My guest today is Jen Maiorana, a second-year acupuncture student who’s already transferred through three different Chinese medicine schools trying to find solid ground. She’s got a background in environmental studies, business, and running her own wellness practice, and she spent the last few months trying to figure out something most students don’t even know is an option. So we’re gonna talk about that along with funding and mentorship. It’s a big compost pile out there, but flowers grow out of compost.
Below, you’ll find some important links from our conversation today. You can watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Y4BhJMD38
Find Jen Maiorana at her Linked In page here.
You can find information on California’s Tutorial Program here. If you’re weighing whether to keep paying acupuncture school tuition right now, you might want to check out the program Jen talks about. It runs through the California Acupuncture Board. Instead of enrolling in a school, you apprentice one-on-one with a licensed supervising acupuncturist who’s held their license in California for at least five years and has at least ten years of practice experience. The state requires a structured curriculum (2,250 hours of supervised clinical training plus 1,548 hours of theoretical and didactic coursework) that comes to 3,798 hours total, completed over a minimum of four years, with a cap on how many hours can count per 12-month period so the program can’t be rushed. Application runs through the Acupuncture Board for a $1,000 fee, and once you’re approved and complete the hours, you sit for the same California state licensing exam as anyone graduating from an approved school.
California law prohibits any tuition being paid to the tutor. That protects students from being charged twice, but it also means you’re responsible for finding your own supervisor and negotiating what you’ll offer in exchange for the training. Jen talks about admin support, scheduling, marketing, and even carpentry skills. It really has to do with your personal talents, since there’s no statewide matching service. Pine Street Foundation in the Bay Area is one of the longest-running tutorial programs in the state (supporting tutorials since the early 1980s). It’s not a shortcut, and it’s not for everyone, but if school tuition is what’s standing between you and this profession, it’s worth knowing this door exists.
Other things we talked about in this conversation include:
* Pine Street Foundation’s information page on the California Acupuncture Tutorial Program.
* NCBAHM Certification Handbook that includes information on NCBAHM Route 4 pathway and the Frequently Asked Questions fact sheet about why NCBAHM eliminated the Route 3 apprenticeship pathway.
* Michael McMahon and Moving Mountain Institute.
* Gil Hedley’s site where you can sign up for a membership to watch anatomical cadaver videos and earn continuing education credits.
* Here is the website for Acupuncture Relief Project in Nepal that has a news blog and more information as well as the program application.
Thanks so much for listening!
