Blue Mountains Acupuncture
Meet Our Practitioners
Samantha Pledge
Sam has had a long-standing interest in natural medicine, first becoming interested in the use of herbs for medicine at a young age. Upon finishing high school, she undertook a Health Science degree at Western Sydney University, in Naturopathy. Graduating in 2005, the degree helped her establish a solid knowledge base in Western herbal medicine, nutrition and dietary therapy, and remedial massage therapy.
After working in the industry for several years, gaining life experience through travel and children, she then decided to expand her therapeutic tool box, and enrolled in the Traditional Chinese medicine degree at the University of Technology, Sydney. This degree encompassed Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and moxibustion, Chinese dietary therapy, and Chinese physical therapies. With a background encompassing both naturopathic medicine and Chinese medicine, Samantha is able to view your signs and symptoms holistically from both an Eastern and Western perspective.
Utilising Chinese medicine theory as the foundation for all her treatments, she will combine acupuncture, dietary therapy, Chinese herbal medicines and naturopathic principles where indicated, to help you achieve and maintain your best mind-body health.
Dane Couter
Dane graduated from UTS with a Bachelor of Health Science in Traditional Chinese medicine in 2006. Before finding his passion for Chinese medicine, he spent several years studying Human Biology at the University of Canberra. Dane is a teacher in the Health Sciences faculty of The College, Western Sydney University, and a casual teaching assistant at UTS. Dane is undertaking a Masters by Research investigating the use of acupuncture for stress in tertiary students.
Having spent a large amount of his childhood and adolescent years training and competing in martial arts, Dane has a strong understanding of body mechanics and injury. He is experienced at managing various kinds of sports injuries, as well as general conditions involving pain. He also has a strong interest in women’s health, having supported many couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology including IVF.
As a Blue Mountains local, Dane has developed a keen interest in outdoor sports including rock climbing, canyoning and trail running. Dane has been practicing in Glenbrook at the Glenbrook Wholistic Health Centre since 2011, and is proud to be able to support the health of his local community through Chinese medicine.
