Late Winter 2022: November
Welcome back to Heartwood!
a newsletter for the Quercus Natural Health community
We recognize that it is a privilege to be in your inbox, and would like to officially begin by offering you the opportunity to unsubscribe from this email list and future newsletters. To Opt out, please scroll to the bottom of this message and click unsubscribe from this list in the footer.
If you would like to continue receiving these newsletters, no further action is required of you. You can expect to hear from me again every few months or so.
No matter your choice, We hope you enjoy the remainder of this message and continue to make choices that best serve your health and needs.
Quercus Natural Health has settled into our new location on Hawthorne Blvd. Please enjoy this mini-photo journal of our new space….
And a few views from Pohala clinic…
As a reminder, we accept most commercial insurance plans at both clinics. However, we only accept OHP open card and CareOregon at Pohala Clinic. We are able bill out-of-network or provide superbills for Healthnet and Kaiser at both clinics. Please call the respective front desk for complementary insurance eligibility checks.
Mentorship
This past year, we formed a mentorship crew at QNH along with the support of the Pohala crew. As they were entering their first year of practice, Drs. Hayley and Claire trusted me to guide them through the many facets of our work: personal development as a healer, business, coding, charting, billing, patient care, etc. We have formed friendships and deep care for what we do and how we show up in the world. We have chosen to be in community with each other and those we work with and are in service to.
We have been able to form a model to care for patients as a team allowing for more availability in scheduling as well as many hearts and minds tending to each patients varied needs. This open communication amongst providers has given our newer docs the confidence to provide stellar care with a present and available support network.
I can also attest that this style of care has deepened how I tune into my practice and patient care. I have asked both Drs. Claire and Hayley to write a bit about what mentorship means to each of them.
The Quercus Team in May 2022
((front row left to right)) Gwen our receptionist & biller, Tameka our biller and her daughter Khorra, Dr. Claire, Desmond our visionary & dr. kacy’s spouse
((back row left to right)) Ayoleeto our young son & dr. kacy, Dr. Hayley, Isaiah our elder son
From Dr. Claire:
I thought that graduating from med school was a sign of maturation– the baby bird stepping out of the nest and flying for the first time, gracefully and with ease. Turns out that it felt a lot more like cracking through the egg shell, covered in amniotic fluid and struggling to open my eyes for the first time. I feel so fortunate that I had dr. kacy to help me find my way in my first year of practice. I was able to get a peek at what makes kacy’s practice so successful, and begin to build the foundations that will support my own practice as it continues to grow and expand. From billing and coding, to spinal manipulations and business practices, kacy helped me navigate the steepest learning curve of my life. I am forever grateful that I was able to have this opportunity for learning, while also having more freedom to navigate the beginnings of my own career than I ever would in a resident position. I look forward to what is possible as we create a larger network of mentors and mentees in relationship with one another!
From Dr. Hayley:
Working with dr. kacy in mentorship this past year has helped me develop myself as not only a practitioner, but as a healer. When it comes to integrative medicine, bringing together both the efficacies of modern medicine and the innate wisdom of the body, of nature is a deep study and lifetime practice. Over the year and a half that I have been observing and working beside dr. kacy, the strength of my clinical skills, efficiency of billing and business practices have been supported and grown. Secondly, but of no less importance, I have learned to embrace the power of my intuition to be able to see patients deeply and address the core mental-emotional and spiritual aspects of their health.
We are looking forward to growing this mentorship practice to support new and experienced docs alike building a web of supported practitioners as they grown in their healing and clinical care.
dr. kacy was recently interviewed for her dear friend and co-facilitator of Juvenescent Moon Womb Courses, Caitlin Quinn, for her colorful conversations podcast. From Caitlin’s newsletter The Weekly ReFrame with the ReFrame Collective:
Colorful conversations will serve as a guidepost for the work we will do in The Rainbow School. Each color arc of the curriculum will include a handful of episodes that will inform our cohort’s own conversations, as well as invite the Rainbow School community along for some of the magic!
This first episode is a conversation between myself, and my dear friend dr. kacy borba-spann. In it, we talk about friendship, embodiment, disassociation, and tools for regulating our nervous systems. It is a conversation for the whole family, and will hopefully spur on some juicy discussions and inquisitive questions around these concepts.
The Colorful Conversations Podcast is available now on Spotify and Apple podcast!
If you’d like to learn more about who dr. kacy is and how they move through the world, have a listen!
Marking transitions.
Making sacred rituals.
Welcoming menarche. with Caitlin Quinn and dr. kacy borba spannWhen young people feel rooted in their power, rather than shy or shamed for the changes taking place in their bodies, they become emboldened to live into their true selves. Period. Yet there is a glaring lack of resources and rites of passage to mark menarche in our society.
Juvenescent Moon womb cycle courses reimagine how young people are guided, celebrated, and accepted into adulthood by honoring and reclaiming this potent time. Weaving together personalized rituals, embodied practices, nurturing community, and comprehensive health education, we support young people and their loved ones to feel confident and capable during this time of transformation. Our four-week womb cycle series and year-long cohort offer a container of spirit, support, and science to welcome the menstrual cycle and mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Our next course begins on the new moon Feb 20th, 2023
Register Here!
Thank you kindly for your time and energy today!
dr. kacy
ND, LAc
she/they/he
mixed race, perceived white
*Keep your neck loose because it’s the bridge between your heart and your mind.*
You can find our home-based doctor-made botanical medicine in either clinic or here on Etsy:
~ KayoZai ~
Roots, Leaves + Tips
((medical disclaimer))The content contained within Quercus Natural Health’s Heartwood letter is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, even if your physician is dr. kacy, or another qualified health provider.
This newsletter was created on the traditional lands of the Cowlitz, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Clackamas, and Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians currently referred to as Portland, OR.
Ways to support BIPoC in our community and nation:
I plan on keeping this as a running list in each newsletter, if there is an organization you would like me to add, please reach out.
Local
Equitable Giving Circle
NAYA
Chinook Nation
Asian Pacific American Network Oregon
Taking Ownership PDX
Tattoo 34
Center for Equity And Inclusion
Third Eye Books
National
Official Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund
National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (nafcon)
Also, you can discover the Indigenous people of the land where you reside here.
Copyright © 2020 Quercus Natural HealthAll rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Quercus @ Opening to Life
3942 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
Quercus @ Pohala Clinic
7477 SE 52nd Ave
Portland, OR 97206
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Heartwood Early Winter 2022: March
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| My goodness, it seems like I was just in your inbox… Welcome back to Heartwood! a newsletter for the Quercus Natural Health community This round of the newsletter is an abbreviated version to keep you in the loop regarding some exciting changes to our practice. I recognize that it is a privilege to be in your inbox, and I would like to officially begin by offering you the opportunity to unsubscribe from this email list and future newsletters.To Opt out, please scroll to the bottom of this message and click unsubscribe from this list in the footer.If you would like to continue receiving these newsletters, no further action is required of you. You can expect to hear from me again every few months or so. No matter your choice, I hope you enjoy the remainder of this message and continue to make choices that best serve your health and needs.We’re moving!!!  Quercus Natural Health (dr. kacy, Dr. Hayley and Dr. Claire) will be moving to the Hawthorne neighborhood, about 10 minutes up the road. We aim to transition as smoothly as possible and will be in our new locale as of March 1st, 2022. We are grateful Gwen and Chanel will be with us along the way. I’ll be sending out another email in about two weeks with more juicy details.See you at our new spot for the next new moon! (( happy lunar new year)) We will continue to practice at Pohala Clinic as per usual. If you are a Pohala patient feel free to skip down to the next section of this newsletter as the next few bits are the nuts and bolts of the move. We have loved our time with the Portland Family Health crew and plan to stay in connection and community with them. On Hawthorne Blvd will be joining the Opening to Life community of practitioners who bring love, Spirit, integrity and professional expertise to support your journey of opening to life! Our new location is at the center of the thriving Hawthorne District at 3942 SE Hawthorne Blvd PDX, OR 97214. We’re happy to have 11 parking spaces for our guests and clients. Our treatment room will be upstairs on the second floor. Unfortunately this building is not ADA accessible, so you will need to be able to navigate stairs, though fewer than you are used to at PFH. Pohala Clinic remains ADA accessible. |
Roots, Leaves + Tips  On another note, I have finally gotten some of my homemade passion projects in the form of herbal medicine on my family’s etsy shop KayoZai:Roots, Leaves + Tips If you’re so inclined please pursue these tasty medicinal tinctures and things. Finally a Note from the Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians  Dear Friends of Naturopathic Medicine, We are sending you a message from a patient advocate who strongly supports her naturopathic doctor and the care she is receiving. She would like to see Oregon Naturopathic Physicians achieve health insurance pay parity in the 2022 legislative session starting this February. She wants to do all she can to make that happen and hopes you will join forces with her in this common cause. If you are a patient and supporter of naturopathic medicine, please read Ellen’s message below. If you are an Oregon licensed naturopathic physician, we ask that you forward this entire email on to your own patient lists. Sincerely, OANP Legislative Team Sign Up for OANP Grass Roots Action Alerts My name is Ellen Levno, I am a patient who benefits from naturopathic care and organizer of the Facebook group Patient Advocates for Naturopathic Physicians. The group’s goal is to bring together patients from every Oregon House and Senate district to advocate for ND pay parity. Currently naturopathic physicians are reimbursed by insurance companies at 50 percent the rate of their counterparts in the medical community. My ND invests significantly more time providing more attentive care than I have found any where else, and yet gets paid half for my visits? A bill is going before the Oregon Legislature this year to require pay parity for Naturopathic physicians. HB 4008. This will be the third time this same legislation has been brought forth. What is it going to take for the Oregon legislature to understand that the doctor of our choosing deserves to be treated fairly and allowed to survive financially? I believe that we, as patients, can make a difference this time by actively working together to contact our legislatures and let them know how important this bill is to us. (Here is a Find My Legislators link to learn who is your Oregon State Representative and Senator ) The first step in the process is getting everyone joined up on the facebook group so we can organize now and when the legislative session starts in February. Your time commitment to join this group is small. You will be asked to send letters by email at the start of the session and anything else that comes up to produce the greatest impact. I have started the Facebook group called Patient Advocates for Naturopathic Physicians and ask that you join me. Our purpose is to provide a platform to discuss and notify people of key dates and upcoming events. To provide templates and other written materials and other help to make it easy to send to our legislators. Please join the group today to show your support for NDs and the health care you receive. If you have questions or don’t do facebook, please feel free to email me at patients4nds@comcast.net. I look forward to working together with you on this very important cause. Sincerely, Ellen LevnoThank you kindly for your time and energy today! dr. kacy ND, LAc she/they/two spirit mixed race, perceived white *Keep your neck loose because it’s the bridge between your heart and your mind.* ((medical disclaimer)) The content contained within Quercus Natural Health’s Heartwood letter is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, even if your physician is dr. kacy, or another qualified health provider. This newsletter was created on the traditional lands of the Cowlitz, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Clackamas, and Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians currently referred to as Portland, OR.Ways to support BIPoC in our community and nation: I plan on keeping this as a running list in each newsletter, if there is an organization you would like me to add, please reach out.LocalEquitable Giving Circle NAYA Chinook Nation Asian Pacific American Network Oregon Taking Ownership PDX Tattoo 34 NationalOfficial Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (nafcon) Also, you can discover the Indigenous people of the land where you reside here.Copyright © 2020 Quercus Natural HealthAll rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Quercus @ Opening to Life 3942 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97214 Quercus @ Pohala Clinic 7477 SE 52nd Ave Portland, OR 97206 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. |
Heartwood Late Winter 2021
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| Hello hello hello, Welcome back to Heartwood! a newsletter for the Quercus Natural Health community I hope this newsletter finds you and your loved ones well as we enjoy this Winter season approaching the long night of Solstice a time for inward reflection, the yin time of year, where we can connect to our feminine natures focusing on rest, shadow self, nurturing, emotional shifts, being…a time to celebrate and offer gratitude for darkness, in all it’s symbolic forms, for it is a balance to all that is light. Many of us dread this darkest time of year as it is often villainized in our most classic of binaries, dark and light, good and evil, etc…however, we are also on a precipice of humanity (a dark night of humanity) realizing many classic binaries no longer serve us…how can we re-imagine new ways of being that are inclusive “yes, and” rather than the old “this or that,” “but” or “us, them” dichotomies we have been accustomed to. I urge you this dark season to find new meanings for this time of year and the darkness it represents. I recognize that it is a privilege to be in your inbox, and I would like to officially begin by offering you the opportunity to unsubscribe from this email list and future newsletters.To Opt out, please scroll to the bottom of this message and click unsubscribe from this list in the footer.If you would like to continue receiving these newsletters, no further action is required of you. You can expect to hear from me again every few months or so. No matter your choice, I hope you enjoy the remainder of this message and continue to make choices that best serve your health and needs.((Blooms + Branches health tips for the season)) I am so excited about today’s health tip, it comes to me via my bio son’s preschool, Mudpies, who was able to collect if from the Nest Playschool. It is basic guide regarding some best community practices for living in a pandemic. Yes, we are still in a pandemic, as I’m sure you are well aware. It is my belief that we will likely be in some form of a pandemic for many years, if not lifetimes to come, as our climate continues to change. Click here for a lovely guide, remember this in only a guide to help you mitigate COVID risks for yourself and your community regarding:Trips Outside the CommunityModes of TransportationGatheringsHosting Guests + Visitors from Outside the CommunityOutings and Daily Activities((Trunk clinical updates)) As of Fall 2021, I have chosen to step into the role of mentor ((click this link to learn more)). It is a new professional and personal endeavor that I am finding aligns harmoniously with my ways of being in the world. I love being a support and teacher in our specialized field of practice seamlessly blending Naturopathy and Classical Chinese medicine- helping with the ins and outs of clinical care, business and personal growth. Two unique souls have trusted me with their initial steps into the medicine. Doctors Claire Erhart and Hayley Jensen ((click these links to learn more about each of these awesome individuals)) have joined the Quercus Natural Health team at both Portland Family Health and The Pohala Clinic. They are contracted with the same insurance companies as me at each clinic. We have built our mentorship as a true partnership in your care. We are working as a clinical care team, meaning, though you may have preference for one of us, you will receive excellent care with each of us. This will allow more opportunities for you to get scheduled, as many of you know my clinic availability can feel too sparse at times. I hope you find a special connection with each of these fine practitioners on our journey towards your improved health and well-being. You can click the links found with in this paragraph to learn more about this mentorship. In the meantime, enjoy these illuminating smiles…..    A friendly reminder about both our clinic locations. #lovewins |
 ((Roots workshops and courses))The Business of Being a Doctor (BoBaD): We are completely re-vamping our content to make it an entirely self-paced online learning experience. Stay tuned early Spring 2022 for this exiting new opportunity. If you would like to be on our introductory email for when this course becomes available, please email me at dr.kacy@quercusnaturalhealth.com**** Juvenescent Moon Circle: <–this is an active link to the info + registration page  We ((dr. kacy and I, Caitlin)) are so excited to be offering another round of Juvenescent Moon — this next circle begins on Thursday February 3rd, 2022! Our first circle was even more magical than we could have imagined, and we are delighted to be offering it again —————————— Here are some of the things our inaugural moonbeams had to say about the experience: “Thank you for making this inaugural moon circle so magical. I think it was just what she (and I) needed, just when we needed it.” – mama moonbeam “I feel like it’s now much easier to talk about this kind of stuff, and my mom is now more aware of where I’m at.” – 5th grade moonbeam “It was so beautiful to be in community with other mamas and daughters and explore this work of redefining our bodies. I love that my daughter and I had an opportunity to be creative together and to learn a common language that I think will be with us always.” – mama moonbeam “It was so fun! I love all the different materials we get and how creative it is! I also love how it’s personalized, and you can tell you put it together by hand, and with love.” – 5th grade moonbeam —————————— We’ll only be accepting 8 participants + a loving parent/adult for this next circle — held on Thursdays from 4-5:30 pm February 3rd-March 3rd. You can sign up HERE or send an email with questions! ((And, you can click the HERE to see a video of all that’s included in our moon care kit!))  some parting thoughts on self-care…((A note on self-care that arrive to my inbox via Dr. Amy www.doctoramyllc.com and written by author Brianna Wiest that I would love to share with you all.)) Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing. It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution. It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day. A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure. True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from. And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do. It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t. It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening. If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness. It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place. It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people. It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it. -Brianna Wiest  Photo of my family (Isaiah, Desmond, dr. kacy, Ayoleeto) by Melissa Babasin circa Spring/Summer 2019This cool crew is now on Etsy with The KayoZai Shop, it’s is a play on our names…. kacy, Ayoleeto, Isaiah…and Desmond who is our anchor, our core, not in the name but sewn through the fabric of our family.We are a family of empaths, vulnerable, sensitive, soft, resilient, and strong. Creative. We each play with creativity in unique ways and we are continually refining our boundaries within the creative space, our home, and our relationships with self and others. kacy is the mama bear, the healer, a body listener, food-centric, lover of care and caring and kindness, she’s a whirlwind, quick and quirky, only slightly off-beat and plans to use this space for her herbal medicine projects. Ayoleeto is a fiery lion cub, a storyteller with imagination beyond the realms, realms he lives in and amongst with us here and there all in one breath, a magical being. He is currently known in our home as Bracelet Boy and if we can ever convince him to give one of his beaded bracelets up, you will see them here. Isaiah-Zakai is a sweet soul, who will bubble with joy in his comfort zones or softly enter a scene serene and in-tune, a music maker of many instruments, self-reflective and of depth, a knower of many things. He will likely be bringing you music in some form or another. Desmond is far-thinking, a word warrior, a growth tender, teacher and father sky, his mental game is on rhyme, a hip hop head bursting with ideas of human elevation, family-centered with the divine. His thoughts, ideas and ways of being will appear here on coffee mugs, t-shirts and tote bags. In this shop you will find our wares to be generated with love and joy, thought and consideration, kindness and care. As this is a side project, you might want to bookmark the Kayozai Shop and check in regularly. I’m hoping to get some of my herbal products up on the shop in the next week or so.Thank you kindly for your time and energy today! dr. kacy ND, LAc she/they/two spirit mixed race, perceived white *Keep your neck loose because it’s the bridge between your heart and your mind.* ((medical disclaimer)) The content contained within Quercus Natural Health’s Heartwood letter is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, even if your physician is dr. kacy, or another qualified health provider.Ways to support BIPoC in our community and nation: I plan on keeping this as a running list in each newsletter, if there is an organization you would like me to add, please reach out.LocalEquitable Giving Circle NAYA Chinook Nation Asian Pacific American Network Oregon Taking Ownership PDX Tattoo 34 NationalOfficial Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (nafcon) Also, you can discover the Indigenous people of the land where you reside here.Copyright © 2020 Quercus Natural HealthAll rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Quercus @ Portland Family Health 4004 SE Woodstock Blvd Portland, OR 97202 Quercus @ Pohala Clinic 7477 SE 52nd Ave Portland, OR 97206 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. |
Heartwood Mid-Spring 2021
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| Hello hello, Welcome back to Heartwood! a newsletter for the Quercus Natural Health community I hope this newsletter finds you and your loved ones well as we enjoy this Spring season. I recognize that it is a privilege to be in your inbox, and I would like to begin by offering you the opportunity to unsubscribe from this email list and future newsletters.To Opt out, please scroll to the bottom of this message and click unsubscribe from this list in the footer.If you would like to continue receiving these newsletters, no further action is required of you. You can expect to hear from me again every few months or so. No matter your choice, I hope you enjoy the remainder of this message and continue to make choices that best serve your health and needs.((Blooms + Branches health tips for the season)) Get exposed to germs, get in the dirt, expose yourself to microbes, and build your terrain….Yes, my seasonal health tip is to get dirty!! Our immune systems depend on it. It takes about seven years for our immune systems to develop (which is why young kids are often referred to as having naive immune systems) and beyond that they are continuously adapting to our environments to protect our beings. And that’s why, in medical school, we are taught that the healthiest way for a child to grow up, from the perspective of the immune system, is to be barefoot as much as possible, playing outside with siblings, cousins, friends and pets, eating whole foods, drinking clean water, and breathing fresh air within a balanced circadian rhythm… just getting exposed to the milieu of their environment. This way, the body can learn to be responsive to its environment. I worry now with COVID precautions, that not enough of us are getting exposed to good healthy germs and the microbiome of our environments. Please do not be mistaken, I am a big proponent of — whether you choose to vaccinate or not — basic COVID/pandemic/public health precautions of handwashing, mask wearing, social distancing, etc. as the responsible thing to do to support the health of our communities and likely will continue to be an important facet of our daily lives as the climate shifts engendering a more suitable environment for the microbial world – hence predictions that pandemics will become more common. We are likely going to need to learn how to live with these microbes and keeping our terrains healthy is an adaptive advantage we can choose to incite each day. We can start optimizing our terrains by establishing a healthy circadian rhythm and hormone balance, managing our stress with generative techniques, and nourishing our bodies with clean, healthy, whole foods and water. AND we need to get exposed to germs, especially our young children, we need to “get sick/catch a cold” every year to keep our immune systems attuned to our environments. It’s a dynamic balancing act – we need exposure to germs and we need to be mindful and safe about how we do it. We need to be able to hold the tenets of Germ Theory and Terrain Theory hand-in-hand to best adapt to our ever changing environment. One really great way to get good germ exposure to build your terrain is to get in the dirt, play outside, garden, make mudpies, dig ditches, hug trees, or get dirty any way you please. Princeton just came out with an article that states gardening can help with a lot of our society’s ills, not just our physical elements, but our mental emotional health too. It’s Spring! Get out in the dirt for your immune system, for your mental health, for your emotional well-being…..and get some germs. Let your microbiome learn the microbiome it’s living amongst. It’s kind of amazing how we need diversity and representation in our microbiome as much as we do within our communities.  Photo by Sandie Clarke on Unsplash Right now in my garden, I’m focused on planting low-maintenance native and medicinal species… it’s healing in so many ways. Rise Up Remedies has a lovely herbal medicine CSA that is complimenting my garden- medicine making so sweetly. _______________________________________________________________ ((Trunk clinical updates)) As of April 2nd, 2021 (because who wants to start a new policy on April Fool’s day) my cash rates are: New Patient Office Visit: $295, Return Office Visit: $195; Prolotherapy initial: $325, Prolotherapy f/u: $175*I had planned to raise my prices January 1 as per usual, and I just didn’t have it together with all the stressors of this past year, I’m experiencing them too. Human, like you. However, along with my billers at two different clinics, and taking into consideration insurance and industry standards, we were able to calculate these new prices. They feel fair, they feel what my skills and toolkit are worth, and valuable to this community. My cash rates are the same at both clinics. As a gentle reminder, I am a dual-practitioner, meaning I am licensed in and practice both Western medicine in the form of Naturopathy and Eastern medicine in the form of Classical Chinese medicine. Which is like seeing multiple practitioners in a single visit! I appreciate you supporting me and my family, the money that that you pay me goes back into the business, my continuing education credits- so I can stay up on what you’re experiencing, and giving back to communities like those listed below. It also helps our community building. If you read below in the Roots section of this newsletter, you can learn about some other offerings we’d love for you to come and join if something resonates with you. Ways to support BIPoC in our community and nation: I plan on keeping this as a running list in each newsletter, if there is an organization you would like me to add, please reach out. Local Equitable Giving Circle NAYA Chinook Nation Asian Pacific American Network Oregon Taking Ownership PDX National Official Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (nafcon) Also, you can discover the Indigenous people of the land where you reside here. |
 ((Roots workshops and courses)) The Business of Being a Doctor (BoBaD): We would like to offer you an exciting course geared towards practitioners who want to start their own practice or join another practice as an employee or independent contractor. Join us for our 101 workshop to review the basics of setting up a business, billing, and charting for insurance. Our 101 course will start you on your journey to consistently generate revenue and truly own your business. Our next Business of Being a Doctor 101//Monday May 1, 2021 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm 90 Min Instructional Conversation with 30 min Q + A Location: Zoom Cost: $40 Email: dr.kacy@quercusnaturalhealth.com if you are planning to attend. **** Pain course — Along with my good friend and colleague Dr. Michelle Young we will be providing live covid-safe workshops for people who experience chronic pain and are feeling helpless — like there’s nothing they can do for themselves apart from visiting a practitioner. We hope this course will help you discover your unique ways of self-care, we’ll assist you in building a healthcare binder, relying on tools and techniques that support your ability to reconnect with and trust your body. Please let me know if you are interested in this course and I will put you on our waitlist. **** Juvenescent Moon Circle: <–this is an active link to the info + registration page  We ((dr. kacy and I, Caitlin)) are so excited to be offering another round of Juvenescent Moon — this next circle begins on Monday May 10th! We are planning these circles with the moon, and this one also happens to begin the day after Mother’s Day. We are excited about this timing, and think it would be a great gift for the mama’s and young wombed-ones in your life! Our first circle was even more magical than we could have imagined, and we are delighted to be offering it again —————————— Here are some of the things our inaugural moonbeams had to say about the experience: “Thank you for making this inaugural moon circle so magical. I think it was just what she (and I) needed, just when we needed it.” – mama moonbeam “I feel like it’s now much easier to talk about this kind of stuff, and my mom is now more aware of where I’m at.” – 5th grade moonbeam “It was so beautiful to be in community with other mamas and daughters and explore this work of redefining our bodies. I love that my daughter and I had an opportunity to be creative together and to learn a common language that I think will be with us always.” – mama moonbeam “It was so fun! I love all the different materials we get and how creative it is! I also love how it’s personalized, and you can tell you put it together by hand, and with love.” – 5th grade moonbeam —————————— We’ll only be accepting 8 participants + a loving parent/adult for this next circle — held on Mondays from 4-5:30 pm, May 10th – June 7th. You can sign up HERE or send an email with questions! ((And, you can click the HERE to see a video of all that’s included in our moon care kit!)) **** 13 Moons Intergenerational Women’s Retreat: <–this is an active link to website We will be hosting a Summer Solstice Friendship + Flowers event on Friday June 11th via zoom from 6-8 pm. Please email me if you are interested in joining our next event. **** Caitlin Quinn – a local art, health and drama teacher- partners with me to facilitate the Juvenescent Moon and 13 Moons communities. She also brings other fun + creative offerings into the world which I am sharing with you here:Wardrobe Re.Vamp: Infuse your closet with new-to-you-pieces; learn mending, making, and alteration techniques; and honor the pleasure-filled holiday of Beltane as we shed old layers and adorn ourselves in devotion. You’ll come away from our in-person outdoor weekend with a curated, hand-altered collection of clothes! Wardrobe Re.Vamp: May 1st from 11-5pm — find all the details here! Ways your kiddos can work with Caitlin: >>SUMMER CAMPS: Enroll your creative kiddos in our summer Re.Imaginaries Drama and Maker Camps ((Grades 1-7 in-person, in Portland)) >>RITES OF PASSAGE: Join the next Juvenescent Moon Circle + support your young wombed-one as they begin to bleed ((Grades 5-8, virtual)) >>PLAYWRITING COHORT: Sign up your teen for this exciting Play.Writes of Passage workshop + witness them write their very own play! ((Grades 8-12, virtual)) >>HANDS ON WORKSHOPS: Bring a friend, a pod or the whole family to learn and make with us in-person – The Tool School ((Whole family learning + birthday party celebrations in-person, in Portland)) Feel free to email Caitlin at reframenw@gmail.com with any questions!  Photo of my family (Isaiah, Desmond, dr. kacy, Ayoleeto) by Melissa Babasin circa Spring/Summer 2019 Thank you kindly for your time and energy today! dr. kacy ND, LAc she/they/two spirit mixed race, perceived white *Keep your neck loose because it’s the bridge between your heart and your mind.* ((medical disclaimer)) The content contained within Quercus Natural Health’s Heartwood letter is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, even if your physician is dr. kacy, or another qualified health provider.Copyright © 2020 Quercus Natural HealthAll rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Quercus @ Portland Family Health 4004 SE Woodstock Blvd Portland, OR 97202 Quercus @ Pohala Clinic 7477 SE 52nd Ave Portland, OR 97206 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. |
Heartwood Mid-Fall 2020
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| Greetings, Welcome to Heartwood! a newsletter for the Quercus Natural Health community I hope this newsletter finds you and your loved ones well as you settle into the Fall and Winter season. It is my intention to communicate with you in this way with a bit more frequency, sending out 1-2 newsletters each quarter, with opportunities for us to be connected — including updates on my practice and projects I am working on, as well as some insight into the season with ways to best support your health and well-being. I recognize that it is a privilege to be in your inbox, and I would like to begin by offering you the opportunity to unsubscribe from this email list and future newsletters.To Opt out, please scroll to the bottom of this message and click unsubscribe from this list in the footer.If you would like to continue receiving these newsletters, no further action is required of you. You can expect to hear from me again in a month or two. No matter your choice, I hope you enjoy the remainder of this message and continue to make choices that best serve your health and needs.  Heartwood is the name of this resource letter. Each message will have unique sections represented by parts of a tree. ((Being that Quercus is the Latin term for Oak tree.)) To help you navigate to the section(s) you want to read first, I am offering here a brief description of each of the four sections you can come to expect in these Heartwood messages: Blooms — physical, mental, or emotional health tips for the season. Branches — the most personal section for me to write, as I use a personal lens to prompt inquiry into social justice. I ask that you please recognize my tender, vulnerable heart as you read this section. It is my aim to share my own growth, learning, and human complexity here in the hopes that we can grow together. Some of what I speak to might not resonate with you and that is okay. Know that I’m sharing my truth without judgement and I welcome you to share yours. Trunk — this is where you can learn to connect with me in a clinical setting. Clinic and practice updates can be found here. Roots — here you will find engaging workshops, courses, and retreats created in partnership with myself and other amazing souls. These collaborations are designed to engender wellbeing, growth, and community. ((Blooms health tips for the season)) 2020 has been quite a year! Much of my learning this year has been around slowing down, tuning into my body, my rhythms, and my family and our rhythms. Learning to journey in right-relationship with those closest to me, including myself, and with my larger personal and professional communities. I have also re-learned that “normal” is not healthy. In my treatment room, I regularly remind patients that a normal lab value isn’t actually healthy. This is why — as Naturopathic physicians focused on functional medicine — we look for optimal lab values. Optimal lab values equate to healthier humans. I believe that in the face of COVID, social justice movements, wildfires, and a volatile election year, our focus on establishing a “new normal” as a society has been utterly defeating and difficult. The ideas, practices, and policies around what is “normal” have not served our diverse communities for millennia and it’s time for change. This is why I propose we shift our mindsets and seek new rhythms, rather than attempting a return to a normal that didn’t actually serve us in the first place. In honoring my own rhythms and the rhythms of my family in the ever uncertain and changing environment that has defined 2020, I have learned to dance (not yet a musician) with what the moment is inviting in. Sometimes these new rhythms have me overwhelmed with the slightest inquiry or find me joyous and serene on a walk around the block or perhaps crumpled on the floor with grief and rage or calmly sitting around the table creating new family rituals and ways of being. It’s a nod to our resiliency and our neuroplasticity. It’s about acceptance of what is, who we are, how we are failing, how we are succeeding, and where we focus our gratitude. It’s teaching us to reconcile — to own our mistakes, our moods, our misgivings — and apologize, pledge to do better, to learn more, to unlearn more, remain present and create new ways of being. This is our healing journey. Together we can tap into our creative resources and continue to change and grow along with our communities in uncertain times. Will you join me in learning new patterns? Will you accompany me as we create new music? Can we together dance to new rhythms?  ((Branches community and the ways we affect our culture)) A new rhythm that I am steeped in is the idea of insidious anti-racism. Often in social justice circles we hear that racism is insidious — meaning it is so prevalent in our policies, procedures, beliefs, and biases that we can’t even see it. It’s true! I have been actively doing anti-racism work for over two decades and I am still trying to unweave the tangled webs of my own racist beliefs, turning my attention towards the policies and procedures I don’t think to question, and dismantling the framework of equating “normal” with whiteness. So what is insidious anti-racism or rather insidious anti-ism (because the social justice movement encompasses more than race alone) and where does it start? For me, it starts with language and the words we choose to use. Here are some examples of shifts I am making in my own lexicon. >My email signature.Below my name you will see two lines. ((she/they/two spirit)) which is a nod to who I feel I actually am on the inside. Growing up I never wanted to be a girl. I didn’t have the language or culture we do today where gender is fluid. I did spend many years of my life with head shaved and an androgynous appearance because that felt more like me. I didn’t even accept, wholly, that I am female until after I gave birth at the age of 35. When I discovered the term two-spirit, it made perfect sense and felt like my gendered home. It also aligns with my Indigenous roots and how I walk in the world. ((Mixed race, perceived white)) This is a really big piece of shifting away from whiteness as normal by naming it. I am mixed race, only 3/16th of my bloodline is white (a rebellious Scottish 3/16th) and for those who are curious: I am half Portuguese, not from the mainland, from the Azores (islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean). My great grandparents immigrated to my hometown so I am 4th generation on that side of my family; I am a quarter Mexican but the kind of Mexican that was Mexico before it was USA. Actually, this year I discovered more accurately that I am Salinan of the Salinas Valley where I grew up so many generations deep; and finally 1/16th Northern Cherokee. I find it important to label my whiteness because I walk through the world with white privilege despite working hard to untangle my ancestral lines, wounds, celebrations, joy and assimilation. I think it’s important we honor ourselves and each other by naming who we are and where we come from. Speaking of which, I would like to take a moment to give name to the Original people of the land I now call home. I understand that the Portland area resides on the “traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River creating communities and summer encampments to harvest and use the plentiful natural resources of the area” (Portland Indian Leaders Roundtable, 2018). I offer gratitude to the Indigenous communities who have tended this land today and since time immemorial. > I no longer use the terms “gypped” aka “jipped” because it’s origin is that of referring to gypsies as thieves. Not most, and definitely not all gypsies are thieves — it’s offensive. Instead, I can feel and use the terms cheated or swindled. > I am working to eliminate ‘peanut gallery’ from my lexicon as it has racist roots referring to the section allotted for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) in theaters; a lesser section of the theater. I do not want to perpetuate this trauma so I am choosing not to use this phrase. Instead, I choose words like spacey or my two cents, etc. >Oh, I am struggling with this one, I am trying to eliminate the descriptors ‘crazy’ and ‘insane’ from my lexicon because they are dishonoring of those with mental health disorders. I am working to replace these words with wild, feral, or turbulent. I am a work in progress as this one proves most difficult. >And being the season that we are in, I am referring to this time of year as the Holidays, Fall or Winter break as there are many celebrations this time of year for those in our community and limiting it to the Eurocentric, Christian holidays of Thanksgiving or Christmas just doesn’t feel right anymore for me. I also question celebrating Thanksgiving as we were raised and taught in school that it is a holiday to celebrate the coming together of pilgrims and Indians in shared harvest — all rosy and welcoming when the whole truth of colonialism is that the white colonists committed genocide destroying millions of Indigenous people and their cultures. I do not want to celebrate an incomplete truth and I do not celebrate the violence and injustice it belies. Therefore, in my family, we celebrate Fall Harvest and Winter Solstice: expressing gratitude for our family, friends, well-being, and all the hands involved in caring and cultivating our food eg: migrant farm workers, farmers, truck drivers, dock workers, grocery store workers, gas station attendants, etc as well as preparing to welcome the return of the light as we engage in the longest night of the year on Solstice. We also get into some Christmas spirit in our home because it is fun, joyous and reminiscent of my partner and my own upbringings. I wonder, how has your social justice lens shifted or changed this year? What commitments are you making to shift the narrative? Which mistakes are you owning, apologizing for and committing to do better around? What are you feeling curious about? How are you taking action? Some great introductions to Anti-Racism work come from: * Layla Saad who wrote a thought provoking 28-day workbook, Me and White Supremacy, to help you recognize when whiteness surrounds each of our lives. *Ibram X. Kendiamong many has written How to Be An Anti-Racist which has helped me see how racism is wovein into the fabric of our institutions like education, capitalism, laws etc. He is able to open one’s eyes without provoking feelings of division, distrust or defensiveness. He also wrote an excellent children’s book.: Anti-racist Baby  ((Trunk clinical updates)) I have also found new rhythms in my clinical practice. One dance I am still working out a rhythm with and enjoying the challenge of is in the creation of my own website: Quercus Natural Health It’s a beautiful living webspace that I intend to keep vibrant and up-to-date. It is also a great way to share my work with your friends and loved ones. Another new dance I am continually learning is how to continue seeing patients safely, in-office during a pandemic. Both clinics I work in have numerous COVID safety measures in place that we follow with strict adherence. If you would like to see me for clinical care, I continue to see patients at: Portland Family Health on Tuesdays from 9:15pm-3:15pm and Fridays from 12:00pm-6:30 pm. Please call the office at 503.777.0444 for scheduling or schedule online by scrolling down to my picture and choosing the appropriate visit type. New patients will need to schedule by calling as this is not an online option. Portland Family Health, in the Woodstock neighborhood, was founded to help support family wellness under one roof, using natural medicine practices to empower you and your loved ones. Modalities such as chiropractic, naturopathic, acupuncture, massage therapy, shiatsu, midwifery, lactation, & counseling allow you to choose the best combination of practitioners for your health care goals. As of July 2020, I have begun seeing patients at Pohala Clinic in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood on Wednesdays from 9am-3pm. To schedule, please call the office at 503.572.4196. Pohala Clinic is an integrative family medicine practice offering primary, alternative, and mental healthcare. Pohala meets the health care needs of men, women, trans and non-binary folks and their families with conventional and alternative strategies. Treating every patient with compassion, care, and attention, the practitioners offer functional and integrative medicine approaches in an environment that enables patients to save time and money while creating a community. I am on different insurance panels at each clinic so please check with the front desk staff to ascertain your insurance eligibility. Cash rates are the same at both clinics. I also offer telemedicine at both clinics as well. |
((Roots workshops and courses)) Many of my new rhythms involve my work, and I have been tending to the soil and planting seeds for several generative projects that will be coming to fruition in the new year. This Heartwood newsletter community will be the first to know about these upcoming offerings: Juvenescent Moon Circle: womb cycle courses- reimagine how young people are guided, celebrated, and accepted into adulthood by honoring and reclaiming this potent time. Weaving together personalized rituals, embodied practices, nurturing community, and comprehensive health education, we support young people and their loved ones to feel confident and capable during this time of transformation. Our four-week womb cycle series will begin on the lunar new year Feb 11th, 2021, please click here to learn more and register. 13 Moons Intergenerational Women’s Retreat: This community is important to us all, and we want to ensure that regardless of what might change related to our physical gatherings, that our shared stories and connections to one another only continue to grow. We have reached the season that reflects the same energy and motion as the whole of 2020. A season of darkness, of turning inward — this is an opportunity for internal reflection, and a time to bolster our beloved relationships. This is an era that will be defined by how we generate new adaptive and resilient ways of being — attuning our energy, resources and gratitude to what really matters. Join us on Sunday, December 20th from 10am-12pm we will be hosting a Winter Solstice event. Learn more and register here, all those who identify as woman, girls or non-binary are welcomed. Pain course — Along with my good friend and colleague Dr. Michelle Young we will be providing online coursework under the moniker ‘Docere’ (it’s a tab on my webpage). Our first course is for people who experience chronic pain and are feeling helpless — like there’s nothing they can do for themselves apart from visiting a practitioner. We hope that this course will help you find your unique way of self-care, will assist you in feeling empowered and aware of options, and will support your ability to reconnect with and trust your body. Please let me know if you are interested in this course and I will put you on our waitlist for when launch dates get finalized. Thank you kindly for sticking with me through to the end of this inaugural edition of Heartwood, I appreciate your time and energy! dr. kacy ND, LAc she/they/two spirit mixed race, perceived white *Keep your neck loose because it’s the bridge between your heart and your mind.* ((medical disclaimer)) The content contained within Quercus Natural Health’s Heartwood letter is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, even if your physician is dr. kacy, or another qualified health provider.Copyright © 2020 Quercus Natural HealthAll rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Quercus @ Portland Family Health 4004 SE Woodstock Blvd Portland, OR 97202 Quercus @ Pohala Clinic 7477 SE 52nd Ave Portland, OR 97206 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. |