Meet Kimberley
FOUNDER, CLINICAL LEAD + ELECTRO-ACUPUNCTURIST. MBAcC, BaHons, BSc Hons.
Driven by a belief that women deserve to be heard, understood and supported with care that connects the whole picture.
I’m Kimberley, founder and clinical director of Life + Lemons. My work brings together Traditional Chinese Medicine, electro-acupuncture and further training in functional medicine and women’s health, with a particular focus on fertility, endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain.
At the heart of everything I do is a determination to create better care for women whose symptoms have shaped their lives for too long. Women who have been told their pain is normal, who have a diagnosis but little ongoing support, or who are still searching for answers.
I want to help change what that experience looks like. That ambition shapes my clinical practice, the team I bring together and the work I pursue beyond the treatment room.
I'm passionate about supporting strong women that have learnt to live life under a veil of chronic pain or hormonal symptoms. Redefining how we as women access healthcare, diagnosis and treatment.
Kimberley Shepherd
FOUNDER AND LEAD ACUPUNCTURIST
This work is personal
My interest in healthcare began at 19, through my own experience of persistent bladder pain.
I know what it feels like to move between appointments while your symptoms continue to affect your relationships, social life and emotional wellbeing. To want someone to take the time to understand what you are living with, as well as what appears in your medical notes.
Acupuncture became part of a wider approach that helped me manage my symptoms and regain quality of life. Alongside nutritional support and talking therapy, it introduced me to a more connected way of thinking about health.
That experience changed the direction of my life. It made me want to offer other women the listening, continuity and support I had needed myself.
A foundation in Chinese Medicine
I graduated with a First Class Honours degree in acupuncture in York, developing a foundation in Traditional Chinese Medicine and clinical practice.
Chinese medicine taught me to pay close attention to patterns: how symptoms change over time, how different aspects of someone’s health relate to one another, and how their experience fits into the context of their life.
Since qualifying, I have continued to develop that foundation through further training in fertility and reproductive medicine, pain management, electro-acupuncture, functional medicine and women’s health.
Each has brought something valuable to my work. Fertility training deepened my understanding of the complexity and emotional weight of trying to conceive. Electro-acupuncture developed my interest in the relationship between stimulation, physiology and pain. Functional medicine encouraged a broader exploration of health history, lifestyle and potential contributing factors, while my ongoing women’s health education continues to challenge and refine my thinking.
I’m committed to asking questions, examining evidence and being honest about what we know, what remains uncertain and when another professional’s expertise is needed.
Why women's health
These are areas where the need for thoughtful, sustained support is particularly clear.
In practice, I meet women who have organised their lives around pain. Women navigating fertility treatment while trying to hold everything else together. Women whose changing cycles, sleep or energy have left them feeling unfamiliar to themselves.
Their experiences have reinforced my determination to build care that takes the impact of symptoms seriously.
My particular focus on endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain comes from recognising how much can remain unresolved even after a diagnosis. A woman may understand the name of her condition and still need help navigating symptoms, treatment choices and everyday life.
Fertility care has taught me a similar lesson: clinical treatment and human support need to sit alongside one another. People need space to be heard, clear information and continuity through an experience that can feel deeply uncertain.
Building the care I want to see
Life + Lemons grew from my belief that women should have access to practitioners who communicate, share a commitment to their wellbeing and help them understand their options.
As the clinic has developed, so has my vision for it.
I am building personalised care pathways that bring treatment, education, symptom tracking and regular review together. I want us to be clear about what we are working towards, attentive to how someone is responding and willing to adapt when their needs change.
Bringing together practitioners with complementary expertise is central to that vision. Acupuncture, nutritional therapy, pelvic health physiotherapy and other appropriate support each have a role to consider, depending on the individual.
My responsibility as clinical lead is to help make that care feel coherent and purposeful, with the patient involved throughout.
My work beyond the treatment room
My curiosity about electro-acupuncture and bioelectric physiology has also led me into teaching and technology development.
Alongside clinical practice, I teach electro-acupuncture and am developing MyAmber, a wearable stimulation technology project. This work gives me another way to explore questions that matter to me: how we understand pain, how we assess responses to treatment and how future approaches might become more accessible.
Clinical practice keeps those ambitions grounded in people’s lived experiences. Research and development give me space to question what might be possible next.
A relentless commitment to better women’s healthcare
I have a persistent drive to move this work forward.
That means continuing to learn, challenging my own assumptions, developing stronger collaborations and asking how we can better understand the difference our care makes.
My ambition extends beyond my own treatment room. I want to help carve out a new direction for women’s health, where persistent symptoms receive sustained attention, patients have a meaningful voice in their care and practitioners work together more effectively.
For the woman sitting in front of me, that begins with something personal: taking her experience seriously, understanding what matters to her and building the next steps together.
