Sharon Jennings-Rojas (Odenton, Maryland)
Sharon Jennings-Rojas is an acupuncturist and herbalist. She maintains an acupuncture & herbal medicine practice, Chakramoon, Inc, and in fall of 2020 was appointed Department Chair of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine at Maryland University of Integrative Health. Sharon trained as an AcuDetox Specialist at Lincoln Recovery in 1991 and has been a NADA member for 30 years.
The NADA protocol is compassionate care at it’s best…NADA (“Nothing” in Spanish) has the ability to empower us, free us from the woundedness and get us back to center – a quintessential ground zero where “Nothing” exists. In that place, all that is necessary is to breathe and start again. It is in that re-start that we can begin addressing other health challenges. The ultimate goal is to balance body, mind, and soul.
What’s your ‘NADA story’? How did you come to be trained in the NADA protocol and as an acupuncturist?
A daughter of Jamaican immigrants, I grew up in several places. Born in Denmark Hill, London, my parents trained as health care professionals (my mother, a registered nurse; and my father, a hospital administrator). My later years were spent living in the South Bronx, Queens, and going to church in Brooklyn. I’ve spent considerable time in the Caribbean and Africa where the connection between health care and wellness (body, mind and soul) is deeply rooted to faith based systems and spiritual practices. This is why my work with the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center really spoke to me and paved the path of community health and wellness that I continue to advocate for.
My NADA story began in 1991. After completing my undergraduate studies at Vassar College, I began to work in community health and advocacy. I was working as a research assistant and case manager in the psychiatry department at Lincoln Hospital when I met Michael Smith. As a psychiatrist and acupuncturist, he often spoke of the practice of acupuncture within spiritual contexts. He told me that acupuncture helps to re-ignite the shen of those that have had their shen buried within them. That because of life experiences, we can become wounded, go within ourselves and some of us can get trapped inside, attempting to escape. It is this desire to escape that can lead to behavioral health challenges, like addiction.
Dr. Smith invited me to join the staff at the Lincoln Recovery Center where I apprenticed and trained in the NADA protocol. Mike, Carlos Alvarez, Nancy Smalls, and the staff of the Lincoln Recovery Center took me under their wings. I quickly recognized that behavioral health and mental wellness is an integral component of whole health and wellness. The NADA protocol is compassionate care at it’s best. Mike was my mentor and over 26 years he taught me that NADA (“Nothing” in Spanish) has the ability to empower us, free us from the woundedness and get us back to center – a quintessential ground zero where “Nothing” exists. In that place, all that is necessary is to breathe and start again. It is in that re-start that we can begin addressing other health challenges. The ultimate goal is to balance body, mind and soul. He continues to guide me.
Why do you continue to do this work?
Health care and community wellness (especially for the underserved) continues to be the heartbeat of my experiences. A community’s relationship to faith based practices and spiritual rituals impacts their ability to recover from whatever ails them. NADA provides a similar type of ritual – where anyone can walk in, be still, go within, meditate, get heart-centered, breathe and raise the vibration with others who are trying to do the same thing – just for that moment. This is “being” in community.
Health care and community wellness (especially for the underserved) continues to be the heartbeat of my experiences.
Getting treatment means receiving 5 points while being intimately familiar with the way the community moves, the way it smells, what makes it thrive and what ails it. The people are at the core of the community and the NADA protocol helps to calm its upheavals, take pause on trauma and its debilitating effects, accept physical challenges, and to unify the spirit of the community.
How did your time at Lincoln influence your life and work?
My work at the Lincoln recovery center changed my life. Over the years, I continued to apprentice, went on to complete a master’s degree and doctorate in acupuncture and herbal medicine. I maintain a successful 2-office acupuncture and herbal medicine practice, Chakramoon, Inc.
This medicine is for the people – all people – and my heart is and always will always be in the community and in places where access continues to be a barrier to care.
Last fall I was appointed Department Chair of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine at Maryland University of Integrative Health. I am clear that the administrative and private practice work is essential to continue to move this medicine, and the profession, forward. I am even more clear that this medicine is for the people – all people – and my heart is and always will always be in the community and in places where access continues to be a barrier to care.
Follow Chakramoon on Facebook.
We regularly uplift the work of a NADA member through our #NADAMembershipSpotlight series.
Do you know someone in the NADA community whose work should be highlighted? Nominate them to be featured by our #NADAMembershipSpotlight Series. Learn more.
