Tai Sophia Institute is dedicated to serving individuals who seek to learn the art of caring for themselves and each other in the course of life’s journey. From a small healing arts clinic founded in 1975, Tai Sophia has grown to become a preeminent academic institution for wellness-based research, education, and clinical care.
Our clinical services network includes eleven individual sites throughout the Baltimore/Washington region. At each of these sites, our faculty and clinical interns deliver personalized health and wellness services to a broad base of clients in a diverse range of settings. Among the eleven sites, six are operated through organizational affiliations with the following organizations to provide acupuncture students with a wide range of experiences in using acupuncture in public health settings. This comprises a unique and important part of the curriculum for the Masters of Acupuncture Program.
Within the acupuncture curriculum, the course Introduction to Addiction and Community Health enhances the Level II student’s knowledge of the Chinese Medicine viewpoint of substance abuse and recovery and teaches the student the application of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) Acudetox five-needle protocol. Following this course, students spend a minimum of sixty hours at off-campus community clinic settings where they gain experience in using acupuncture and life-skills treatment models for detoxification and support of overall health and wellness. This experience enables the students to develop skills of treating with compassion and powerful listening and to practice achieving and maintaining rapport with patients prior to their beginning treatment with individual patients in the Faculty-Supervised Student Clinic. Students are supervised at each site by licensed acupuncturists employed by that agency and credentialed by Tai Sophia with a faculty appointment.
For additional information contact:
Kathleen Crosland
Faculty Coordinator
410-888-9048 ext. 6658
kcrosland@tai.edu
Chase Brexton Health Services
www.chasebrexton.org
(Phone: 410-884-7831)
5500 Knoll North Drive, Suite 370
Columbia, MD 21045
Karen Konkel, MD, Coordinator of Integrative Medicine
Jennifer Cooke-Barr, L.Ac., Acupuncture Supervisor
STUDENT CLINIC: Wednesdays, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Chase Brexton’s primary objective in Columbia is to provide a health care home for everyone, regardless of his or her age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, current medical condition or socioeconomic status. A range of primary and preventive care, mental health and case management services are provided, including consultations in Integrative Medicine. Auricular Acupuncture is provided for stress relief.
Healthcare for the Homeless
www.hchmd.org
(Phone: 410-837-5533)
111 Park Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
Betty Kavanagh, LCSW-C, Behavioral Health Officer
Diana Keener, L.Ac., Acupuncture Supervisor
STUDENT CLINIC: Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:00 am – 9:30 am
Healthcare for the Homeless provides health-related services, education and advocacy to reduce the incidence and burdens of homelessness in Maryland. A continuum of addiction services is provided ranging from street reach/outreach to auricular detox, outpatient treatment, and referral and placement in residential treatment programs. The program is based on a philosophical continuum, which integrates a harm reduction model with the abstinence based chronic disease model of addiction treatment.
Howard Community College, Wellness Center
www.howardcc.edu
(Phone: 410-772-4640)
10901 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, Maryland 21044
Tara Rupp, Wellness Coordinator
Sherrie Black, L.Ac., Acupuncture Supervisor
STUDENT CLINIC: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 am – 10:30 am
The Wellness Center empowers students to make informed decisions about their health, ultimately enhancing their wellbeing and quality of life. It offers a variety services including acupuncture, massage, and zero balancing, provides educational materials, hosts educational workshops, plans awareness activities, and provides students with referrals as necessary. Auricular acupuncture detoxification is provided to support the campus community with enhanced health through stress reduction and recovery from addictions.
Penn North Neighborhood Center / Maryland Community Health Initiatives
www.tai.edu/MCHI.aspx
(Phone: 410-728-2080)
2410 Pennsylvania Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21217
Vernard Nelson, Team Leader
Rhonda Armero, L.Ac., Senior Acupuncturist
STUDENT CLINIC: Monday through Friday, 9:30 am – 11:30 am
Founded by Tai Sophia Institute, Maryland CHI is committed to redefining health through services that incorporate the values of on-demand access, community/friendship as healing, acupuncture, movement, and nutrition as effective tools and substitutes for substance abuse. Practitioners bring a wealth of knowledge concerning health and well-being through complementary medicine to clients who are, primarily, individuals living with drug addictions and HIV/AIDS.
N Street Village, Wellness Center
www.nstreetvillage.org
(Phone: 202-939-2092)
1333 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
E. Schroeder Stribling, LCSW-C, Director of Programs
Maria Bejarano, L.Ac., Acupuncture Supervisor
STUDENT CLINIC: Tuesday, 9:00 am – 11:00 am; Friday, 10:00 am – 12 noon
N Street Village empowers homeless and low-income women to claim their highest quality of life by offering a broad spectrum of services and advocacy in an atmosphere of dignity and respect. The Wellness Center is committed to treating the “whole person” – spiritual, physical, and mental – with a continuum of therapeutic and educational activities. Besides providing nursing triage and assistance in monitoring chronic disease, the Wellness Center operates a dental clinic, an eye clinic, and holistic therapies such as massage, yoga, auricular acupuncture, relaxation, and expressive therapies.
Recovery in Community
www.recoveryincommunity.org
(Phone: 410-362-1400)
31 North Fulton Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21223
Lena Franklin, Executive Director
Arthur Lazarowitz, L.Ac., Acupuncture Supervisor
STUDENT CLINIC: Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, 9:45 am – 11:00 am; Thurs, 1:45 pm – 3:00 pm
Recovery in Community (RIC) is a community-based program with the goal of reducing substance abuse and related criminal activity in three communities of Southwest Baltimore (Boyd Booth, Fayette Street Outreach, and Franklin Square). This area was the setting for the book and TV miniseries, "The Corner." RIC clients live in group houses and attend the program five days a week. Tai Sophia provides the acupuncture aspect of the program, which also includes anger management, HIV education, and substance abuse education. RIC has joined with Maryland CHI and another agency as the Threshold to Recovery Program to provide 24/7 access to recovery support services and jointly pursue funding opportunities.