For anyone interested in our work, one should be aware from the outset that  while the 5-point ear acupuncture is the centrepiece, the sine qua non of this patient intervention, that the interaction with patients consists of 12 days of training exercises which teach mindfulness and neuroplasticity, leading to an opportunity during or after the session for transpersonal work with the clients. for those trained in other forms of psychotherapy, you may, on occasion be able to use it after the session, if the client has achieved an adequate level of neuro-complexity, but only the transpersonal work of Roberto Assagioli is used during the session itself, as other work is too demanding for patients undergoing 5-point ear acupuncture.  

(September/2015) There are four groups of people I will consider adding to our therapeutic team in upcoming and future sessions of AcuDestress -

                                            1.)  people who are NADA-qualified ADSes who are

                                                  preparing to occupy paid positions in future sessions

                                            2.)  people who have completed their NADA training and who

                                                  wish to use AcuDestress as part of their practicum, so as to

                                                  become NADA-certified (i.e. students of Lori Slaunwhite)

                                             3.) people with no NADA training (yet) whom I have identified as

                                                  promising candidates as future facilitators

                                              4.) health care practitioners qualified to provide acupuncture or AcuDetox

The policies below date to a current review of past policies upon my being accepted for consultancy at South East Ottawa Community Health Centre and the other 10 Community Health Centres in Ottawa. In April 2013 Ontario Bill 50 made clear the conditions under which a NADA-trained Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist (ADS) can be involved in treatment in a health care facility in Ontario. My interpretation is that both my office at Surround Circle Yoga (registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario) and SouthEast Ottawa CHC qualify.

1.) Candidates Must Want To Be Fully Trained to Provide AcuDestress

Only candidates who wish to be trained as full facilitators of AcuDestress will be accepted. I can no longer provide practicums for persons who wish to use NADA-Protocol AcuDetox for substance addiction. I previously provided such a service, but our own needs to grow has now superceded such a situation.

2. )Candidates Must Have Undergone Their Own AcuDestress

Candidates, will necessarily have undergone their own AcuDestress, knowing then that AcuDestress is a medically-mediated (or mediated by other health care practitioners qualified to provide acupuncture) psychotherapeutic venture for recipients who have been referred to my care as a physician, and that their becoming assistants requires their participation as providers of psychotherapeutic intervention.

3.) Candidates must have read Psychosynthesis by Roberto Assagioli and must become able to provide transpersonal psychotherapy according to the joint paper provided here.

Since the methodology includes as its central tenet transpersonal psychology, candidates are expected to read the material on the work of Roberto Assagioli on the web site Self-Realization and Psychological Disturbances along with my notes to adapt this work to AcuDestress  and to agree to apply it, and to apply it to patients while  under supervision. In particular, this material points to the vulnerability of this journey, and each candidate will be expected to master the ability to deal with all situations regarding our clientele in a non-defensive manner. Self-Realization and Psychological Disturbances is accessed here. This document takes the learning therapist all the way from the early stages through post-treatment of the AcuDestress patient. Anyone interfacing with patients must know how to do so on a transpersonal basis, following this document

Being “certified” as a facilitator of AcuDestress requires that I feel confident that you will be able to treat patients in the way of transpersonal psychotherapy, and be able to apply exercises which involve mindfulness and neuroplasticity. These are increasingly well laid out in the Manual, and in addition the patient web-site and in my book on the subject, Fishing’  For The Untethered Soul, all of which are mandatory reads for all candidates.

4.) Completing One’s Owen Psychotherapy

Let me make clear, while the following was always the case, perhaps it was not adequately stated in writing - that an important and indeed obligatory part of the training is one’s own psychotherapy.

Just as psychoanalysts are not certified to provide psychoanalysis until they complete their own analysis with a therapist, AcuDestress is not the mere application of a technique. Some psychotherapies are technique-centred, so if that’s what you are looking for, please seek them out elsewhere where such an approach is appropriate.  AcuDestress involves the provider demonstrating what is available (presence) through their own demeanor. Just so you know, as you will if you have attended, if one treats the clients in the way one treated the world before AcuDestress, they will hardly move forward, and may even get worse. Thus, if I am to certify you, you must be able to create being present at will. So, it means attending both individual and group psychotherapy sessions specifically designed for trainees. Those who understand and agree to this will be accepted as candidates.

5.) Demonstrating An Understanding

In order to be accepted as a candidate, you must write me a letter of undertaking which addresses each of the four conditions above. It need not be lengthy, but it does need to demonstrate your understanding.

Financial Arrangements Between the AcuDestress Institute and Certified Practitioners

One you have completed your training (if required) to provide AcuDetox acupuncture (this is usually provided in groups in Toronto and sometimes elsewhere by Lori Slaunwhite (at: Lori Slaunwhite <wingsofwellness@hotmail.ca> ) or other certified trainers of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association which operates worldwide, and ADS (Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist) in Ontario and other selected jurisdictions ) may administer 5-point ear acupuncture for addiction in a “health care facility” (Bill 50, Ontario.) A doctor’s office, a naturopath’s office a community Health Centre and perhaps several other facilities may qualify, with the emphasis being that the facility operates by merit of one of the professional colleges of practice (like the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario), sanctioned by legislation and therefore able to regulate practice standards in such a facility. It is both a privilege abd a responsibility  in breaking the skin with an acupuncture needle (pin) and never must be taken lightly. Unless you are already qualified to treat patients on your own, do not get the idea that this qualification permits you to practice independently or perform psychotherapy, which is, itself, a regulated act.

Generally qualification/ certification of an unofficial nature will be provided to individuals who  attend their own AcuDestress session and assist at two mentored sessions, and present themselves well in doing do. Depending on one’s background or experience, unless one is licenced to charge for one’s services, one will be paid from one half to two thirds of the current pay rate for certified facilitators (currently $85/ session.) The trainee will not be required to pay for such mentoring / training as is provided, subject to agreeing that if certified, they will use the 16 session protocol as delineated in the Trainer Manual. The trainee/certificant further agrees that he or she will pay a maintenance fee of $50 per patient on behalf of all future independently treated patients for the use of the amenities provided by the AcuDestress Institute as follows:

                           a.) the AcuDestress Web Site

                           b.) the AcuDestress Workbook Web Site for following the course.

                           c.) the Afterburner Journal of Continuing AcuDestress

                           d.) the AcuDestress Consultation Service by which Dr. Bailey will consult with your patients

                           e.) seminars and other public events provided by the Institute

                           f.) The Magic of AcuDetox, Parts I, II, and III, Fishin’ For The Untethered Soul

The above proviso also applies if a certified facilitator goes to work for any other health care practitioner for as long as that practitioner makes use of one or more of the AcuDestress amenities listed above.

As a continuing Quality Assurance, certificants who are, themselves, fully qualified to do acupuncture and who wish to operate on their own as a result (including but not limited to physicians naturopaths and chiropractors) will provide, in addition to their own programming an opportunity for a fully qualified practitioner (Dr. Bailey or another similarly qualified practitioner) to present a two OTN-mediated session overview of AcuDestress for the first five AcuDestress groups he or she leads, and agrees to utilize and pay an AcuDestress facilitator as an assistant for one’s first five independently-operated groups.