Introducing Dr. Shelley Axford, Dr. Michael Richardson & Dr. Becca Lehrer!
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Dr. Shelley Axford
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B. (Chiropractic)
Level 3 Certified Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) Chiropractor
Somato-Respiratory Integration (SRI) Wellness Educator / Facilitator
Trauma Release Experience (TRE) – Level 2 Instructor
Dr Shelley Axford graduated from Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne (now RMIT) with a Bachelor degree in Applied Sciences (Chiropractic) in 1991. After her first year in practice a life-threatening illness saw her bed-ridden for 6 months with chronic eczema complicated by episodes of septicaemia and chronic fatigue syndrome. During this period she nearly died twice; once due to severe septicaemia and once due to an adverse drug reaction….. Dr Shelley was introduced to Network Spinal Analysis in Paris in 1992. Though attending as a Chiropractor to learn this new methodology, she saw it as an opportunity to heal herself and spent the rest of 1992 attending workshops and receiving care in dozens of Network offices across the globe. In early 1993 she introduced and pioneered Network Chiropractic in Australia by opening up two clinics, one in country Victoria and one in Melbourne. She has spoken at several Dynamic Growth conferences (Australia’s version of D.E. in the USA), Chiropractic Colleges and various other organisations along with frequent information and demonstration nights that she created in Melbourne to help educate Australian Chiropractors and the general public alike. Shelley introduced The 12 Stages of Healing and SRI to Australia in late 1994. She was on SRI international teaching staff from 1995, working countless Transformational Gates and teaching programs throughout USA, Europe and Australia. She inspired Dr Donny Epstein (founder of Network Chiropractic) to begin his twice yearly teaching visits to Australia in 1996 and was in charge of running registrations and functioning as auxiliary teaching staff through to 2000, when she took time off to begin her family with her partner, Dr Vinnie Monaco (also former NSA staff teacher). The births of her 3 children were monumental to her growth and healing process, both personally and as a practitioner, each successive birth bringing a level of depth and presence to her work that she would not have thought possible! After developing a further two NSA practices on the Gold Coast in the past 10 years, Shelley has now set up her 5th Network practice, on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. Shelley has a unique way of bringing together her profoundly encompassing healing journey and her extensive clinical experience when she works with you, whether in teaching, or in putting her hands on your body. She is passionate about the healing process, and is constantly in awe of the ability of the human Body-Mind to regenerate and re-organise itself, from the mildest stresses that are recurrent everyday through to the most horrific traumas one could possibly imagine. She has seen discs regenerate on XRAY, the Innate Wisdom of the body bend 1cm thick Harrington rods in order to straighten a scoliosis, a child unable to cry for more than 15 years of her childhood, cry her first tear.... She is passionate about facilitating pregnancy and natural childbirth as a rite of passage for women and babies receiving care immediately following birth. With more than 30 years’ experience, she has assisted thousands of people to transform their bodies and their lives. She looks forward to assisting you too!
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Dr Michael Richardson
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(25 years of NSA Chiropractic)
I am so excited to have the opportunity to join this wonderful practice. I am 54 years old, married to Joanna and we have a son Alexander who is 10 and a half years old. My passions are my family, Chiropractic, surfing, gardening, sailing and fishing. My Network journey began in 1995 ( so long ago!) whilst I was still a student at RMIT University in Melbourne, and it was Shelley and her associate Steve Katz who were my first carers and mentors on my journey in this amazing work. I had seen a dramatic effect on my 3month old daughter Genevieve who was suffering torticollis, (frozen neck movement) that no one else could help, we tried everything! At the suggestion of a colleague at Uni we tried NSA, within three visits her problem, after a strong emotional release, was resolved. I was so grateful and inspired that I immediately began to get care for myself. Within weeks, although I had not yet felt any large changes my peers were asking what I was doing differently as I had changed to them. Less stressed, easier to be around and looking healthier. Little did I realise this was only the beginning of the incredible changes I would experience. I so wanted to be able to share this with others. I was very fortunate to be able to attend some of the first NSA seminars in Australia and within the first few hours of my first seminar I knew that this was going to be my Chiropractic passion. My first position out of college in 1998 was in Cottesloe WA with Lucy Le’breque, it was a wonderful place to form a strong foundation in the work. I have since lost count of the number of NSA learning, 12 stages of healing and experiential seminars I have attended over the years. I feel so blessed to have experienced the amazing changes this work has brought to my family, myself personally and the many patients that I have had the privilege to work with. My career has spanned until the current day, mostly working in my own practices in Mt Lawley and Fremantle in WA. The last seven years I have lived with in Yaroomba, doing animal Chiropractic and NSA from home. I look forward to the next chapter of this wonderful NSA and 12 stages journey and I promise to bring all that I can to your care. Hope to meet you soon.
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Dr. Becca Lehrer
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(15 years of Chiropractic Experience)
I am so looking forward to joining the team at Spine Of Life Chiropractic for a short while. In February 2020 I decided to take a few years to travel and study and work, after about 12 years working in Canberra. When the shape of things started to change in the world around us, I seriously considered my options. After a few months, I decided to JUMP! In the last year I have travelled to both ends of our travel bubble, spending most of my time in Perth, and coming to you fresh off the plane after a month in New Zealand. I now find myself excited to spend some of this winter with all of you up here in the warmth. A bit more about me:
While travelling the world in my 20’s I came back to Australia to study Chiropractic at RMIT in Melbourne after realising it was my true passion, graduating in 2006. Within a few years of graduating, I began my training in Network and have pursued as much depth and integration with this work as I can. My true passion is working with the whole person. I am fascinated in what the body tells us about the experience of the person, and how working with the body influences so many aspects of someone's experience in the world. Network is the most consistent tool I have come across that helps people become more flexible in their patterning - physical, emotional, mental etc. When our patterns become less fixed we develop more connection with ourselves and start to express the version of ourselves that is more authentic, rather than the patterns we have adopted in response to our lived experience (and/or trauma). Both the process and the outcomes are so valuable. The process can empower us, bring us so much more resourcefulness and learning - we can be come central to our own story and start to move forward with purpose and curiosity. The outcomes mean we have so much more to give in a more sustainable way. Whenever I have the chance, I always tell people how much I love my career. That I am constantly honoured to work with people every day who share themselves and their lives with me. I am in awe of the courage some of you demonstrate in meeting yourselves and working with so much commitment toward healing - whether your journey has been a series of small challenges or a deep journey towards wholeness. And I delight in the collaboration that I can have with some of you who are simply committed to more joy, more expansiveness, more curiosity and more integration. I look forward so much to meeting you all and walking some of that journey together.
