Justine's Dream: Sanctuary Acupuncture Clinic

To my beloved family, friends, and community, 

I did it! I signed a lease for a health and wellness clinic to call my own! After 4 1/2 years at Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College where I got my masters at Berkeley ( the longest masters program in the country), 6 months of studying for and passing my board exams,  getting licensed, and  15 months working out of another woman's clinic, doing home visits, and creating a pop- up clinic on the Hoopa Native American reservation, I am ready to take a giant leap and soar into my own clinic! I'm going all in with everything I have but I need your help to make this dream space a reality. Running my Acupuncture practice will be  fairly low cost, low impact on the environment and sustainable, however,  my current reality as a new practitioner with student loan debt is that I do not have the upfront cost to get all the materials I need to make this the incredible space and business I know it could be and that my clientele deserve.  

The more I live,  I deepen my understanding that we truly do need each other.  Accepting this deep truth empowers me to reach out to my beloved community to help me and a rural community in need.  Community Acupuncture and affordable health care is both a passion and a teacher of mine. What if we were all  taught from a young age that we didn't need to go through this life alone? That it is ok to ask for help and that collectively working  together is the way to have a community of people that is content, healthy, happy, grounded,  and supported.  We are all sacred beings and are all entitled to affordable care so that we may feel our most vital selves to show up and take on this world. 

My business is a social business as defined by the Nobel prize winning economist Muhammed Yunus. I seek to be able to treat and provide care to people from all socio-economic status. The first Community Acupuncture clinic began in 2002 in Portland and has been a model that has taken hold across the country with over 100 community style clinics in the United States alone. 

My business name is SANCTUARY and that is what I intend to create. A Sanctuary is by definition a place of refuge or rest.  A place where you can feel safe and at peace.  A place where you feel heard. My intention is to cultivate such a space where healing and deep relaxation can occur.  A place to slow down and connect to yourself in restoration and transform yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually.

This clinic intends to be more than just a place you go to get acupuncture and herbal medicine. I want to create an experience into yourself.  A slow paced, tranquil space that smells inviting and feels relaxing the moment you walk in with harmonious and dreamy sounds to soften you asleep. Deep healing occurs when we are able to activate our parasympathetic nervous system and this happens when we feel safe to let go and breathe.  

Sanctuary Community Acupuncture will be the ONLY community acupuncture clinic (sliding scale) in Arcata, California,  filling a very important need for affordable patient-centered health care.  Arcata is in a rural area and my clinic will also serve several smaller towns in a 50+ mile radius. I  currently see around 35 people per week and I intend to more than double that in my new space where I can fit more individuals comfortably at a time. 

Any donations received will help care for over 1,400 people this year alone who wouldn't be able to get complementary care nor the number of treatments they need without a sliding scale.

Humboldt County is in a health crisis. There are not enough health practitioners of any kind, and therefore long waiting lists to get treatment.  The mortality rate is 33 % higher than it is in the rest of California, 1 in 5 people live at or below the poverty rate and the opioid death rate is 5 times the state average. Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine are proven treatments for all types of  pain,  acute and chronic dis-ease of the body, anxiety, depression and addiction to name a few. 

I have witnessed the incredible power of this medicine to restore balance and health to the body and mind, having given over 1000 treatments since my journey began. When I started school I hadn't fully understood the remarkable impact I would be able to make on peoples lives. Many people tell me they wouldn't be able to receive care without the sliding scale I  continue to study and learn each day to improve my knowledge and skills in order to be the best practitioner I can possibly be. There is nothing else that I would rather put so much attention and time towards. I am a forever student. 

Since graduation I have been collecting treasures and ideas of what my dream clinic will look like. I am already in the process of searching craigslist, facebook marketplace, and thrift stores for used items to use and am trying to support and buy locally as much as possible. I'm going all in no matter what to make this happen. This is what I need your help to fund: 

-  Wooden Sign and logo both design and creation for outside the building $300 
-Reference books $250
- A computer for electronic health records and taking payments $1000 ( the computer I use currently is from 2010 and is slowly dying and outdated)
-Electro Stimulation Device $150
-Office supplies: Printer, ink, paper, pens, folders, file cabinet, business cards $200
-Water dispenser $65
-Stock of herbal medicinal products $1600
-4 Treatment tables $400 
-Furniture: desk, chairs for office, chairs for waiting room, book shelves, tables, room dividers, step stool,  rugs, blackout curtains, laundry basket, garbage/recycling bins, shelves, soundproofing and lighting $2000
-Heat lamps and massage table warmers ( core body temperature drops when you get acupuncture)  $800
-Needles $500
-Sound system $250 
-Blankets, pillows, sheets for 4 tables  $300
-Rent to keep me going through this pandemic!
****This doesn't include my malpractice insurance, business license, license to practice,  continuing education units, and student loans that I will also  need to cover and are required for me to be able to practice. 
 

If you are in the Arcata area I am happy to honor your donation with a treatment of course! Your support will mean so much to me and the people I will be able to treat this year! I will be eternally grateful and blessed for every cent given ! Thank you for supporting affordable health care! 

I love you all so SO  much!   

May we all be blessed with health and vitality.
#SmallBusinessRelief