I’ve been interested in herbal medicine for as long as I can remember, perhaps sparked by being raised by my botanist father and his deep love of plants. This passion led me to be curious about holistic medicine and so, seeking experience in the health field, I began work as an In-Home Caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities while obtaining my Bachelor’s in Public Health from The Evergreen State College. After graduation, I worked as a Community Health & Nutrition Educator in Ukiah, CA, where I was introduced to holistic healers of various kinds, and where I had my first acupuncture session – at Community Acupuncture Ukiah. I was intrigued, and this was enough to get me interested in starting AIMC Berkeley’s acupuncture program, where I could study not only the herbs I love but so many other healing modalities as well. Through the clinical program at AIMC Berkeley, I provided community style acupuncture through internships at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and San Francisco’s Homeless Prenatal Program. These internships and the program as a whole instilled in me a love of acupuncture, not just the herbs, and I can’t wait to share this love of acupuncture with all the amazing folks at OAP. I like to keep busy, so in my ‘spare’ time, you can find me guest lecturing at AIMC Berkeley, teaching students about supporting transgender health and creating an LGBTQ-friendly practice, as part of AIMC’s Masters curriculum.

Sacramento Acupuncture Project (SAP) has now been open for a year and a half.  We will forever thank POCA (People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture) for approving the Underserved Area Microloan of $7,500 that enabled us to smoothly open this location, our third (the first two are the other locations of Oakland Acupuncture Project in Oakland, CA). I’m still struck by how incredible it is that POCA has built the infrastructure and funding to financially support new and expanding clinics in this way. Having a successful microloan program was one of POCA’s priorities from the very beginning, a concept inspired by Grameen Bank‘s microfinance program providing banking and loan services to the rural poor in Bangladesh. If you haven’t yet learned about Grameen Bank and its founder, Mohammad Yunus, I urge you to start reading!

In April 2016, SAP was able to expand from having two full-time employees to adding a third part-time employee. By last October, exactly one year into business, we were able to expand the third job into a full-time position allowing us to be open 7 days a week. In the 2016 calendar year we gave 8,319 treatments, and from Day 1 to present we’ve given around 12,000 treatments total. Our POCA loan will be fully repaid in 5 months time, allowing for more available funding to be disbursed to other new POCA clinics. We have a strong patient base of regulars, with many people able to try acupuncture for the first time because the POCA model has made it affordable to them. Seeing patients come in, share the space, rest and find relief humbles me daily, and I’m grateful to have a job where I can be myself and connect with fellow humans who are struggling.

POCA patients, thank you for coming to all of our clinics and for helping to build this restful, affordable healthcare movement!