Sunday, September 15th, from 3 – 5 pm.
The Community Acupuncture Project of Burien will host an anniversary celebration at their clinic space
Address: 1800 SW 152nd Street Suite 200
Phone: 206-535-6996
W: www.acupunctureforall.org

The Community Acupuncture Project of Burien survived the pandemic and rising rents to continue to offer accessible health care in South King County. This woman/LGBTQ/locally owned community clinic, rooted in justice, was recognized as an outstanding business earlier this year by Discover Burien.

On Sunday, September 15th, the Community Acupuncture Project of Burien will host an anniversary celebration at their clinic space from 3 – 5 pm. Light refreshments, free ear acupuncture treatments, clinic tours, and free clinic tee-shirts will be available. This woman/LGBTQ/locally owned community clinic is celebrating five years at its Burien location in the Seahurst neighborhood, and 15 years of operations since first opening in Columbia City, Seattle in 2009.1

Inspired by the community acupuncture model pioneered in the United States by Working Class Acupuncture in Portland, Oregon2, Sonja Sivesind and former co-owner Angie Hughes, chose to operate their clinic as a group room acupuncture space. Furnishing their two-room clinic with recliner chairs and massage tables allowed the acupuncturists to treat many different people in the same community space at reduced treatment fees. Operating as a high-volume, low cost clinic, allowed CAP to provide acupuncture to many people, as family, friends and neighbors healed side-by-side. Though they’ve been able to offer acupuncture offsite over the years at community colleges, neighborhood fairs, farmers markets, immigrant rights organizations, and school fairs, most of the 100,000 treatments CAP practitioners have provided have been at one of their three clinic locations: Columbia City, West Seattle, and Burien.

CAP has gone through many changes over the past 15 years. The Columbia City location was sold in 2012 and subsequently closed. After 10 years of operations at the California/Alaska

Junction, the West Seattle location closed in 2021. The Burien location has been able to remain open through increased health measures (air filters, health screening, and masks) and because of the trust and support of the greater community.

Operating as a community clinic has demanded that CAP practitioners apply their skills to a large range of conditions their patients may present with on any given day. It’s not uncommon for a single practitioner to treat whiplash, arthritis pain, fertility, chemotherapy side effects, long COVID3, substance abuse recovery4, hormone imbalances, stress, PTSD, insomnia, allergies, and digestive issues on a single shift. In the wake of the ongoing opioid epidemic, the need for affordable, accessible pain relief options remains critical to the well-being of our communities.5 Keeping acupuncture treatments within reach to working families is critical. The team at CAP hopes to remain an accessible resource by offering low treatment fees – that have only been raised twice in fifteen years – and through a schedule offering weeknight, morning, and weekend hours.6

The clinic was pleasantly surprised to be recognized this past March by Discover Burien, as a “Special Shout Out for Outstanding Individual or Business” in the community.7 Guiding its inception and operations ever since, CAP’s mission is to “provide high-quality treatments at affordable rates to as many people as possible, and as often as necessary. We treat patients in a respectful, trauma-informed care practice, in a collective room, with others seeking healing. Treatments are offered in recliner chairs and massage tables, seven days a week. Collaborating with our community, we co-create healing, hope, and collective liberation, through acupuncture and social justice. All are welcome here.”8 Founded in 2009, the clinic currently has four acupuncturists on staff and four front desk volunteers.