In some ways. Like Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontiers), we aim to alleviate suffering in the most vulnerable communities. After a disaster or other traumatic event, Doctors Without Borders will send in teams to communities suffering acute trauma. They have the financial capacity and medical expertise to quickly respond to emergency situations. AWB, on the other hand, provides financial and material support and training to local acupuncturists and other healthcare professionals to effectively treat trauma in their own communities. We rarely send volunteers to places around the world, unless specifically asked by our local team leaders.

The best way to get involved with AWB is to take our signature training course, Healing Community Trauma in Times of Crisis. This training is required to volunteer on any field projects or to start an AWB-supported project in your own community. It is currently available online. In-person trainings will be posted on our website and social media as they are scheduled. 

This course will prepare you to provide community-style acupuncture to people impacted by natural disasters, environmental devastation, disease, social injustice and human conflict. The focus is on how to provide trauma prevention and recovery care to impacted communities in times of crisis.

When AWB works with communities impacted by trauma, we ensure that we are providing service that is needed. We communicate with project leaders and community members to establish specific needs. If the project needs acupuncturist volunteers, we recruit qualified volunteers from the AWB community (those that have taken Healing Community Trauma and are legally allowed to do acupuncture in the service area). Often, our project leaders only request supplies or financial support as they have enough volunteers in their own community and cannot accommodate more. We are very sensitive to their needs and only send volunteers when requested. 

We encourage interested volunteers to consider creating trauma-reduction projects in their own communities. Trauma is universal. It is everywhere. Building connections and treating your own community can be the most powerful and sustainable action you can take in reducing trauma. After taking our Healing Community Trauma training course, we are happy to provide advice and other support if needed.

Please note: Any volunteers traveling to field projects are responsible for their own travel costs. We are a small organization with limited resources and need to prioritize sending any financial support to communities in need.

Our trainings are hosted on the Talent LMS website, our online learning platform. When you purchased your class, you received an email from Talent LMS with login instructions. Make sure to check your spam/junk folder if you cannot find it. You can login here:

https://awb.talentlms.com/

You can reset your password there if needed, or email trainings@acuwithoutborders.org if you need help.

You can login to your AWB portal here:

AWB PORTAL LOGIN

From this page you can make updates to your donations, membership and profile information.

You can also reset your password from this page as well as set up a new account if you have never logged in.

We would love to come to your school or any other location to offer our Healing Community Trauma training! This is a two day, weekend long course that trains acupuncturists, other healthcare professionals and students how to treat trauma with acupuncture/ear seeds (if needles are not part of your scope of practice) and establish community service projects. Here’s what we need to deliver a successful training:

• A deposit of $15,000. The reason we ask for this is because we are a small organization with limited resources and are not able to absorb the travel, accommodation and per diem costs associated with sending instructors to your location without it. Your school/organization would create the registration page and collect all fees to recoup this cost (and potentially bring in more!) We would both promote the training to bring in as many students as possible. AWB provides marketing materials for emails and social media posts. Since we will serve as the CEU/PDA provider, we would need a list of all those who register along with attendance sheets for each day of the course so we can send certificates to attendees.
• A training room that accommodates at least 40 people and can be used for a community clinic practicum with the NADA protocol. We set up the room theater style with chairs in the center and tables around the outside. 
• Optionally, an additional room to hold the clinic practicum (this is done seated, not with treatment tables).
• Projection capabilities for PowerPoints and video files (we can use our laptops or yours to run the presentations). We will need to connect to the web and will need technical support to ensure the system works properly (and that we understand what to do) on the Friday we set up for the training.
• 2-3 volunteers to help us with set-up, tech needs and support throughout the weekend. These volunteers would attend the training and receive CEUs free of charge.
• Access to the building Friday after 1pm (for set up), Saturday from 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM and from Sunday from 8:00 AM to 7 PM.
• A small area to serve food/snacks to trainees (we usually do this in the training room).
• Eight long tables (6 feet).
• Parking options for our registrants and trainers for the weekend (near the training)
• A list of nearby accommodations and restaurants so we can assist you in orienting people before they arrive.

Please contact christine@acuwithoutborders.org if you are interested in hosting!