As many of you know, I have decided to close my adorable office on Montgomery Drive in Santa Rosa effective October 30th, 2025. I dive deeper into why I made that decision below.
I am posting referrals to appropriate providers for my patients below. While I plan to be in practice again, it’s a legal obligation and a courtesy for continuity of your care.
To start, some quick observations on referrals:
- Licensed Acupuncturists are considered Primary Care Providers in the State of California, and receive at least 4 years of graduate-level training with rigorous Board exams following. We are trained primarily in Traditional Chinese Medicine, a systemized form of classical streams of Chinese Medicine that is effective, foundational, and backed by excellent research in Asia and beyond. I would trust the providers below to pull me through any manner of simple and moderate health conditions, and I encourage you to view these experts with the same open enthusiasm.
- I encourage you to use your insurance where possible for cost savings. At the same time, I want you to know: Insurance compensation to Licensed Acupuncturists isn’t fair or adequate so Acupuncture offices have to compensate for this deficit, generally through shorter consult times (5-10 min. max.) prior to your acupuncture treatment and not including other services (including manual therapy, moxibustion, or cupping).
This is to be expected, so temper your expectations when using your insurance. It’s not usually gonna be the Daulton Wellness treatment 😊.
When you see cash-pay rates and wonder “why does that seem expensive?,“ rest assured that your Acupuncturist is giving you their attention and training that came at a high-cost to them: L.Ac.s truly are experts in their field of classical and contemporary applications of Chinese Medicine, a precious “complimentary” and complete medical system.
So, why are you closing your office? It’s a simple two-step and a hop:
- Running a solo practice by my solo self is too solo for me. If you know me, you might guess I’m more of a Labrador Retriever-type than a Shiba Inu—Im an extrovert, more-the-merrier, highly social being who’s inherently comfortable in front of large groups. I need colleagues and to work with a team.
- I cannot accommodate more insurance patients without administrative support, which requires higher hourly patient volume, more rooms. and more staff.
The next manifestation of my practice and serving people is just around the bend. And you know how I feel after nearly three years here….? It’s all good—it’s version one!
And now, for the referral list:
Fantastic Local Referrals
If you’d like to see me, I am seeing patients by Zoom starting Monday Nov. 17. You can book those appts. now.
Using your Kaiser/ Anthem/ Aetna insurance:
As a reminder, Aetna only covers for chronic low back pain and post-chemotherapy nausea. Kaiser and Anthem cover a wider-range of maladies for Acupuncture.
Ongoing, affordable care:
Santa Rosa Community Acupuncture:Â https://santarosacommunityacupuncture.com/
Recommendation: See founder Dr. Viola Huang-Beck, who practices Thursdays. She is also in private practice in Santa Rosa.
Traditional, effective Acupuncture:
Dr. Pindy Wong, L.Ac., Almond Grove Acupuncture: http://www.drpindywong.com/
No nonsense, traditional care from a Chinese-trained master of acupuncture in Petaluma. She is intuitive, direct, and will definitely try to get you off coffee (but you don’t have to). $95/ session.
Specialty Orthopedic Care:
Joshua Margolis, L.Ac. (and the Farmacopia Team are great Western herbalists!): https://www.farmacopia.net/pages/team
An D.O. by training (Canada), Josh is a phenomenal practitioner of Orthopedic Acupuncture, including Neuropuncture, where he addresses pain and other dysfunctions through efferent spinal nerves.
Other Local Practitioners I personally know and like:
- Chase Desso, L.Ac. True Nature Wellness (Sebastopol)
- Lorelle Saxena, L.Ac. The Saxena Clinic (Santa Rosa)
- Steven Cartacki, L.Ac. Petaluma Community Acupuncture (Petaluma)
- Dennis Von Elgg, L.Ac. The Redwood Needle (Occidental)