PATH TO WELLNESS

TAKING THE HOLISTIC APPROACH TO WELLNESS CAN HELP REDUCE THE RISK OF ILLNESS IN THE FUTURE. HEATHER LARGE FINDSOUT MORE FROM AN EXPERT IN THE FIELD

Melissa Pugh, from Shrewsbury, who has set up a new wellness facility in Dogpole, Shrewsbury Her new business, The Wellness

Atelier, are providers of comprehensive care such as fitness/yoga, nutrition, injectables, IV therapy, laser and skin rejuvenation

From the moment acustomer first walks through thedoor of her wellness hub, Melissa Pugh wants them to feel welcome and relaxed.

After eight years working in the NHS and aesthetics industryinLondon, Melissa has returned to Shropshire with the aim of helping people to be ‘the best versions of themselves’.

She has fulfilled along-held dream to open aclinic that takes an holistic approach, offering arange of treatments and services that support physical, mental and social health.

The Wellness Atelier,located within aGeorgian townhouse in Dogpole, Shrewsbury,started welcoming customers at the beginning of January

Alongside awide range of aesthetics treatments, it also offers customers a yoga, pilates and fitness studio, weight management support and nutritional therapy as well as laboratory tests and screenings to allow them to keep on top of their medical needs.

“I wanted to come back to Shropshire to build awellness hub that is welcoming for absolutely everyone to feel asense of comfortand peace knowing they are bettering themselves,” explains Melissa.

Melissa graduated with aBachelor of Science degree in registered nursing from King’s College university before beginning her first nursing post at the world-renowned St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

Later,she moved into the aesthetics industry,working alongside leading plastic surgeons in the capital’s Harley Street.

Alongside continuing to provide support for NHSservices and running The Wellness Atelier,she is atrainer at Interface Aesthetics and an ambassador for the melanoma andnon-melanoma skin cancer charity Skcin.

Melissa also regularly attends educational workshops to ensure she can educate andpromote safer practice within the aesthetics sector.Among the services offered by The Wellness Atelier are anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers and laser/IPL treatment forunwanted hair,pigmentation, broken capillaries and thread veins.

“Aesthetics is only one element of the clinic but unfortunately the industry is not well regulated and there is ahuge amount of misinformation when it comes to treatments and skincare online.

“Aesthetic treatments should only be conducted by medically trained professionals who understand facial anatomy and how to deal with complications, not only that, medical professionals can alsosupport individuals who may be suffering with Body Dysmorphic Disorder –a disorder which has sky-rocketed since the use of social media.

“I wanted to create asafe haven where people can come to knowing that they are being treated both safely and ethically

“I have found that there was agap in Shropshire for wellness and therefore created this serene space which focuses on all aspects of health andweare committed to supporting individuals through their whole wellness journey,” she explains.

Melissa believes prevention is always better than cure and that by taking an holistic approach to both physical and mental heath, it canhelpreduce the risk of illness in the future.

“After being diagnosed with alongterm health condition at the age of 11 which completely changed my life, I saw the damaging effects it was having, not just to my physical health but my emotional and social health.

“When Ientered my nursing degree, it became very evident to me the importance of treating patients with an holistic approach, meaning we consider all aspects of health including physical, social, emotional and intellectual.

“When one element of health is affected, you can see the cascading effects it has on our complete system, depression and anxiety may arise and individuals easily end up with co-morbidities that could have been prevented in the first place.

“It is apparent that as anation, we do not provide enough support and education to prevent ill health from occurring in the first place and unfortunately treat ill health when it arises.

“More needs to be done to support individuals in actively making better choices to optimise health and well-being but ultimately to prevent ill health or disease before it occurs,” she explains.

Melissa is also keen to support the increasing numbers of people choosing to proactively take steps to improve their health and wellbeing, especially in the wake of the Covid pandemic and growing pressures on the NHS.

“Biohacking is aconcept by which individuals take ownership of their health and make incremental changes to their bodies through diet, lifestyle, treatments, exercise etc. to improve their health and wellbeing. We essentially support people in doing this to help prevent ill health,” she explains.

Making adifferencetopeople’s lives is the most enjoyable and rewarding part of Melissa’s work and she’s looking forward to helping more people in Shropshire. “I love the transformation in terms of people’s journeys. I’ve helped so many people transform their lives and feel better about themselves. It’s amazing to see the difference in people,” she says.

Since opening, the clinic and its team of medical staff and instructors have received apositive response from the community.“The feedback has been amazing. People say it looks beautiful, which is very nice. Ihave tried very hard to create avery calming environment for people,” says Melissa. “No matter what their reason for coming to the clinic is,we can support them.” n Formore information, see www thewellnessatelier.co.uk