AWB's Opioid Crisis Initiative
Prevention and healing for individuals, families and communities DonateThere is a strong link between pain, trauma, and opioid dependency. Acupuncture works effectively with all three simultaneously. As an organization focused on healing trauma, Acupuncturists Without Borders is launching a national program to address the opioid crisis through specialized trainings and treatment protocols provided by licensed acupuncture practitioners in authorized clinical settings.
The urgent need for non-pharmacological alternatives to opioids drives this effort which will include:
- specialized trainings led by a pharmacist/acupuncturist who has devoted her career to this issue
- teaching of unique, opioid response treatments that provide a time-tested alternative to the prescribing of pain medications
- working with families and communities impacted by this crisis
- support for creation of clinics around the country to address this crisis\partnerships with others in Asian medicine doing this work
- partnerships with allied health professions
- national media outreach and education
AWB is seeking donations for this project as well as participants in ou training program.
Please consider supporting this project so, together, we can heal the immense pain & trauma present in communities gripped by the opioid epidemic.
OPIOID INITIATIVE TRAINING PROGRAM
This 15-CEU/PDA training will offer participants a deep understanding of the opioid epidemic and the role that acupuncture can play in the treatment of pain, trauma and dependency. Trainees will learn to provide an acupuncture-based, therapeutic option to medication for the treatment of pain, and/or to provide “therapeutic support” for those who are actively taking long- or short-term opioids, where risks, including possible addiction, outweigh the benefits, and desire to taper off of them under medical supervision.
*Due to Covid-19, AWB had to cancel our live Alternatives to Opioids trainings. Currently, we are offering a 2 CEU/PDA webinar called Introduction to Alternatives to Opioids, which offers an overview of the opioid epidemic, the disease process, challenges in treatment & the AWB pain protocol (NADA plus body points and spirit/emotional points) for suggested use in clinics. Check our webinar schedule for upcoming dates. We will resume in-person classes when it is safe to do so.
Program Development Team
Stephanie Lyon, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M. (NCCAOM), Pharm.D. earned her M.S. in TCM from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in December 2004 and has completed a Doctorate in Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) from Creighton University (2013). She is a registered pharmacist and licensed acupuncturist in the states of Colorado and Oregon, and is a post-doctoral Fellow at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Stephanie’s heart-centered, multi-modal, integrated and balanced approach to pain, stress, and sleep management, and other common complaints, accesses each individual’s unique needs, situations and desires in restoring health to an optimal, comfortable and fulfilling existence. Using her unique set of modalities, these goals can be accomplished while minimizing, and potentially eliminating, the need for pharmaceuticals that are frequently prescribed to address these issues. Currently, Stephanie works through a small critical access hospital on the Southern Oregon Coast, as both an acupuncturist and a pharmacist, with an over-riding mission in helping the local providers and community address the many issues of the opioid epidemic that is prevalent in that area. She serves on the multi-county Opioid Task Force, and participates locally and state-wide in opioid crisis awareness, conversations, and interventions.
Peter Goldberg, Dipl. Ac., Lic. Ac., AP. is a nationally board certified (NCCAOM) and NADA trained acupuncturist. He is licensed in Massachusetts and Florida as a Licensed Acupuncturist and Acupuncture Physician respectively. Peter holds two graduate degrees, one in Acupuncture Physical Medicine and the other in Community Health Administration. A hospice volunteer, Peter has held top administrative positions in the corporate, private and non-profit sectors, with a focus on organizational development, corporate education and training and volunteer administration.
Diana Fried, M.Ac., M.A., NCCAOM Dipl. Ac., Acudetox Specialist launched Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB) in 2005. She has worked in disasters and underserved communities doing community acupuncture healing in many locations in the U.S. and around the world. Diana developed AWB’s Healing Community Trauma training program which has now provided training for over 6000 acupuncturists in the United States, and hundreds in other countries, on how to do mobile community service field work with acupuncture. Diana envisioned and fostered AWB’s Military Stress Recovery Project (MSRP) to help heal the wounds of war and heal intergenerational trauma, establishing free community clinics around the U.S. to serve active duty military, veterans and their families.
Diana Fried has many years of experience and training in emotional/trauma healing work, along with years of work in international grassroots community development (Oxfam America, Grassroots International). She graduated from the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture with an M.Ac. (1999), is a certified Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist trained by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA), and a certified Qigong Instructor.