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About Us

OUR CLINIC

Black Sheep Community Acupuncture, LLC provides high quality treatment at affordable rates in a supportive community setting. We want you to be able to receive acupuncture regularly enough and long enough to get better and stay better. Our community is welcoming to all different kinds of people, and our aim is to give you the tools to take care of your own health. We strongly believe acupuncture can be part of the solution to the soaring cost of healthcare - if it is affordable and accessible. We make this possible with our $30-$50 sliding scale.


Black Sheep Community Acupuncture, LLC is a proud member of the People's Organization of Community Acupuncture, which is a multi-stakeholder cooperative. Its goal is to make acupuncture available and accessible to as many people as possible and to support those providing acupuncture to create stable and sustainable businesses and jobs. Please visit www.pocacoop.com to learn more and help the cause.

WHY BLACK SHEEP?

Whenever people march to their own tune or think outside the “flock,” they are often described as “black sheep.” We believe that this is a great quality to have! People who are able to try new things, experiment, and be unconventional are the driving force behind invention, art, and progress. The community acupuncture movement is a perfect example. Community acupuncture clinics are considered the “black sheep” of the acupuncture profession because we dare to bring prices down to a level that most people can actually afford. We have been scolded and put down because we supposedly “devalue the profession.” The founders of the community acupuncture movement, Lisa Rohleder and Skip Van Meter, dared to think outside the flock and come up with a way to treat their community with acupuncture by changing the typically expensive one-on-one style of treatments. They figured out a way to charge less and see more patients by using a group setting and implementing an affordable sliding scale. Thanks to Lisa and Skip’s willingness to be black sheep, they have enhanced the quality of lives of hundreds and thousands of patients, who were able to feel better through affordable acupuncture. They also enhanced the lives of practitioners like me, who are happy and grateful to follow their lead to help heal our communities in a sustainable way. Their innovation has swept the country and inspired other black sheep to open up community acupuncture clinics, too. So our name celebrates the courage it takes to be different, try new things, and think outside the flock.

OUR OWNER/ACUPUNCTURIST

Valerie Reeves Kurek is a licensed acupuncturist in Maryland as well as a Diplomate of Oriental Medicine through the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She grew up in Baltimore County and earned a Bachelor's degree from Towson University. Later, she moved to Florida to attend the Florida College of Integrative Medicine in Orlando, where she earned a Master's Degree in Oriental Medicine. After graduation, she opened the usual one-on-one style of acupuncture practice charging the average rate of $70 per treatment. She soon realized that the high price tag was keeping people from getting the treatment they needed. After doing some research, she came across the Community Acupuncture Network which explained how to set up an affordable acupuncture clinic that treats people on a sliding scale in a group setting. She was so excited about this new possibility that she quickly contacted the clinic closest to her home in Florida: St. Pete Community Acupuncture (SCA). She also traveled to Oregon to attend an extremely helpful and inspiring community acupuncture seminar at Working Class Acupuncture with the founders, Lisa Rohleder and Skip Van Meter. Within a few months, Valerie closed her clinic and became a community acupuncturist for SCA. There she learned how to run a community clinic from the generous and knowledgeable owner, Greg Jones, and had the honor treating many wonderful patients. Now, Valerie is thrilled to open Black Sheep Community Acupuncture, LLC to serve her hometown and help her community become healthier and happier.