QUESTION: Is it possible to be a recipient of AcuDestress while not living in Ottawa?

ANSWER: We've been getting this question more recently. People who attend have friends and relatives living elsewhere who are becoming excited about the possibility of doing the program themselves. But, actually, while theoretically it seems possible, it's never been done yet. It will take an enterprising person who is prepared to cross all the T's and dot all the I's to make it happen. And it may require assembling 12 people in such a locale before it becomes practically plausible.

So let me lay out the considerations, and say that I'd be delighted if we were able to do this even though it introduces a complexity which remains to be explored.

Firstly, there are been 25,000 people worldwide who are trained to do five point ear acupuncture known as the NADA protocol. In many but not all jurisdictions, a person trained by NADA is permitted to apply these points even if they do not have formal training in acupuncture in general. In Canada, the NADA training is recognized in Ontario, Nova Scotia, PEI, and British Columbia. In other jurisdictions certified acupuncturist could do the pinning, but probably would need to be talked into it. You can find out how to locate NADA practitioners in your area by contacting the organization at: www.acudetox.com

Obviously, getting someone who has been trained to pin a group of people is more likely going to float than finding someone to pin a single person - but nothing is impossible.

Then there's the question of participation in our group sessions. They are now being broadcast over the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN,) and if a person were able to get to a location

where tuning into OTN was possible, it probably could be arranged. OTN seems anxious to make these things work, so they are more likely to be helpful than reticent to cooperate. Again what would be ideal would be a group of six or more persons. On the other hand in the unlikely possibility that a group of 12 people could be assembled in Ontario, we might be able to do a broadcast strictly for your group. My guess about the best way to approach OTN is through us, but I'm not telling you that you can't do this directly. As we are early in the OTN game, I’m not at all sure this is a better or worse way of going about it, but you can contact OTN at http://otn.ca/en No harm in trying.

None of what I say here applies to outside of Ontario, but even in this instance, if there were an interested party who had arranged to be pinned, wherever in the world they are located, I would be prepared to make our inner website available, and such a participant would follow it from day to day, on their own.

In each case, because we haven't done it before, we would have to deal with the details, and since we want to expand the use of it, we are willing to make the effort. In other words, we will support anyone who wants to see this occur in their community.