Today we’d like to introduce you to Peace Collective
Hi Peace Collective, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Peace Collective was founded in 2022 by a group of acupuncturists and acupuncture students seeking to create more accessible spaces for acupuncture care and education. Our common interests in community-centric care and public health have informed our mission of providing accessible and affordable acupuncture. PEACE stands for Providing Equitable Acupuncture Care and Education. Through partnerships with local direct-service organizations, we meet the needs of neighborhoods who continue to seek us out for our services and connection to wellness and holistic healing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It is a smooth road! From the moment of formation, we have intentionally grown slowly and steadily, ensuring that our members are making decisions equitably and based on our collective capacity. We are currently exploring ways in which we want to expand sustainably in order to keep serving our communities while also compensating our own work and energy.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Peace Collective partners with direct-service providers in Austin’s health and human services sector, in order to bring acupuncture to systemically disenfranchised neighborhoods, including multicultural and multilingual groups. We bridge gaps to holistic healing experiences with populations who may not be able to afford private practice acupuncture care. We engage in exciting conversations about the myriad of things acupuncture can support, and how folks may integrate it into their lives. Language access is an integral part of our work, with our members collectively speaking over three other languages besides English, and our educational materials are translated into many languages. One of the largest events we participate in is the Austin Public Health Equity unit and Austin Asian Community Health Initiative (AACHI) annual Health Fair at the Asian American Resource Center (AARC), which happens every summer. Also, many of us work in community-based clinics that offer low-cost services in the form of sliding-scales or other income based initiatives. Part of our work involves educating people about how and where they can access acupuncture on a regular basis.
We also offer private acupuncture events for organizational retreats/team building, in case any of your readers are interested in supporting our mission and are seeking services!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Teamwork truly makes the dream work! Find people who are aligned with what you’re passionate about and make the vision happen.
Community care is self care and self care is community care.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @peace.colectivo
Image Credits
Camila Restrepo
Iona Tan
