Women, Children and Family Health & Well-being

Becoming Ourselves In All Stages

“I am thoroughly engaged to support and nourish your life’s journey.”

— N Thiel

Women’s Journey

Chinese Medicine For Your Life

Turning Point Center is committed to helping women and their families in their journey of wellbeing to become as healthy and fully engaged in their lives as they can be at all ages and stages of their lives.

Focusing on your needs and your family wherever you are in life, Turning Point’s Women’s Journey offers treatment and programs which combine Eastern (Chinese medicine (acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, meditation and exercises), Western functional medicine and research with emotional and nutritional guidance.

As a “whole systems” medicine it’s able to help prepare and support us for all the passages throughout our lifecycle, in all of our seasons, and transitions.

Each woman needs different ways and means at diferent times to help restore and maintain her health and well-being. Chinese medicine is able to respond to your unique needs because it always focuses on you as a dynamic person within the context of your life. Chinese medicine, acupuncture, functional medicine, contemplative integrative therapies offer the tools and resources to prepare and respond to the transitions, cycles, and seasons of your life. As you grow and change Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and integrative therapies offer the tools and resources to respond (not react) to your life as you move through it. You’ll not receive the same treatment twice. It is a medicine that adapts to you and changes with you. Treatment addresses the underlying cause not just symptoms. Acupuncture and Chinese medical treatments stimulate the body’s innate healing abilities.

This is a medicine for real life.

Women’s Journey offers a variety of treatments, programs and options to you for your needs. In this way I address acute and chronic problems while nourishing you every season and offer restoring and supportive care for each person’s needs.

In the Beginning: Childhood Flowers

Pediatrics

Caring for Those Most Dear

Keeping our children safe and healthy is the heart of the matter for many parents. Are you looking for safe, effective, natural solutions for the acute and chronic disorders that are common for children?

Acupuncture for children has helped with a wide range of childhood issues. An increasingly common and recommended treatment option is acupuncture and Chinese medicine because as Mom’s will tell you, it is gentle and safe and works without drugs. For too many issues, drugs don’t seem to work and have unwanted side-effects. Parents are searching for non -drug solutions. Pediatricians share the same concerns especially with the vulnerability of children ’s developing body and brain, yet acknowledge that Western medicine is limited in solutions for chronic and recurring issues. Will always consult with your pediatrician regarding treatment and care.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine stimulate and nourish the body’s natural healing resources. Unique to this medicine is the ability to prevent the arising of illness by understanding constitutions and the developmental stage of the child. It also treats the underlying cause of the imbalance as well as the symptoms. This is an effective method of restoring and maintaining your child’s health. Will always consult and work with your pediatrician regarding treatment and care.

Does it hurt? No, and there are other options to needles. Always non-intimidating and gentle the range of therapies include acupuncture, non needle techniques (electrostim pads with low microcurrent) and massage for non needle solutions. Herbal and dietary therapies are integrated into the treatment plans.

Conditions

Acute and Chronic Conditions that are treated include:

Teething
earaches,
repeated ear infections
bedwetting,
coughs,
colds,

Digestive disorders:

colic/ picky eaters, newborns and older
tummy aches,
constipation
diarrhea.

Chronic Conditions:

Pain, Back, Headaches
Childhood asthma,
Skin Conditions:
Allergies, Food and pollens
ADHD, emotional issues
Autism spectrum
Immune system concerns
Resolution of prenatal and neonatal care trauma.

Wellness:

Strengthening the immune system
Meditation for kids
emotional balancing,

Teenagers

Growing Pains

“When I get up and work out, I’m working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It’s just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.”

— Michelle Obama

Entering the teen years is a time of growing with joys and pains. A time of growth and challenge marked by rapid change physically, emotionally, and mentally inside and out.

Chinese medicine, acupuncture, functional medicine, contemplative integrative therapies in combination with nutritional advice, counseling, and peer support offer solutions to the many and various issues faced by teenagers.

Turning Point Center provides a welcoming space where teenage girls can feel comfortable discussing their changing bodies and minds while learning how to become and stay healthy by developing healthy choices which carry through their lives. I help them approach hormonal shifts and reproductive life with awareness and understanding.

I offer and hold a space in which they can discover, understand, and choose for themselves ways to respond while going through transitions physically, mentally, and emotionally.

A space where girls can discover how to feel comfortable and self confident in their own skins as they are; each unique and beautiful. For example; encouraging teens to take the time to notice and become aware of the intelligent things that their bodies do for them and they can do for themselves helps girls’ healthy choices through experience.

For example: Get support when they don’t meet the challenges or doubt and confusion arises with too many expectations. Personal counseling and support as well as peer support groups gatherings/ settings help change the conversation about weight and body image; the negative feedback we give ourselves too often.

TPC offers the tools and resources to help strengthen our teenagers confidence in themselves and their ability to live a full and vital life. Celebrate growing.

Conditions

Acne
Anxiety
Digestive Problems
DIET AND NUTRITION: Weight Management
TPC offers nutritional programs and services that provide a strong foundation for teens to begin to learn to nourish their bodies and minds particularly in this time of rapid change and growth. Discover new food choices. I offer a range of services to help you identify and reach your dietary goals.
Eating Disorders
Hormonal Balancing/and hormonal shifts.
Irregular Cycles
Menstrual Rhythms
Painful Periods
PMS / Stress
Peer pressures and relationships
Stress and anxiety, from school concerns, parental issues, identity issues.

Fertility

Prepare the Ground Before Conception

Creating a child is an expression of deep love and commitment. A process and journey of a lifetime from conception, through parenting is one that keeps unfolding.

When preparing to become a mother,and starting a family are you seeking natural approaches that will strengthen and nourish your innate fertility, health and well being ? Ones that are easily integrated into your daily life?

A Turning Point Center is here to support and nourish your healthy conception your healthy pregnancy, and healthy child. I’m delighted to help and partner with you offering Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, nutritional recommendations, and contemplative practices that can help give strong support, restore balance to your system, and will help you help you change unhealthy habits and make lifestyle changes.

Many women who come to the clinic want to be as naturally healthy as possible before conceiving because healthy parents make healthy babies.

Others come in need of support to conceive. Whatever stage of conception: just starting to try or coming after miscarriage, failed natural cycles or failed IVF I offer skill, experience and compassionate care.

Whether the first pregnancy or one of many, I recommend a three month preconception plan (shown in studies to enhance your fertility) to get in the healthiest state possible for you to conceive. I begin with a full health history and a comprehensive diagnosis, Together we create a unique treatment plan that reflects your needs and lifestyle. It is designed to nourish and increase your chances for healthy conception and pregnancy.

Treatment plans frequently include:

Acupuncture (Fertility)
Chinese herbal formulas
Counseling and advice for emotional concerns fears, reactivity emotions.
Creating an exercise plan or adjusting your plan.
Diet and nutrition assessment for your constitution and lifestyle needs
Hormonal balancing and regulation
Lifestyle changes, some as simple as resting or taking breaks in your day.
Lifestyle changes regarding your sleep patterns and reducing reactivity to stressors
Learning/ discovering more about your body’s rhythm and timing for improving conceiving
Reducing toxic stress levels. Navigate the ordinary challenges. Meditation, Music ,Qi Gong, contemplative practices help.
Adjusting or changing prescribed meds, OTC meds and cosmetics that frequently interfere with fertility.

This comprehensive assessment and diagnosis will be assisted by your own reflections and answers to questions of what is working for you and what isn’t in your body and lifestyle. Doing this gives you an opportunity to become aware of, recognize and understand your body’s signs and symptoms and natural rhythms: how they affect your constitution and your fertility. You’ll be able to focus on what is most relevant and important for your fertility.

Pregnancy and Birth: Staying Strong Through Pregnancy, Delivery and Motherhood

It brings me great joy to help women conceive and continue taking care of them during their pregnancy. Watching you grow and change never ceases to amaze me. Each new pregnancy is taking a step into the unknown, a new beginning whether the first pregnancy or one of many. Though it is a miraculous time, sometimes the changes in your body and emotions, along with discomforts such as morning sickness, fatigue, back pain or swollen ankles interfere with your experience of celebration.

At the Center an individual approach can be created for you to support and to complement the care you get from your other practitioners offering natural solutions to most common pregnancy discomforts and helping you meet individual issues that occur in your pregnancy. As a practitioner I work closely with many obstetricians, doctors and nurse midwives. I’m passionate about providing care to women throughout all stages of their pregnancy.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine along with integrative therapies offer safe, comfortable and cost effective help for the healthy mom, psychological issues, preexisting medical conditions as well as those particular to pregnancy without pharmaceutical drugs. This is especially important because many drugs are contra indicated during pregnancy.

The center’s resources are available to reassure, support, and guide you through each trimester to foster a healthy pregnancy and birth.

Chinese functional medicine, acupuncture, and integrative therapies are particularly helpful for the following conditions in each trimester.

1st Trimester>

Recurrent or threatened Miscarriage
Nausea/morning sickness
Heartburn
Headaches (including Migraines) Preexisting or arising with pregnancy
Backaches, sciatica
Constipation, Hemorrhoids
Emotional Issues
Fatigue
Promoting Balance, Reducing Anxiety, worry, and stress
Nutrition

2nd Trimester>

Pelvic girdle pain, backache. Chinese medicine and acupuncture has been shown in clinical studies to be effective in reducing backache and increasing mobility. In one large study, 72% of pregnant women found acupuncture gave good relief for their backache. Acupuncture has also been shown to be more effective than physiotherapy in relieving pain and improving mobility for pelvic girdle pain.
Emotional Issues
Promoting Balance, Reducing Anxiety, worry, and stress
Fatigue
Edema
Nutrition

3rd Trimester>

Emotional Issues
Promoting Relaxation for Stress, anxiety, tension
Nutrition

Acupuncture is particularly helpful for

Breech presentations using Moxa*
Cervical ripening and pre birth
Labour Induction for past due
Labor: Assisting nature, strengthens weak contractions and reducing pain and stress. Shortens labor time.
In the last few weeks, it helps you get ready for labor, softening your pelvic muscles and ligaments. While relaxing you it gives an energy boost before the big day.

*Many obstetricians send patients for help in turning breech babies. Using moxa, a technique that has been used for labor for centuries now gaining respect here in the West as research has been conducted by nurses, doctors and midwives showing that it is effective and safe for inductions.

4th> Postpartum and Postnatal Care

Parenthood: Becoming a Mom

“More than anything else, a careful nurturing of a child (autonomy) and an honoring of it through empathy and acceptance , lie at the heart of mindful parenting.”

— JKZ

It was remarkable as a new mother I could be so alive and so exhausted the first few months after my daughter was born. I remember no sleep, being alert and always on call as I learned to care for and respond to the needs of one so new, and vulnerable.

The transitions of discovering what it means to be a new mom and being my self as an individual were challenging. Yet I was reluctant to ask for help. Many Mom’s tell me this is true. They feel guilty about giving enough time to their own needs.

From my own experience with my daughter and with my patients, I know caring for yourself is completely necessary-and renewing. Your body needs extra rest, good nutrition, relaxation with your child and support at this time to make a full recovery.

The center is here to provide a foundation of support and guidance to take care of yourself so you can care for your child.

New Mom’s will be provided with solutions ranging from common postpartum complaints, emotional support, restoring your energy, and advice and tips for new baby care. The intention is to restore your energy and balance so you will can respond to all you need to do.

Acupuncture, nourishing Chinese herbal formulas, supplements, integrative therapies, meditation and relaxing exercises provide the resources and means to bring your body and mind back following the demands of a pregnancy. They meet the increased demands a Mom faces in parenting and raising a child.

The Center provides gentle, effective solutions for new moms’ most common complaints, including

Anxiety
Postpartum depression
Lifestyle guidance
Anemia
Back pain
Chapped nipples
Constipation
Fatigue
Hemorrhoids
Painful breasts
Poor or excessive milk supply
Nutrition for Mom and baby

“From hormones to stretch marks, labor pains to diaper changes, motherhood is an adventure like none other. The rapid changes in your body, your lifestyle, and your very identity call for a certain mental agility. Mindfulness can help you meet the challenge and approach each day with your new baby with open eyes and an open heart.”

Mindful Motherhood teaches you how mindfulness practices can be integrated into your everyday life during pregnancy and early motherhood to help you stay balanced, healthy, and connected with your baby, even in difficult moments.”

— Mindful Mom’s network

Caring for Yourself, Children and Family In This Busy World

Wise Women Can Respond

A Turning Point Center is committed to providing a natural and welcoming refuge for women who are navigating complex lives and schedules, while working to nourish and sustain their health and wellbeing and the health and wellbeing of those they love.

I know the difficulties and feeling of struggle we face caring for self, children, and family. As your partner in nourishing your health and wellbeing I understand what you’re going through because I share working with them. Such issues as growing a career, while worrying about how we’re doing as parents, relating to our families and helping our aging parents though shared by many of us, are complex. They can be demanding and stressful creating a sense of overwhelm a lack of balance. In addition there can be chronic or or the sudden serious illnesses to deal with.

How do we move from reacting or feeling overwhelmed to responding and meeting these life challenges? When we do we restore our balance.

I practice Chinese functional medicine, acupuncture, meditation and integrative therapies because I have experienced the benefits for myself. I offer you what I trust from experience with gentleness and without judgment.

Chinese medicine, herbal formulas, acupuncture, meditation, exercise, nourishes, supports and relaxes you, protects your immune system, and builds much needed resilience. Treatment is a time to replenish yourself. Mindfulness and awareness practices brings you to connecting with your body and mind; this helps restores balance. Treatment benefits build and strengthen over the course of treatment.

Additionally to get healthy, stay healthy, and balanced as you can be take some time to assess what is strong and working for you in your life, and what is not.

Listen to your body and heart. You can make confident decisions about caring for yourself and being cared for. As we experience what works for us we can integrate the new responses, practices and resources into our lives on a daily basis. When we need it we can get help.

In this stage, I treat and address the following common conditions.

Conditions

Allergies
Anxiety
Arthritis
Asthma
Autoimmune
Back pain
Adjunctive Cancer Care Program
Depression
Diabetes
Digestive problems
Eating disorders
Fatigue
Fibrocystic breasts
Headaches; all kinds
Hormone imbalance/dysregulation
Low libido
Lyme’s Disease
Menstrual irregularities
Migraines
Musculoskeletal pain
Painful periods
PCOS
PMS Stress
Thyroid dysfunction
Uterine fibroids
Chronic problems
Support Program for Cancer Care:
Crohn’s
Chronic fatigue
Pain management of all kinds

The Time of Our Lives: Our Peak, Our Prime

“Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our “to do” list. And one of the things that I want to model for my girls is investing in themselves as much as they invest in others.”

— M. Obama

Throughout our 40’s and 50’s two shifts occur as part of a woman’s lifecycle, impacting our body and mind along with the lives of our children and families. Peri-menopause and menopause are natural cycles of growth and change that influence all of our systems. We’re talking about what happens to us all in these stages and most importantly our thoughts and feelings about growing older. Is it possible to accept and respond to meet the particular needs of these cycles?

Yes! We’re preparing to grow, develop and flourish for the rest of our lives. Perimenopause heightens ongoing changes and makes more demands on our resources physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We experience changes in our bodies’ natural cycles, our feelings and our hearts. These are the rhythms of life and nature. We want to find the ways to be vital and alive as we can for the years to come.

As we discover our bodies’ different needs for support, it’s the time to commit to working on ways to nourish our health for ourselves just as we continue to do for our families. We have the opportunity to learn how to focus and direct our resources in new ways which allows us to choose caring for ourselves as a higher priority.

Our lives continue to grow,as we mature. Some of us continue to think about conceiving; we’re watching our children become young adults; we’re developing careers, changing them, or retiring. Many of us are increasingly caring for the needs of aging parents reflecting on preparing ourselves in the future. With increased demands on resources, our ability to respond and coordinate these activities can feel overwhelming at times. If we listen to our bodies and our hearts we can respond rather than react or struggle with fears and old ideas.

We can decide to cultivate health and wellbeing through evaluating what resources and support we need. In combination with self care practices, this is the best time to come into the clinic for help as you deal with any health problems.

A Turning Point Center offers solutions to address each woman’s needs in these stages ranging from physical issues, emotional and relationship concerns, and counseling for lifestyle support. I recommend both individualized treatments and self care practices tailored to your specific needs. Chinese medicine has some gentle solutions that help make this transition easier including Chinese herbals,essential oils, acupuncture, nutritional advice, integrative therapies such as meditation and Qi Gong, to treat peri and menopausal symptoms. These options and tools help restore balance.

I often treat these commonly experienced symptoms:

Anxiety
Bone density
Cardiovascular issues
Fatigue
Heavy Periods Irregular Cycles
Hot Flashes
Hormonal imbalances
Irritability
Mood Swings
Night Sweats
Sleep Disturbances
(Restlessness / insomnia)
Stress
Weight Gain

Offer classes and resources within A Turning Point Center’s network:
Referrals:
Qi Gong, Meditation, Therapy
Nutrition/ cooking class referrals

You Can Have a Stress Free Menopause

Menopause, a natural part of a woman’s life, offers a time to connect to a new understanding of our own creativity. It’s another beginning. From the beginning of our lives to the end, if a woman is in balance, her cycles of menstruation will be regular and free of any problems. If she is out of balance, her body and mind expresses this through many types of hormonal, menstrual, and emotional symptoms.

The good news is: sustaining in any stage or age we can, as women, learn to bring balance or restore balance to our bodies and minds.

In particular menopause is an opportunity to bring attention to sustaining benefits of treatments while you emphasize self care practices:

Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicines, and meditation have been shown to regulate our hormones; stimulate our immune systems, and make us more capable of responding to stress.
Explore new exercises such as Qi Gong, which not only regulates and strengthens the body but cumulatively renews our internal resources.
Acknowledge nutritional needs and shifts: less cold, raw foods and cold drinks.
Become honest about effects of stress. Know what’s working and what isn’t.
Take time to rest.
Take the time to relax and enjoy your life.

We can thrive if we meet the needs with preparation and awareness.

Fully Blossoming: Growing Up, Not Old

We Move To Wisdom

How can we as women ( and those we love ) be strong and resilient in body, mind, and spirit and have the time of our lives as we age? We have grown and continue to notice changes in our abilities most notably in our bodies. We need/require different quality, quantities, and kinds of food, rest, energy, social and emotional support.

Our minds and hearts are resilient and alive.

Most people I treat are committed to becoming and staying aware, healthy and living to their fullest capacity. If we have cared for, nourished and supported our foundations of health and well being the changes we experience do not have to be a decline in resilience or vitality.

A friend in her 70’s tells me this time of her life “is the best.” She says that she “finally has the time and energy able to give back to herself and the things she cares about.” Rather than feeling lonely she is further involved in her community and volunteer work. Relationship and connection becomes more important as we age both inside and outside of the family circle.

We can continue to grow with grace, dignity. This is aging with wisdom.

Enjoying the richness of life from experience and awareness; being engaged.

Chinese medicine, and acupuncture and integrative therapies (especially meditation and Qi Gong) are useful in sustaining and supporting needs of your body, mind, and spirit that through different levels of attention and care. Treatments give back to you so you can continue to give in the ways that have the greatest meaning to your life.

At this stage to support their needs, women will come for treatment or advice more frequently as nourishing “tune-ups.” They choose to do so to stay healthy, stay balanced, and sustain their energy of body and mind.

Conditions and Programs

Aging Well Programs [ Multiple Topics ]
Arthritis
Chronic Degenerative issues
Cardiovascular Support
Cancer Support Care
Emotional Wellbeing
Exercise: kinds that develop core strength and energy:Qi Gong,
Grief, Loss. Preparing for the loss of loved ones.
Macular Degeneration
Nutrition and Gardening