Building on the foundation that strong communities are indispensable to improve people’s well-being, and that building and strenghtening communities is an intentional process that can be co-created through design, the Critical Anatomies Lab brings visibility to and collaborates with the radical, generous and emancipatory service model of Community Acupuncture.
If you are not familiar with acupuncture, or community acupuncture, I invite you to read the content in this page, and then explore the interconnections of this healthcare model with design practices, and the projects we have advanced in the lab, in collaboration with community acupuncture clinics.
What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a safe, gentle, and effective way to relieve pain, tension, and stress, improve sleep, and promote good health.
Acupuncture involves inserting very thin needles into specific points on the body to induce relaxation, and support the body’s natural healing processes. The points are located alongside the body's meridians (images on the right). The visualization of the meridians shows how acupuncture treats the body as fully interconnected and interdependent.
Frequent acupuncture treatment leads to improved well-being. In a nutshell (or a meme), this is the best description of it.
Visualization of meridians in acupuncture
Find answers to common questions about acupuncture here.
What is community acupuncture?
Community Acupuncture is the practice of delivering acupuncture in a shared space.
This shift in setting changes many aspects of the experience, both for the people receiving care, and for the broader structure of healthcare. Treating multiple people in a room creates a unique healing atmosphere that benefits everyone. This contrasts with normative individualism in healthcare, which prioritizes private, one-on-one sessions that reinforce hierarchical distinctions based on medical expertise.
Community acupuncturists foster a compassionate environment, where care is grounded in relationship, presence, and mutual benefit. Instead of trying to fix problems, they accompany people in their journey to health, tapping into each person's strengths and autonomy. Indeed, even before the term “trauma-informed care” gained traction, community acupuncturists were offering inclusive, nonjudgmental, and compassionate care, especially to working-class and poor communities.
Community acupuncture also disrupts power structures within healthcare by prioritizing accessibility and self-empowerment. The sliding scale is a tool to resist the commodification of health, reflecting trust in people to choose what they can afford.
Community acupuncture constantly navigates bureaucratic constraints, institutional politics, and the economic realities of offering low-cost care in a profit-driven healthcare system.
Urbana Acupuncture - Community acupuncture clinic in Urbana, IL
The history
Resources
The Young Lords and the Black Panthers took control of Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx in 1970, and they created the People’s Drug Program, also known as the Lincoln Detox Center. In response to the heroin epidemic and lack of accessible treatment in their communities, they created free acupuncture clinics, like the one at the Lincoln Detox Center to treat addiction and offer holistic, community-based healing.
In addition to addressing other aid needs that the state did not meet, they began to offer acupuncture of the ear in community settings. By the people, for the people. From there came a 5-point acupuncture protocol to treat addiction and trauma.
Dope is death [Documentary]
Working Class Acupuncture [Website]
Acupuncture as Revolution [Book]
Bringing Acupuncture to the people [Photo Essau].
Acupuncture is like noodles: The little red (Cook)book of working class acupuncture
Lincoln Detox Center was dismantled in 1979 by the New York Police Department. But the 5 points (known as the NADA 5 Point Protocol) continues to be used widely today as a tool for healing from the wounds created by capitalist America and white supremacy.
