Jo Wildy graduated from Nottingham University with a degree in Genetics 1983. She carried on her studies towards a PhD at Edinburgh University but, although fascinated by the subject, she did not enjoy the laboratory environment. She switched to the British School of Osteopathy where she graduated in 1988 and began her osteopathic career. Osteopathy has allowed Jo to exercise that side of her brain that enjoys context, lateral thinking and breadth of vision alongside her scientific foundations.
In practice for over 30 years, Jo has had a long term and very special interest in treating patients with historic head trauma and associated mood disorders. She has lectured and examined both in the UK and abroad, was a member of the faculty of the Vienna School of Osteopathy where she taught Osteopathy in the Cranial Field to doctors and physiotherapists. She has written published essays for her profession.
Dissatisfied with the explanations and language offered to her in her own training Jo decided to travel to Belgium where she enrolled (late in her career!) on a further 6 year study programme. The aim of this programme was to gain a greater depth of understanding of living systems through the study of Phylogenesis (Evolution), Ontogenesis (Embryology) and Complexity. The programme provided many answers and a framework on which to hang all her thoughts and ideas. She offers a new and very logical way of understanding health and disease to both orthodox and unorthodox medical professionals and to the patient. Perhaps even to the NHS!
Now Jo has written Mind & Membrain – Head Trauma and Mental Health – a new approach to Diagnosis and Treatment. Jo is not a research scientist, a medical doctor nor a person who sits in authority. However she is a clinician with an enquiring mind who has examined and treated heads for over 30 years. This is something that very few people do, nor even contemplate why they might want to do it.
Jo has lived and worked in Kew, Richmond for over 20 years, She runs a small private practice.
Form versus structure
“Form has a past (a mode of construction), a present and a behaviour (how it organises and maintains itself) and it also has a future. It is constantly changing. The practical skill of an osteopath lies in observation and palpation of the form and then being able to influence it if he finds it to be abnormal – affecting how the form organises and maintains itself in the future”.
JO WILDY