Needling To Get To The Point Podcast

The Treasure Chest: Dr. Tia Trivisonno

Dr. Tia Trivisonno is a naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist who has been in practice for 15 years in Long Island, NY, a state where ND licensing still hasn't passed. She surfs and rides a cherry red Harley Sportster, both beautiful tools in what she calls the "Treasure Chest." Tia has figured out how to use that Treasure Chest and self-discovery to keep the lights on. This isn't through bypassing the hard stuff, but by using this as a collection of things to bring oneself back to center when the grief, the debt, and the weight of a profession under pressure start to feel really heavy. If you've been feeling the weight of this moment in our profession, Tia is exactly the kind of company you need. She's a solutionary out there riding the waves and the roads and she's bringing all of us along for the ride. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com [https://needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Nobody Wrote Down Pain

Zachary Krebs came to acupuncture through love, a decade of Tai Chi, and a brain cyst that went undiagnosed by pretty much everyone he saw until he typed his symptoms into ChatGPT and got an answer in seconds. In this episode: what martial arts teaches you about the body that acupuncture school doesn't, what happened when he sat in a CEU class in severe neurological pain while practitioners took his pulse and nobody wrote down the word pain, and why he thinks pretty much all acupuncture is decent and you should be skeptical of exceptional claims. Zachary is the co-founder of Fire Rabbit Acupuncture in Oregon City, Oregon. He trained at POCA Tech, now the Oregon College of Community Acupuncture, and graduated in 2022 with no debt. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com [https://needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

OAA Education Task Force Town Hall (video below)

On April 11, 2026, the Oregon Association of Acupuncturists and Education Task Force held our first community town hall on the proposed Oregon administrative rule revision that would create a state-regulated, competency-based alternative pathway to acupuncture licensure. If you couldn’t make it, here’s what we covered: * Why the RISE Rule and AHEAD Framework put virtually every ACAHM-accredited program at risk of closure by 2028 * What a parallel, OMB-approved licensure pathway would actually look like and what it wouldn’t change (scope of practice, clinical hours, exam) * Where we are with NCBAHM on exam eligibility for state-pathway graduates * What we need from Oregon acupuncturists between now and our May 1st AAC submission deadline The full proposal goes to the Acupuncture Advisory Committee on June 5th. We want to hear from you before then, especially if you're an employer or know someone who is. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com [https://needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

From Interpreter to Clinic Director

This is available as a Videocast on Substack with captions. Some interviews you schedule around convenience. This one we scheduled around continents.Sushila Gurung lives and works above the clinic she runs in Bajrabarahi, Nepal, which means that when we finally found a time that worked for both of us, it was late at night for me in Portland and early in the morning for her, with a wifi connection that did its best and occasionally reminded us just how far apart we actually were. Sushila joined the Acupuncture Relief Project as a medical interpreter when she was 18 years old and she now works as the Clinical Director for Good Health Nepal, where acupuncturists work as primary care providers in a rural region with a catchment area of 150,000 people. In this conversation we talk about what it means to become a practitioner in a country where acupuncture isn't yet fully regulated, the education pathway that exists and the one that doesn't yet, what the COVID reopening really looked like from the inside, and what she wants practitioners everywhere to understand about this medicine and what it can do.You can find out more about the Acupuncture Relief Project. https://acupuncturereliefproject.org [https://acupuncturereliefproject.org/donate].And you can make a donation to support Sushila, Satyamohan and their team [https://acupuncturereliefproject.org/donate] at: https://acupuncturereliefproject.org/donate [https://acupuncturereliefproject.org/donate] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com [https://needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

You Can Make Any Place Holy

Felicía Desrosiers found acupuncture in Quito, Ecuador in the year 2000. She went on to attend POCA Tech in Portland, teach there, and found North Portland Community Acupuncture, a pop-up clinic in a bar that she made feel sacred every single day she opened it. She is now in Madrid, Spain, doing it all over again. In this episode: why she thinks acupuncture is an adaptogen for the medicine and for the people who practice it, what it actually takes to make a space feel holy, why a practitioner who knows ten points and shows up with intention can change someone's life. Also: a temescal in Mexico, a Scrabble word on a train, and why she thinks we should have acupuncture clinics everywhere the same way we have restaurants. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com [https://needlingtogettothepoint.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]