I am delighted to announce that my new low cost, multi-bed acupuncture clinic opens officially for business tomorrow – Monday 3rd September.
CAN (Community Acupuncture Newbury) will be open from 5-9pm every Monday evening at The Wellbeing Centre, Pound Street in Newbury, Berkshire. At the moment, it is by appointment only, so please call me on 07913 621096, email at eileen@eileenbose.com or text me to make an appointment. For my “official” web page click on CAN at The Wellbeing Centre, it tells you all about the Clinic.
What is different about the CAN at The Wellbeing Centre?
Most acupuncturists in the UK treat patients on tables in individual clinics. This is not traditional in Asia, where acupuncture usually occurs in a community setting. In our clinic we currently use 2 couches separated by a screen in a quiet, soothing space. Treating patients in a community setting has many benefits: it’s easy for friends and family members to come in for treatment together; many patients find it comforting; and a collective energetic field becomes established which actually makes the individual treatments more powerful.
In some styles of acupuncture, the needles are removed after only a few minutes or a half hour at most. Depending on bookings at CAN, we believe in allowing patients to keep their needles in as long as they want, and the “right” amount of time varies from patient to patient. Most patients learn after a few treatments when they feel “done”; this can take from 20 minutes to much longer! Many people fall asleep, and wake feeling refreshed. You will be advised at the start of your treatment, how long there is before the next patient. It will be no less than 50 minutes.
Affordable, Regular Treatment
Most UK acupuncturists also see only one patient per hour and charge upwards of £35 for a treatment. They tend to spend a long time talking with each patient, going over medical records, asking many questions. We don’t. The only way we at CAN can make acupuncture affordable and still make a living ourselves is to streamline our treatments and see multiple patients in an hour, so we have returned to the traditional approach; instead of asking you lots of questions, we rely more upon pulse diagnosis to decide how to treat you. This is exactly how acupuncture is practised traditionally in Asia – more than one patient per hour and very little talking.
Because we operate at a very low fee, we cannot do insurance billing. If you have insurance that covers acupuncture, we’ll be happy to give you a payment receipt, and you can reclaim the expense from your insurance company.
Our Commitment to You
We want to make it possible for you to receive acupuncture regularly enough and long enough to get better and stay better. We want our community to be welcoming to all different kinds of people. We want to give you the tools to take care of your own health so that you will not need to rely on corporations like Big Insurance or Big Pharmaceuticals for costly, high-tech interventions. We will provide a safe environment with skilled practitioners.
What We Need From You
Responsibility
CAN does not provide primary care medicine. Acupuncture is a wonderful complement to Western medicine, but it is not a substitute for it. If you think you have a problem that is not “garden variety” (meaning, you are worried that you might have a serious infection, a malignant growth, or an injury that won’t heal), or if you want someone knowledgeable to go over the details of your medical history with you, you need to see a primary care physician, such as your GP. You cannot expect us to diagnose and treat something really serious. We can provide complementary care for conditions that require a physician’s attention – for instance, we often treat patients for the side effects of chemotherapy. But we need you to take responsibility for your own health.
CAN does not receive grants, local or central government funding or insurance reimbursement. ACA exists because patients elect to pay for their treatments – it is a sustainable community business model.
Community Mindedness
The soothing atmosphere in our clinic exists because all our patients create it by relaxing together. We appreciate everyone’s presence! This kind of collective stillness is a rare and precious thing in our rushed and busy society. Maintaining this reservoir of calm requires that no one talk very much in the clinic space. If you would like to speak to a practitioner one-to-one at any length, please let us know. If you want to have a substantial conversation, we will probably need to schedule that separately.
Commitment
Acupuncture is a PROCESS. It is very rare for any acupuncturist to be able to resolve a problem with one treatment. In China, a typical treatment protocol for a chronic condition could be acupuncture every other day for 3 months! Most of our patients don’t need that much acupuncture, but virtually every patient requires a course of treatment, rather than a single treatment, in order to get what they want from acupuncture.
On your first visit, your acupuncturist will suggest a course of treatment, which will be an assessment of your unique requirement. This suggestion is based on our experience with treating different kinds of conditions. If you don’t come in often enough or long enough, acupuncture probably won’t work for you. The purpose of our low fee is to help you make that commitment. If you have any questions about how long it will take to see results, please ask us or if you think you need to adjust your treatment plan, then let us know. We need you to commit to the process of treatment in order to get good results.
And, last, but not least … enjoy the space. We do, and hope that Community Acupuncture Newbury can be an important part of your community.
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