Laurel Boyajian, L.Ac.
I received my training at OCOM* in Portland and was licensed in October 1992. My first acupuncture job after graduating was at a Multnomah County court mandated addiction clinic. All clients had accepted the year-long program in exchange for no arrest on their record upon completion. We used the NADA* auricular (ear) five point protocol developed in the 1970s at Lincoln Recovery Center in the South Bronx, New York.
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After moving to Washington in 1996, I continued to work part time at acupuncture while raising my two young children as a single parent, and also working at various other jobs to make ends meet.
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This included food service and cleaning work as well as sales of my pastel paintings and, later, growing dye plants and selling hand dyed yarn at the Vashon Farmers' Market. I also taught fiber arts as an artist-in-residence at the public elementary school.
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I knew I wanted to work in a community acupuncture clinic when I first heard about this model. It is several years and experiences later that I am finally making that a reality with the help of the People's Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA).
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*I support the movement to remove or change the "O" word from the titles and names of all acupuncture schools and organizations. The school I went to is included in this group.