Never heard of Community Acupuncture?  You are not alone!  At present, this is the only Community Acupuncture Clinic in Scotland. However…we’re hoping that more will open when people realise what a good way this is to do acupuncture.

Community acupuncture is a system of acupuncture delivery more akin to that seen in Chinese hospitals and clinics today.  It involves treating several people at the same time in one big treatment room.  Community Acupuncture has been developed to fit a Western setting in the United States and I am tweaking it further to address our own needs in the Highlands.   It is a very elegant solution to three common problems, ie:-

• it can be scary to go for acupuncture on your own

• most people can’t afford to go for acupuncture as often as is needed

• acupuncturists gain experience by treating lots of people

There’s no problem with privacy either, as clients don’t need to get undressed.  Many people will be surprised that all problems can be treated from points on the forearm, hands , lower leg, feet and head.  I might use points on the hand to treat back pain, or points on the scalp for a stiff neck.  This is the beauty of acupuncture.  Knowledge of the acupuncture channels allows us to treat all of the body from any part of the body.

The Sliding Scale

One of the cornerstones of the Community Acupuncture movement is the sliding scale.  This means that people are not charged a single rate, but can elect what they want to pay within a given range.  The range we offer is currently £10-£30 per treatment.  The idea is to make acupuncture as accessible as possible to a wide range of people, whilst still making a living for the acupuncturist.  We ask that those who can afford to pay more do pay more, so that those who can afford only the minimum can still be offered treatment.  Everyone is welcome and all are treated equally, whatever they choose to pay.

If you’d like to find out more about Community Acupuncture, you can find lots of information on the POCA website (USA Community Acupuncture: People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture) or the ACMAC website (UK Community Acupuncture: Association of Community and Multibed Acupuncture Clinics).

If you have half an hour or so,  we highly recommend watching this video, by POCA, which gives a good idea of what Community Acupuncture is all about.  Just click on the photo to link to the video.