News
from and about the NADA community
Latest News from NADA
NADA Work in Australia Grows
In late 2020, Sydney based Acupuncture for Community launched a new website. Check-out their work and latest news & events. There is NADA work in dozens of countries across the world. Learn more about NADA work beyond North America. Acupuncture for Community is...
More News from NADA
Membership Spotlight: Karen Marrero Chong
I recall being 15 years old when I realized for the sake of my own independence that to heal myself and to help those around me, that I must learn everything I can about health and healing. I remember being fascinated when I first heard in acupuncture school something about the NADA protocol and the points on the ears…so I went off to the Bronx to Lincoln Hospital to learn about that because it was something I felt I could immediately start integrating into the work I already did.
Service Awards for Courage and Vision
At the Southwest regional meeting we recognized a group of recovery mentors at the Magilligan Prison in Northern Ireland who have provided ear acupressure to their fellow prisoners. Before the pandemic, they also worked in the acupuncture clinic assisting Trish Cathcart, who introduced the NADA protocol into all the prisons in Northern Ireland. We made a service award for each mentor (Albert, Billy, Dessie, Eamon, Paul, Ryan C and Ryan T) and for Trish, recognizing their courage and vision.
NADA’s First Virtual Conference, Southwest Style
On October 15, 2020, NADA held its first virtual conference titled Innovations in Healing with the NADA Protocol. The presentations featured the Southwest region of the United States, and included speakers from Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. One of the organizers appreciated the online space, because “it allowed people to attend since travel was not an issue.” Even when we come to a time when travel and gathering may become easier, we have learned that the space for meeting online is not going away – it is a strategy that builds access, one of NADA’s principal values.
Community Update
On June 8, following several weeks of protests across the United States and world against the brutal and senseless murder of George Floyd specifically and the violence of systemic racism broadly, NADA issued a statement of solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives in which we stated: “Structural change cannot happen without the individual components engaging in their own transformation and evolution of undoing racism. NADA pledges to do its piece in this learning and transformation, and to share its process with the community.” This is our first follow-up update in sharing our process and progress with the NADA community.
Opening access to the NADA protocol is becoming a legislative trend
with Vermont and Colorado paving the new path. Twenty-four states have statutes on the practice of the NADA protocol by a diversity of workers. On July 1, 2019, Vermont became the first to deregulate the practice of the protocol entirely. One year later, the state of Colorado followed suit, as part of changes made during the sunset review of the Mental Health Practice Act. These changes point to a growing trend of the NADA protocol becoming more available and accessible in clinical and community spaces, and to state governments having a less fearful approach to NADA providers serving their communities.
Remembering Dr. Ajándok Eőry
By Emese Eőry Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Nurse, Ear Acupuncture Addictologist This article comes from Guidepoints News from NADA Summer 2020 Issue. Sign-up to receive Guidepoints in your inbox quartlery. The Guidepoints newsletter is the only...
Your Art Your Story
Hope and healing after suicide. Many suicide loss survivors have post-traumatic stress disorder and disenfranchised grief, and it is difficult for them to find help. In 2019, I was introduced to NADA and started training in the NADA protocol. Although I don’t yet practice the protocol in a clinical setting, I use it on myself and really notice the benefits. I believe the NADA protocol is a powerful tool for bereavement support and would like to connect with practitioners who have employed it–using needles and/or seeds and magnetic beads–in grief support settings.
New Guidepoints News from NADA Issue Published
Stories in the Summer 2020 Issue:
Opening access to the NADA protocol is becoming a legislative trend with Vermont and Colorado paving the new path pg. 1, 3-4
Remembering Dr. Ajándok Eőry pg. 5-6
Your Art, Your Story: Healing From Suicide Loss Through Art and Community pg. 7-10
NADA’s First Virtual Conference: Southwest Style pg. 11-12
Service Awards for Courage and Vision pg. 13
Participate in our End of Year Campaign “Celebrating the NADA Movement”
Become a NADA member, renew, or make a donation to build the NADA movement.
Support the International NADA Community this Giving Tuesday
For the second year, we are giving visibility to the DARE Network, “a community-based grassroots organization providing culturally appropriate treatment and prevention programs to reduce substance abuse and associated societal problems within the communities of the...
NADA commemorates Truthsgiving
On this U.S. colonial holiday, we invite you to reframe “Thanksgiving” as Truthsgiving. Commemorating Truthsgiving, we join in solidarity with Native communities’ ongoing resistance to genocide and colonization. We acknowledge the 400 years of trauma that have been inflicted on the Indigenous communities of North America as well as globally.
Membership Spotlight: Hajera Ahmed
Hajera Ahmed is working to expand access to the NADA protocol in Washington state. “The thing that stuck out most about Acudetox to me is that there isn’t a hierarchy around who ‘deserves’ healing. EVERYONE deserves love and care, EVERYONE deserves access to a warm space to rest and EVERYONE deserves healing. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or what you do for work or what you believe or what language you speak. Everyone can be their own healer, and hold space for others if they are willing.”
NADA Celebrates 50th Anniversary of the Takeover of Lincoln Hospital
Today, on the 50th anniversary of this event we honor the activists, organizers, collectives, and broader South Bronx community who created the conditions for the NADA protocol to later be developed.
Join us for our December Membership Café reflecting on 2020
December 16th at 10 AM MST / 12 PM EST Our monthly membership café is taking a pause for November. We'll see you again in December! The theme will be reflecting together on NADA in 2020. Email Taneha Watts, membership coordinator, with questions at...
NADA Changes the Dominant Paradigm (Visual Adaptation)
View this adaptation of Michael Smith’s classic essay as a short video or on NADA’s Instagram (@spiritofnada).
NADA history featured in Integrator Blog by John Weeks
NADA history has been in the spotlight. Our July Membership Café featuring Juan Cortez & Carlos Alvarez received attention from integrative health & medicine leader and 2019 National Conference keynote speaker, John Weeks. Read the full article “Mending Our...
NADA Changes the Dominant Paradigm (PDF Handout)
PDF handout of Michael Smith’s essay ‘NADA Changes the Dominant Paradigm’
Harvard video series on ear acupuncture research starts in New Hampshire
Harvard University’s Asia Center just published a two part video series by scholar, Eana Meng, chronicling her global journey to uncover the roots and branches of ear acupuncture, including the NADA Protocol. “Origin stories are hard to pinpoint. Instead of trying to figure out the start and end points, I want to look at the connection in transmission of the practice and knowledge. Just like acupuncture, the way to understand the following stories is to look at the unexpected connections. Connections between seventies revolutionaries in New York to present day prisons in England. From those in recovery clinics in Hungary to police officers in India and even First responders on Ground Zero post 9–11.”
Join us for our October Membership Café
This month we are meeting a week later than usual on October 28th. NADA Membership Cafés are hosted and facilitated on the third Wednesday of the month by membership coordinator Taneha Watts. We always hear from our guests and make space for questions, conversation, and connection. Register today!
Registration Opens for First NADA Virtual Regional Meeting
Join the North American NADA community as we come together to learn and be inspired by the creative ways in which NADA providers in the Southwest region have been using the NADA protocol. Come to rejuvenate your NADA spirit, connect with the NADA community, and learn about innovative & grassroots programming. Register today!