How Circe Health’s Healthcare Booking Platform Modernizes Online Access Through Digital Innovation
This week we’ve got a guest post for you from Nicky van Breugel, the founder of Circe Health. Circe [sur-see] is the UK’s first complementary healthcare booking platform designed to modernise access through digital innovation.
It can be a challenge to navigate the Wild West of the holistic healthcare space, and Circe’s platform is designed to give you easy access to a wide network of expert, vetted acupuncturists, osteopaths, functional medicine doctors, reflexologists and more.
As we know, our mental and physical health are linked through the mind-body connection, and we’re big believers in combining psychotherapy with physical treatments to support holistic well-being. So we’ve partnered up with Circe to hear more about what it is that they do in this space.
Below is our conversation with Nicky on her plans and purpose behind building Circe.
Over to you, Nicky!
Practical Self-Love Strategies for Mental Well-being:
Circe Health is an online platform designed to improve access to complementary healthcare. We’ve got some of the best practitioners in the country at the touch of a button, in person and online. You can browse our network of acupuncturists, osteopaths, functional medicine doctors and reflexologists to find the right treatments based on your personal preferences.
With Circe’s personalised search tool, you can find your practitioner match online or in the area you prefer – whether it’s close to home or close to work, Circe’s network of expert practitioners are located all across London.
From Acton to Battersea, Camden, Hackney, Marylebone, Shoreditch, Vauxhall, and many more boroughs! And, we have expert practitioners who specialise in all kinds of health areas, from women’s health to pain management and mental health, so you can also search based on your specific symptoms.
But if you’re not sure what treatment might be best for you, we also offer a matching service to help you find the right match.
Circe Health isn’t just like any other booking platform, we’re dedicated to bringing our customers the very best of evidence-based holistic healthcare while partnering with forward-thinking practitioners who share our vision to expand access to holistic health.
By modernising access to holistic healthcare and supporting practitioners in building thriving practices, we aim to raise the bar for the industry and play our part in building an integrative healthcare model!
That’s also why this partnership with HQ Therapy is so meaningful to us because we’re connecting the silo’s in our healthcare system to benefit all those looking for holistic, personalised care and get back to thriving mental and physical health again.
So how can these complementary therapies support anyone looking after their emotional well-being and mental health?:
One of the Hackney-based osteopaths in Circe’s network, Sundip Balraj Singh Aujla (M.Ost.), wrote a really insightful piece on the mind-body connection and how complementary therapies can support emotional well-being and health.
You can find the full article on our blog HERE, but just to highlight, here are some of his words:
“Emotions are not solely contained within the mind but are also embodied experiences, expressed through the physical body. Therefore, patterns of muscular tension can manifest as physical manifestations of emotional experiences. For example, feelings of stress or anxiety may result in tightness in certain muscle groups, while feelings of relaxation may lead to a more open and fluid bodily posture. Conversely, these patterns of muscular tension also have the power to influence our emotional experiences. By consciously working with our bodies and releasing habitual patterns of tension, individuals can create space for greater emotional awareness and regulation.”
So when you’re investing time and energy in improving your emotional well-being, the combination of psychotherapy and physical treatments to support your body’s healing can be a very impactful support! From osteopathy to acupuncture, craniosacral therapy and reflexology; there’s multiple options to choose from depending on your needs.
What led you to building Circe Health?:
Circe Health was born from my belief that everyone deserves easy access to evidence-based holistic healthcare so we can all receive care that treats the whole you and gets to the root cause of your symptoms. And it was my own personal experience that led me to the idea of building Circe’s online platform.
When I went through health challenges that couldn’t be resolved by conventional care, I started looking for a more holistic approach to get the support I needed. But quickly discovered the lack of information and barriers to access. I know I’m absolutely not the only one with this experience, given the many people I’ve spoken to since starting to toy with the idea of building Circe Health.
It’s very rewarding to now be able to help so many others find holistic care that truly helps them on their journey! Because in the world of complementary, holistic healthcare it can be difficult to know where to start, and who to trust.
How do you know which treatment is right for you? And even with some recommendations from friends I still found it difficult to find the right practitioner that was a match for my needs. So I wasn’t sure where to go for guidance on which treatment might be a good fit for my symptoms, and who I could trust with my health conditions.
Eventually, after many Google searches, and trial and error, I did find amazing practitioners who helped me back on my feet. And so my fascination for complementary healthcare was official!
In the years since then, I went on to meet more brilliant practitioners, hear their inspiring stories and learn from their wealth of knowledge. And as a result, Circe Health is here as a trusted and modern guide that celebrates holistic healthcare, the important work practitioners do and the positive impact they have on people’s lives.
How does Circe Health support practitioners?:
We support holistic health practitioners in many ways, from website design to free business resources on growing their practice, and our booking platform of course helps them connect with new clients.
There’s so much that comes with building a career in this space, whether you’re setting up your own practice or work as part of a team that’s managed by a clinic owner. Especially with our lives taking place online so much now, I’ve noticed how underserved holistic health practitioners are when it comes to business support on how to build their online presence and connect with potential clients who are looking for them online.
So that’s an area we prioritise at Circe; providing modern business support that helps them build thriving businesses that suit their unique needs as holistic healthcare practitioners.
As I shared, we have a curated network of expert practitioners across London who are listed on our booking platform and we help them connect with new clients, but that’s not the only thing we do!
I write a free newsletter called The Well, which you could see as a kind of gathering place for holistic healthcare practitioners, with business support resources, behind-the-scenes stories from colleagues and useful market insights including research highlights that keep them in the know while they’re busy in their clinics.
We also host online events for an international community of holistic health practitioners and wellness professionals, covering topics like how to write effective content and how to build a sustainable business. Plus, we just launched Circe Studio where we offer tailored products like website design and consultancy for clinics and individual practitioners at all stages of their careers.
It’s an exciting time to see the community of practitioners coming together, and for Circe to be able to support them in building fulfilling careers!
Thank you Nicky for sharing your story, how do we stay in touch?:
“Thank you for having me, it’s been a pleasure and I’m excited to be partnering with Therapy HQ to spread the word about holistic healthcare!
You can find us online at www.circehealth.co or on Instagram.
And please do not hesitate to reach out to Circe Health.
Whether you’re on your healing journey and looking for the right holistic healthcare treatment to help you, or you’re a practitioner looking for business support you can contact me at [email protected].”
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