About us

The first bigroom acupuncture clinic was founded in Oxford by Charlotte and Tom Brydon-Smith, in 2006. They joined forces with Tom Kennedy in 2009 to open new bigroom acupuncture clinics in Bristol.

Charlotte graduated in 2003 from the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading, and went on to study further in Five Element acupuncture. However, it was during her experience working in Sri Lanka as part of the Tsunami Relief effort, that she became convinced of the benefits of multi-bed clinics.

Charlotte has undertaken further training in psychotherapy, life coaching and counselling. In addition to her acupuncture practice Charlotte enjoys teaching at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading and editing a Chinese magazine called Jing Shen.

Tom graduated in 2004 from the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading. Following on from this, he was asked to stay to assist in treating patients in the college's public clinic where he now runs one of his private practices. Tom is an integrated practitioner trained in both Traditional Chinese medicine and the Five Element system. He is passionate about Five Element acupuncture and has undergone further training.

Tom's background is in medical science and he has an honours degree in Pathobiology. He worked in the science industry for several years before training as an acupuncturist.

Tom is a graduate of the University of Westminster’s BSc Acupuncture degree course, and helped set up and run the Four Gates affordable acupuncture clinic in West London, which opened in 2007. He has worked at several other London venues including the NHS Gateway clinic at Lambeth Hospital. He currently runs a private practice and low-cost clinic at The Natural Health Clinic in Cotham, Bristol.

Tom also uses skills learned in his previous career at the BBC to make educational DVDs and software for acupuncturists and the public - see www.boatyardproductions.co.uk for more details.

Jess studied at the Northern College of Acupuncture in York. She received her license to practise after three years training. She is a member of the British Acupuncture Council , the Acupuncture Childbirth Team (Oxford) and the Acupuncture Fertility Network.
 
Jess became interested in the ‘Big Room’ model after volunteering as an acupuncturist on a number of international trips with World Medicine, a charitable organisation which provides complementary and alternative healthcare to people around the world suffering the effects of trauma, disaster and poverty. These projects adopt a multi-bed model in order to be able to treat as many people as possible. This experience has proved how effective this style of treatment can be on a number of levels, both physically and emotionally.