Today we’d like to introduce you to Alethea Jones.
Hi Alethea, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been in practive since 2015, gradutating from AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine in Austin Texas. I’ve been interseted in acupuncture, nutrition, and herbal medicine since my late teens and early 20’s and have used these tools for my own health almost exclusively from western medicine. I didn’t have health insurance from 26 to around 36 and really focused on taking care of myself and my family through these modailites. By my 30th birthday I was enrolled in school for Acupuncture and Eastern medicine which brought me to where I am today.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Taking up a training for a medicine modalitiy at 30, which is expressed in another language and cultural perspective is never an easy thing. Much of the education is in pinyon, the alphabet romanization of Mandarin Chinese character writing and it took about 3 years for my brain to really fully process that aspect of the education. At the same time we learned biomedical, pharmacology, and traditional therapies including bodywork, acupuncture, nutrtion, and herbal techniques thousands of years old to modern day discoveries such as modern auricular acupuncture, electrical stimulation, drug herb interactions, and more.
And then when the education of the medicine, in preperation for the national board exams (there’s 4 of them btw) for certification; as an exiting practitioner, new to a profession, there is then the challenge of building a business and establishing oneself not only to practice the medicine but to become fluid with it and to explore and grow with it as one also focuses on the task on maintaining a business and paying the bills. It’s been a wild decade coming into my own and still I know there is so much more to refine and discover. The challenge of this is part of the excitement of having one’s own practice, really.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At the heart of my work is the goal to bring oneself back to their spirit, to their true self of knowing alongside supporting balance of mental, emotional, and physical function. And in this I endeavor to promote a connection between understanding our internal landscape with the landscape around us. TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) is based on observation of ones inner and outer landscape; is the client dealing with too much heat or too much cold, are they more prone to hold moisture/dampness or to feel dry; does the client feel fluid or stuck, tired or energized? When we understand the nature of our dis-ease or dysfunction we can then have a better idea on how to approach our healing process. The same is true for the natural world we live in; like an extra hot summer after a below average snowfall…it creates aggitation and burn out in not only our waterways, soils, and plants but also in how we individually and ollectively engage with the season and therefore how we engage with our everyday routines.
I find that I often, immediate am provided gratitude for listening to those whom I work with for teh first time. Clients feel gratitude for being provided a space to be felt seen and listened to. Often in modern medicine patients are given max 20 minutes by a doctor and feel pushed through a system over and over again. Within my practice, and the practice of a great number of TCM/Acupuncture practitioners, clients are not just a number hearded through. Rather they are heard.
My bedside manner is probably one of my greatest strengths. I’ve developed the ability to create a gentle and caring atmosphere while guiding the client along in the process of connecting with thier inner landscape and listening to them along the way. I love integrating techniques that clients can take home with them to make real change. Nutrition changes, lifestyle changes, and qi-gong exercises are often provided for clients, engaging them more directly in the healing journey they wish to go on. Acupuncture works to support the client at that moment and promotes balcne or change, depending on what the client needs. Herbal Therapy may come in early with a treatment plan, but often I integrate this in when clients show dedication to thier health goals. We live in a pill heaving world and i really try to focus on getting people back to the root of self care, in the kitchen and in thier everyday choices, to connect them back to thier health and their own personal poweroon creating what they want for themselves and thier loved ones.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’m currently relocating my office to Salt Lake City, 10 minues northeast of where I’ve been located the past 5 years. With this change comes the opportunity to revamp my entire practice. And while many components will stay the same, the way I approach clients cases for example; I am always interested in what clients are seeking in an Acupuncture Practice. I currently see most of my clients in person, although I have worked with a number of Utah Residents via telehealth consulations for nutrtional and herbal therapy plans and prescripitons, and will continue to do so.
With this newest incarnation of my practice, as result of the move, I am seeking to creating more collaborative offerings. I have for a long time been involved to some degree with cultivating healing and safe spaces for individuals and groups to do self work within. I am currently undergoing a certification and integrating more breath work techniques into my current practice. I;m really excited about what the future holds as I open this door to more communal connection and collaboration.
And come check out the new spot I’m putting together in Salt Lake CIty! Starting November 1st I’ll be located at 2834 S. Highland Drive, just north of the Millcreek Commons. Easily accessed by I-80 and 1300 E.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aletheahealingacupuncture.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alethea.healing.acupuncture/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AletheaHealingAcupuncture/
