. She became one of my biggest fans.

When I left the practice in December 2008, I was regularly adjusting between 130-150 patients per week.

After working in Mackay for 15 months, I decided it was time for a change. I wanted to move into the city and experience another region of Australia. I decided on Brisbane and received 4 offers of associateships and 1 as a partner. I decided to take a position in the heart of Brisbane, Kangaroo Point, and am currently working to build up my practice there.

My advice to those Canadian new chiro grads or those chiros needing a change, even a break from the cold, give Australia a whirl. The climate can’t be beat and the opportunities for chiropractors are endless.

I decided to put this webpage together to help those of you contemplating a move to Australia for work. It is a big step but a rewarding one.