Technicians was Orange Tongue

[Guest guest]

Hi Julie,

 

These are interesting questions you pose. I view my role as an ally in my

patients' healing journeys. That said, most of my patients want nothing more

than a " quick fix " for their aches and pains. A rare minority want to go

deeper, look at and take personal responsibility for their healing and even

growth. I let my patients know on their first visits that TCM does work to heal

on all levels - physical, emotional, spiritual and mental. - and thereafter, I

follow their clues as to where they want to go, occasionally reminding them of

the " bigger picture " . When I was in practice in San Diego, I had more patients

who wanted a more holistic approach, but where I live now, this is still a new

and radical, even distrusted, concept among many.

 

When I was a new practitioner 5 years ago, I felt responsible to ensure

patients' healing experience on all levels, but I no longer feel that way. Most

folks I see want nothing more than to be free of pain, without looking at how

they contribute to its existence. It took me a long time to learn this was not

a reflection of me or my abilities, and if my patients don't want to go there,

it doesn't mean I'm a failure.

 

To the contrary, I find the few patients I do have who want to look at their

psycho-emotional and spiritual patterns and lifestyle habits to be quite

demanding of my time and energy, even as they are interesting and inspiring.

Today, I am grateful to have relatively few of them, and to have a good list of

counselors to recommend them to work with. I don't want to be called a

technician, however - the term seems too much in the impersonal direction.

Phlebotomists work with needles and are called technicians, but that is all they

do. X-ray techs take x-rays, and don't even get to read them.

 

I do more than simply insert needles. I consider myself a fairly decent

diagnostician, and my patients are astonished at my ability to reflect their

internal psychological and emotional dynamics and how these contribute to their

health concerns. I also feel comfortable talking about spiritual matters, since

I once considered becoming a rabbi/pastoral counselor and worked in

congregations for a number of years prior to acupuncture school. Perhaps

" acupuncture therapist " might be a term I would like to apply to myself, even

though the term " therapist " has varying definitions, as in physical therapists

and therapists who are counselors.

 

One of the things I've been thinking about doing this past year is offering

healing retreats for those who really want to go to the depths. This is far

beyond the " technician " level as I understand it, and would require a

multi-disciplinary approach, necessarily including counselors, massage

therapists and an array of other complementary healing professionals and perhaps

also nutritional counselors.

 

On that note, massage therapists aren't called technicians, and they don't have

the training acupuncturists/herbalists do, nor the responsibility and breadth of

practice. I really don't think the term " technicians " accurately reflects our

training and level of expertise. I also think it implies a limited sphere of

action, and is properly used when talking about acupuncture detox technicians -

those folks who work in the addiction treatment realm, doing only NADA protocol

treatments. This is a separate licensure classification which doesn't exist in

every state, but does exist in Arizona, where I currently live. California

didn't have this type of license when I last checked, and I know this separate

license classification is a controversial issue in the acupuncture world.

 

Some food for thought, as I prepare to give a presentation at the local hospital

in a few hours.

 

 

 

Julie Ormonde <cariadanam wrote:

I wanted to pose a question since the below remark got my attention. Maybe

it is our role to be technicians? Why would it not be the needles and the

patients who are healing, I am simply the person who decides where to put

them and inserts them. And ultimately don't you think just receiving

acupuncture on a continual basis is going to have a positive affect on

deeper issues? Have you (general you) ever purposely not treated something

but not seen it get better with acupuncture being done for something else?

Also do we really need to be therapists in addition to acupuncturists?

Especially if our diagnostic skills are good?

 

I'd be really interested in others thoughts on this, especially if given in

a positive non-demeaning response,

 

Julie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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