A Letter to Our Patients
Dear Patients,
As many of you know, The Grove Chinese Medicine Clinic has for a long time been a family business. Founded by my father almost 40 years ago, we have run The Grove together for the last 9 years, with my focus on the dispensary, and Steve’s on the clinic, practitioners, and patients.
Steve was a world-renowned practitioner, teacher, author and translator, and through his influence, the clinic has long been a hub for those drawn to Chinese herbal medicine.
We opened The Herb Grove Dispensary 8 years ago. This is a service for practitioners working at other clinics, allowing them to utilise our extensive dispensary, herbal knowledge, and expertise to prescribe herbal medicine for their patients. Steve’s legacy was always to encourage and facilitate the use of Chinese herbal medicine in Australia, and The Herb Grove is a realisation of that dream.
In 2023, Steve was diagnosed with cancer, and he passed away in August 2024. During this period, we had many discussions about the clinic and The Herb Grove Dispensary, and how we could best continue to provide herbal medicine to patients into the future. With The Herb Grove Dispensary growing beyond our space in Hawthorn and buzzing with practitioners’ prescriptions, we made the decision that when the time was right, The Grove Chinese Medicine Clinic and The Herb Grove Dispensary would continue forward, separate but connected - each able to focus fully on what they do best.
That time arrived in 2025 with the news that my wife and I would be having a son, and being close to our home on the Mornington Peninsula became my highest priority.
With this in mind, I began looking for the right custodians to take The Grove forward - practitioners who embody the culture, ideals, ethics, and expertise that Steve, Tilly, Maureen, Davina, Mary-Jo, Cassie, Anna, Jin, Maddie, and all the practitioners, staff, students, and patients have helped build over the past 40 years.
Meeting Steven Sass in reception at the clinic, I was struck by his warmth and thoughtfulness, and when we spoke about our fathers, he gave me a hug. His colleague and friend, Liren Wong, is kind and knowledgeable, and comes from a family of Chinese medicine practitioners. After meeting many potential practitioners over the past 8 months, I knew these were practitioners who embodied the values that The Grove has always held.
Michael Lingham, the third member of their group, is humble and soft spoken, Australian-born and fluent in Mandarin, and a renowned translator of Classical Chinese - a rare skill, and one my father prized highly amongst Chinese medicine practitioners and students.
It was not lost on me that even in their names and paths, there were echoes of the journey my father and I had shared.
Over the past three months, Steven, Liren, Michael, and I have spoken at length about the clinic, practice values, herbal medicine, acupuncture, patient care, legacy, and responsibility. They are kind, discerning, conscientious and honourable, and while this transition is bittersweet, I feel a deep sense of comfort and excitement knowing the clinic will be in the right hands.
From March 2026, Steven, Liren, and Michael will formally take custodianship of the clinic. This transition has been taking place gradually to ensure continuity of care for all patients.
So what does this mean?
-
Our current practitioners and patient appointments will continue as usual. Steven and Liren will gradually begin practising alongside Cassie, Anna, Jin, and Maddie.
-
Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture will remain at the heart of the clinic, alongside welcoming patients with tea, compassion, and expertise.
-
I will continue dispensing your herbal prescriptions as usual via The Herb Grove Dispensary. Due to space, dispensing will now be done offsite in Seaford, and herbs will be posted directly to you. Postage will be free for the first 3 months, and subsidised thereafter.
-
To assist with continuity of care, custodianship of patient records will be transferred to Steven, Liren, and Michael under The Grove Chinese Medicine Clinic. Your records will remain confidential and handled with care, and if you have any questions or would prefer alternative arrangements, please feel free to contact us.
-
Long-term patients will be reassured to know that the herbs will still taste as bad as usual!
-
I will also remain available to assist with patient enquiries, repeats, cooking instructions, and any questions, to ensure treatments continue smoothly.
Our intention, and the priority that my father and I discussed, was always to ensure that The Grove remains a place where long-term patients feel at home, and new patients can find the effective treatments they need. A clinic that operates with the integrity and skill of one that has been built over 40 years, and a legacy that can continue to grow patient by patient, treatment by treatment, and herb by herb.
And from myself and Steve,
Thank you.
Thank you for all the chats, smiles, laughs, wry herb taste complaints, commitment, dedication, new beginnings, and old friendships.
I will miss seeing you all regularly, but you are always welcome to visit The Herb Grove Dispensary in Seaford, whether for a chat, or to see your herbs being prepared.
I would truly love to see you.
With gratitude,
Ren Clavey
A History of The Grove Chinese Medicine
The Grove Chinese Medicine started in 1988 in a humble room in South Melbourne. Steven Clavey, approaching 36, had recently returned after spending 7 years studying in China and Taiwan. His studies had taken him from hospitals in Nanjing to doctors in Taipei and finally to the gynaecological epicentre of Chinese medicine in Hangzhou. His interests changed from acupuncture to Chinese herbal medicine and finally to Chinese herbal gynaecology - a journey of learning, teaching and treating that would span more than 45 years.
With this training, Steve put up his first sign as a ‘Chinese Herbal Gynaecologist’ and found his first patient - an employee of the printing press where he printed his first flyers. She visited the clinic for more than 20 years.
Both acupuncture and Chinese medicine were in their early stages of adoption in Australia at the time. While Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists could be found, many primarily treated the Chinese community in Australia, and centralised Chinese medicine education was not yet the norm.
The clinic and Steve’s reputation grew patient by patient and referral by referral, and with his long study in China, many Chinese medicine students in Australia also recognised that working with Steve and the clinic was an opportunity to learn. And so, the clinic evolved not only as a place for patients to find the treatments, balance and outcomes they were looking for, but also a place of learning for many practitioners around Melbourne and Australia. During this time, the clinic also expanded physically, moving from South Melbourne to its long-standing home in Russell Street, creating space for additional herb-focused practitioners to work with Steve, and so the team grew to include familiar faces such as Tilly, Maureen, Richard, Mary-jo, Davina, Giles and many others.
The primary foundation of The Grove Chinese Medicine - and of Steve’s practice in general - was a strong focus on customised herbal medicine, integrated with acupuncture. At the time, many clinics primarily focused on acupuncture, with herbal medicine used less frequently or via standardised formulas. The Grove developed a reputation for depth in customised herbal prescribing, and for its dedication to prescribing raw herbal prescriptions. This expertise and dedication was something the clinic looked for specifically in its practitioners, and those interested in Chinese herbal medicine often started as students in the clinic, then dispensers preparing prescriptions, and eventually practitioners working in the clinic. This structure still exists to this day, with our current practitioners Cassie, Anna, Jin, and Maddie being mentored in the clinic, dispensing prescriptions, and working as practitioners.
Both new and old patients of The Grove talk about the ritual of taking herbs home, simmering them on the stove, and having the aroma slowly fill the house. The smell could be strong, but also comforting, something that suggested change was on its way, and as always inseparable from the taste which followed.
When The Grove moved to Auburn Village, Hawthorn it brought with it over 20,000 patient documents, familiar faces like Tilly, Maureen, and Davina and new ideas such as The Herb Grove Online Dispensary and Telehealth consultations. It also brought along 30 years of tradition, culture and methodology - and within its walls the sound of herbs being dispensed, the smell of tea being brewed and the weird and wonderful collection of books in reception, remained the same as always.
The Grove Chinese Medicine Clinic is the realisation of many years of work - not only Steve's, but that of the practitioners, staff, students, and patients who have stepped through its doors. It continues as a place defined by its commitment to thoughtful Chinese medicine practice - herbal medicine at its core, alongside acupuncture and ongoing clinical learning - and most importantly to the steady, long-term care of its patients.
Ready to Begin?
At The Grove Chinese Medicine, we've been supporting patients since 1988 with personalised acupuncture and herbal medicine.
Every treatment plan is tailored to the individual, carefully considered, clinically grounded, and designed for long term change.
Book an Initial Consultation
60 Minutes | Personalised Treatment Plan | Acupuncture | Herbal Medicine
📞 03 9654 7181
📧 Send us a message
📍 See clinic location info