Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels
Over the years, the Mend practice has had acupuncturists who are also U.S. veterans. We are proud to have these clinicians on the Mend team and love all that they have to offer. As a Veterans Community Care (VCC) Program provider, we particularly like being able to offer our veteran clients access to acupuncturists who have an understanding and sensitivity to veterans’ needs and experiences. To honor our current veteran clinicians, we learned a bit about their military background, what led them to acupuncture, and how they see acupuncture as a support to active services members and vets.
Dr. Kimberly Auvil,
DAc, LAc, CHC, CPT
Dr. Kimberly Auvil (‘Dr. KIMA’) served in the US Navy for 8 years, 4 active duty and 4 reserve. She was in the medical field and served primarily as a Corpsman/’Doc’ for both the Navy and later the Marine side while in the reserves. In addition to attending Hospital Corpsman School, she attended two additional specialty schools while serving allowing her to be able to grow and advance in her military career by managing pharmacy operations and being able to see and treat patients independently.
Dr. KIMA has had a lifelong interest in Native American and Asian cultures. She grew up in a martial arts environment and started reading about Taoism, Buddhism, and Native American Philosophies in her teenage years. Deeply rooted natural and respectful belief systems have always resonated with her. She started taking Tai Chi classes right after she joined the military and was working and training in military medicine. She discovered that Tai Chi was ‘the form’ she had been looking for her whole life due to the energetics and dimensions of Qi she felt through movement. Shortly after, she had her first exposure to Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. It was at this time in her life that the worlds of western, eastern, military, and energy medicine were converging for her and where her love of medicine and healing others truly began. Over the years, she has cultivated her education and passion for an integrative approach to medicine and healthcare. She is especially dedicated to her fellow veterans through volunteer and non-profit work, and completed clinical rotations at the VA Medical Center in Boston, MA and at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.
While completing her graduate and doctoral degrees, most of her research projects surrounded pain and mental health, with a focus on the correlation between pain and PTSD. As a veteran herself, Dr. KIMA is tuned-in to this area of medicine due to the cause/effect relation one has on the other, the high number of veterans and first responder’s suffering from both, and the ability acupuncture has to positively impact the quality of life for these populations. She has treated many veterans and first responders for pain, injury, PTSD, stress, anxiety, sleep disorders, depression, anger, and trauma related symptoms, to name a few. Acupuncture not only improves chronic pain and mental health, but helps with many other conditions and symptoms. Helping her fellow veterans is one of the aspects about her work she loves most.
Dr. Brian Dougherty,
DOM, MAc, LAc
Dr. Brian Dougherty served in the United States Air Force from 2002 to 2006. His job titles were Squadron Section Commander and Education Officer. He served in three squadrons within a Fighter Wing, and later in his career, an intelligence squadron, and finally an education squadron.
Dr. Brian first encountered acupuncture over 10 years ago when he wanted an intervention in the overwhelming stress he was feeling at the time. He was a new father with a baby that cried A LOT in a one bedroom apartment. He wasn’t sleeping well and the new responsibility of fatherhood was very challenging. In an effort to do something that would help him be the best he could be, that didn’t involve a chemical dependency, Dr. Brian tried acupuncture. After only two sessions he felt the overwhelming sense of stress melt away and his sleep improved even with the nightly interruptions. Acupuncture helped him so thoroughly that he was immediately inspired to bring this information to the world, especially to fellow veterans that live with PTSD. Using his G.I. Bill to go back to school for Chinese Medicine (acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine), Dr. Brian is now here to bring care and healing to those he envisioned.
Dr. Brian recognizes that, first and foremost, acupuncture offers a very effective means of treating chronic pain. Most of the veterans he sees are living with tremendous pain and the pain pills aren’t cutting it. Acupuncture has been an amazing way of reducing and removing pain for them and he loves to see it happen. A secondary benefit, and one that occurs even if the patient is coming primarily for pain, is the reduction of anxiety and the feeling of daily stress. He also notices that his patients’ sleep improves and their mood is more balanced. These things happen for just about everyone that gets regular acupuncture, and all the more so if that’s the patient’s goal.
To learn more about the Veterans Community Care (VCC) Program, visit va.gov/communitycare.
