Welcome to POCA!
Thank you for joining our community, we’re so glad you’re here. POCA is a dynamic, supportive, passionate group of practitioners, students, patients and organizations devoted to making acupuncture affordable and accessible. You now have access to the extensive amount of information on our website. POCAcoop.com is dedicated to helping our members learn more about Community Acupuncture (CA) and how to be successful at it.
Not sure where to begin? Here are a few points to get you started:
- Stay up to date with the latest on POCA by patients, Acu-Punks, Acu-Students, POCA staff and more, over at POCA's blog, Prick Prod and Provoke.
- If you are an Acu-Punk or an Acu-Student, the best way to learn about CA is at one of our workshops. Find the most up-to-date listings of one-day, two-day, and advanced trainings, here.
- There are potentially days of navigating possible for POCA’s Acu-Punk / Acu- Student members on our online forums. The best place to start is The Mighty CA Wiki, an agglomerate of information collected over the years in blog and forum form about how to start and run a CA clinic. You may have a lot of questions about how a CA clinic works, many of which will be answered in the wiki. Additionally, our FAQ section offers answers to common questions.
- If you are a seasoned CAN visitor, try reading the Guide For The Perplexed, before you go searching the new site.
- We encourage EVERYONE to read Fractal: About Community Acupuncture, and Acupuncture is Like Noodles, both by Lisa Rohleder. These books clarify CA concepts. You can purchase them both here.
One of the beautiful things about POCA is the opportunity for all of our members to be involved. POCA is a multi-stakeholder cooperative of acu-practitioners, students, clinics, patients, and organizations, all working together to make acupuncture affordable and accessible. Every POCA member has a voice in how POCA moves ahead. The leadership of POCA is organized as a sociocracy, which allows us to contribute our skills and leadership in clearly defined self-organizing circles. Learn more about sociocracy here. The circles currently include: Membership, Clinic Success, Events, Finance, and Website. Our movement is propelled by volunteers who participate in the aspects of POCA that interest them the most. If you have skills, background, or interest in any of these areas, let us know via email.
While the internet connects us across the country and globe, locally we are getting together to promote CA, give each other support, and continue our everlasting POCAparty. Many clinics host regional meet-ups, click here to learn more about Regional Nodes and how to get involved (for Acu-Punk/Acu-Student members). Whether you’re a clinic owner, employee punk, or student, it’s good to introduce yourself locally – we always like to meet new friends in the neighborhood. Additionally, once or twice a year we all get together for POCAfest – formerly known as CANference – this is a national get together where we also learn about a variety of subjects from point selection, to being a good employer, better practice building, using the systems, and much more. Earning CEU’s is a drag – unless you’re doing it with friends, in a fun place, about something you love! Learn more about our next POCAfest and be able to register – we hope to see you there!
Here is some information we want to make sure you know about:
- Need to find a CA clinic for yourself, friends, or family? Visit the Locate-A-Clinic page on the POCA website. Currently we have over 200 clinics across the globe, with more opening every month!
- Ready to sign up your clinic as a Clinic member of POCA? Go here.
- Keep an eye out for “Sticking Together,” POCA's email newsletter. It contains news, announcements, and a recap of recent POCA discussions in case you missed anything. Our newsletter also contains information about discounts and specials just for POCA members, for everything from needles to credit card processing. Read back issues of Sticking Together over here.
- Looking for an acupuncture job? Yes, they do exist! Check out our job listings page.
Remember, as a POCA member you’re now privy to a variety of other benefits. You can find your benefits here. You must be logged in to view your member benefits! These benefits include Free treatment cards, access to a national job network, employer support documents for clinic members, and more!
Click here to see all the great membership perks just for you. Now that you’re a member of POCA, we hope you’ll take some time to get acquainted with our community. Read everything you can, ask questions, and get involved!
Again, welcome and thank you for joining us. We look forward to getting to know you!
In Solidarity,
The People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture
P.S. Does your clinic need help? Click here to find and learn about Clinic Success.
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