Well, I have some exciting news. Lacey Park Acupuncture has found a home!
Beginning in November, I’ll be welcoming patients into a treatment room at Begin Within Health in Woodstock, New Brunswick.
I’ve been looking for the right space to establish my practice since returning home from acupuncture school, and it’s been a bit of an adventure.
When I first started imagining what practicing acupuncture would look like back home in Carleton County, I had all sorts of ideas. A little clinic in the country, a yurt, renting a treatment room in a multidisciplinary clinic, or even leasing an entire commercial space and building a clinic of my own. I’ve considered just about everything.
My original hope was to find a way to serve two communities especially close to my heart. I wanted to make acupuncture easily accessible to my neighbours in Knowlesville, and I wanted to establish a practice in Hartland, where I feel there simply aren’t enough healthcare options available.
I was also hoping to keep my travel time to a minimum. Living in rural New Brunswick means getting used to driving for just about everything, but anyone who’s spent a winter here knows that a short drive in July can be a very different experience in January. I wanted to find something that would allow me to spend more time treating patients and less time on snowy roads.
When I was offered space at Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club, I was excited to finally get started in Hartland. The room turned out to be better suited to community acupuncture than the private treatment space I’d originally envisioned, so that’s the direction I explored. I’ve been offering both community and private treatments there, and it’s been a valuable experience as I figure out how to make this all work.
One thing I’ve learned very quickly is that there’s a considerable difference between learning how to practice Chinese medicine and figuring out how to build a practice.
I came home wanting to put everything I’d learned to work. After spending so much time studying, treating patients in student clinic, and observing Chinese medicine in hospitals in China, I was excited to finally begin practicing in my own community.
And I have been! Between home visits, treating neighbours in Knowlesville, and welcoming patients in Hartland, I’ve had opportunities to put my education into practice while learning a whole new collection of things that acupuncture school couldn’t really prepare me for.
But I’ve also been craving a place to settle into. Somewhere I can unpack my supplies, set up a beautiful treatment room, and really get comfortable doing the work I love.
And now I’ve found it.
Begin Within Health is in Woodstock at Suite 5, 401 Connell Street, and I’ll be renting a room there for private appointments. Maybe you didn’t know they had treatments rooms, but in the back behind the retail space you will find me, Scosha Diamond of Moonlight Medicine Acupuncture and Laser, as well as Simply for Life.
I finally have a space to offer the kinds of treatments I provided during my internship: Cosmetic Acupuncture, facial rejuvenation, fire cupping, Acupressure massage and meridian massage, and of course acupuncture! I’m particularly excited about having the space and time to offer longer, more comprehensive treatments. One of my favourite things about Chinese medicine is how individualized it can be. Two people can arrive with the same complaint and leave having received completely different treatments. Having a dedicated treatment room gives me the opportunity to explore that properly with each patient.
Of course, I’m already thinking about how I want the room to feel, what supplies I need, and all the little details that make a treatment comfortable. I’ve ordered my treatment table, and I’m slowly gathering everything else.
There’s something pretty wonderful about starting from scratch, even if the practical side involves a lot more spreadsheets, paperwork, and shopping than I anticipated.
I’m still very much at the beginning of my career. There are techniques I want to become better at, areas of Chinese medicine I want to study more deeply, and approximately a thousand things I haven’t even discovered yet.
But that’s part of what makes this so exciting.
For the first time, I have a dedicated space where I can begin building the practice I’ve been imagining throughout school. A place to welcome patients, keep learning, and hopefully spend many years becoming a better practitioner.
I’ll begin seeing patients at Begin Within Health in November, with appointments available on Tuesdays, Fridays and some Saturdays.
I’ll continue offering local home visits in Knowlesville and community acupuncture in Hartland. And I haven’t given up on my original vision of having a dedicated private treatment space in Hartland someday, either.
For now, I’m excited to have found a place that allows me to grow my practice while continuing to care for the communities that inspired me to come home in the first place.
I’m looking forward to welcoming you into the new space. And I’m especially looking forward to seeing what this next chapter teaches me.
— Lacey Park, D.Ac
Book an appointment: https://laceyparkacupuncture.janeapp.com/