Traditional acupuncture has the potential to wholly revolutionise global healthcare, but the world has hardly begun to understand the full scope of what we have to offer. This constitutes a unique challenge in communications. As the largest and highest standards body in the UK, the British Acupuncture Council has a special role and responsibility to meet this challenge.
It is in that context that I am delighted to announce the recruitment of two new communications officers: Sandra Hart-Hunt as Member Communications Officer and Maggie Kelly as Public Relations Officer.
Having a deep understanding of what both traditional acupuncture and Chinese medicine have to offer is essential to these communications roles. For this reason, a decision was taken to recruit exclusively from our membership. Sandra and Maggie exemplify both the commitment to our high standards of training and practice and have the professional skills and experience to help us take acupuncture in the UK to the next level.
What is the Member Communications Officer?
At every stage of our journey as a practitioner, from student to qualified pratitioner, we do not tread this path alone. We are part of lineages and traditions that reach back into remote history and extend forward to future generations. The quality of the community that we can reach out to, and that we contribute to, can make all the difference in both our individual progression as a practitioner and the success of this traditional medicine as a whole. It also makes the journey considerably more enjoyable!
If there is one important remit of the Member Communications Officer (MCO), it is to facilitate greater community support at every level. From the online to in-person, we are rethinking how our community can come together from the ground up. The BAcC will shortly be launching its own official Facebook group with direct engagement from BAcC staff, and this is just the start. Step by step, we will be putting in place structures and enhancing existing ones, where members can more readily connect and reach out to each other – to meet colleagues in the same region, come together to achieve common goals, and collectively push forward the cause of acupuncture.
In addition to this, the Member Communications Officer will be responsible for all communications towards members. Sandra will compile our weekly enews and manage any social media and communications channels that are member-facing. This is a vital service to members as the BAcC has a vast range of resources, benefits, and events, and we want to make sure that you get the maximum value from your membership. It is also incredibly important when key messages to support you in safe and legal practice need to be communicated in an effective way that makes sure that you can hear them.
Sandra is ideally suited to this role, having had professional experience in communications and as a practitioner, while also having been engaged with the BAcC community in many contexts over a number of years. She will already be known to many of you as one of the administrators of the unofficial Facebook group and is looking forward to getting to know the rest of the membership!
Sandra Hart-Hunt BSc (Hons) MBAcC
Sandra Hart-Hunt, a BSc (Hons) graduate in TCM acupuncture from Manchester Metropolitan University (2017), has built a thriving clinic in Lancashire, growing it into a full-time practice within a year of graduating. With a background in SEO, social media, and advertising, she also contributed as a regional group coordinator, Membership Services Committee member, and admin of the unofficial BAcC Facebook group. Sandra is excited to connect and strengthen our community, focusing on collaboration and upholding the professional standards that make us shine.
You will find Sandra adding her touches and changes to enews, lots of social media posts and soon be announcing the details for the official launch of the members Facebook group. Please keep an eye on enews for more information.
In the meantime, if you would like to contact Sandra for your ideas and suggestions, please email her on s.hart-hunt@acupuncture.org.uk
What is the Public Relations Officer?
As the Member Communications Officer deals with communications facing the membership, the Public Relations Officer deals with communications facing the public and other external stakeholders such as the government, the NHS, the media, other UK associations and global partners.
We have many challenges to communicate the value of what we do and how we differ from other acupuncturists and other health professions. The depth of our tradition and our traditional training is often difficult to capture in a sound bite. Equally, the high professional standards we hold and the industry leading regulation that we sign up to in the BAcC is often not fully understood by the public.
If we can successfully communicate the value of our tradition and the unique part that the BAcC membership plays in its real-life practice, the sky is the limit as to what we can achieve.
The role of the Public Relations Officer is to make sure that the right messages get out to the public, whether that be through our external facing website and our external facing social media accounts, through campaigns such as Acupuncture Awareness Week, or by responding to and generating stories within the media. By enhancing both the reach and the quality of our messaging, we not only advance the cause of traditional acupuncture, but we also drive traffic back to the membership directory to help refer you more patients, so that they can benefit from your high standards practice.
Maggie not only has a fantastic professional background in TV production and advertising, but she lives and breathes Chinese medicine as both a student at ICOM and in her qigong practice and teaching. Watch this space for opportunities to work together with Maggie in developing communications for future awareness campaigns.
Maggie Kelly – Student MBAcC
Maggie spent twenty years as a TV producer working at Channel 4, Sky, BBC and ITV, before moving into advertising, where she worked as a Creative Director overseeing PR, social and broadcast media campaigns for major UK brands. After discovering qigong and Chinese medicine, she retrained as a Qigong teacher, and recently began her studies in acupuncture at the International College of Oriental Medicine in Sussex where she is currently in her second year. Maggie is passionate about growing the awareness of Chinese medicine and its benefits, as well as shining a light onto the work of the BAcC, and its talented members.
You will notice Maggie posting on our external social media accounts. If you would like to contact Maggie about any PR suggestions, or would just like to introduce yourself, please email her on m.kelly@acupuncture.org.uk
