I am happy to be joining Clinic Alternative Medicines, after 16 years of running Northampton Community Acupuncture, just a few blocks away.
My practice began in 2006, where I offered both private sessions and community acupuncture until 2010. At that time, I made the decision to commit 100% to offering community acupuncture (a practice model designed to make acupuncture more affordable, using a group treatment setting), because I’ve always believed that affordability should never be a barrier to healthcare. I still believe this. I also believe that the healing effects can be enhanced when practiced in community. That said, I look forward to working one-on-one with folks again too, more time to go deeper together, utilize more tools like moxibustion (heat) therapy, and/or for new folks, time to ask questions, and learn about this ancient mode of healing. Having performed thousands of acupuncture treatments over the years in a wide variety of settings, my needling style is quick, often painless, and meant to help you relax immediately.
From working at community health centers, an AIDS-focused clinic, a women’s health center, and several Boston hospitals as part of my training, to school and business health fairs, and even mobile pop-up free clinics during the pandemic, I have enjoyed engaging with a wide variety of people, often introducing acupuncture for the first time to folks.
My background is wide and varied, including: working on a few organic farms, work in social justice and counseling, living at a zen center in Cambridge, and years of volunteering for various organizations. My education includes a research-focused Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and Philosophy, a Master’s Degree in Acupuncture at the New England School of Acupuncture, and two years apprenticing with the renowned master acupuncturist, author, and teacher, Kiiko Matsumoto.
I identify as non-binary (she/her), having never resonated with a binary paradigm, and so it makes perfect sense to me that this concept is getting redefined in our culture and I’m all for it. I welcome folks of all genders to work with me in a safe, supported environment. In fact, I believe that energy medicine can be deeply healing in helping people become fully embodied, embracing all of who you are and integrating all that you have experienced.
I believe that the highest form of medicine and healing includes both intellect and intuition, the mind working with the heart. What this means for how I practice is that, while I have spent thousands of hours dedicated to science, research, and the system of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I am also an intuitive and empathic healer, and believe that both are essential to practicing medicine.
What this means for you as a client - you will be seen as a whole human being, not just a diagnosis. Why does this matter? Because the current practice of Western medicine is full of specialists, who focus on one part of the body or another. While there are benefits to developing expertise in how one specific body part or system works, the result is that the whole picture is often lost, and the context is lost.
When we can see (and be seen by others as) ALL of who we are, that allows us to BE all of who we are in the world - a gift to ourselves and to everyone around us.
Check out this link about community acupuncture, to find out more about which type of session is for you! Community vs Private Acupuncture?
(413) 341-5224