Barrio Acupuncture at Homeboy Industries

Prior to becoming an acupuncturist, I worked as a Social Worker with at-risk youth for 13 years. I worked in various settings with a variety of issues, but for some reason working with incarcerated teenage boys was a game changer for me.  Gang affiliated youth were,  hands down, my favorite population to work with. The young men I worked with were complicated, difficult, clinically fascinating, infuriating, and most impressively, resilient.  I felt honored to get to know the stories of these young men who were society's "throw away kids". They were funny, charismatic, challenging, and very, very lost. Many times kids join gangs because they have a "lethal absence of hope", a term Father Greg Boyle coined. The kids I worked with had horrific abuse histories: domestic violence, sexual abuse, community violence, addiction, and multi-generational trauma. Each day I had to redefine success, depending on the individual. Sometimes a "good" day for a kid meant not punching the wall, smiling, or making eye contact for the first time. Their deficits were plenty, but they were worth the energy. There is nothing more rewarding or powerful than when a gang member decides to become a functioning member of society and sees the value of investing in himself for the first time.

In 2009

I had the honor of seeing Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, speak at a conference. 

Never in my life had I heard someone speak about gang members in a positive, hopeful manner. His stories were funny, heartfelt, inspiring, and made it impossible, at least for that moment, for the audience not to demonize gang members. Father Boyle started almost 30 years ago working as the priest at Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, the poorest community in East Los Angeles. He worked tirelessly with the young gang members in the community to keep them from acting out and one of the things he learned from them was that they wanted to work. So he started on a long journey of establishing businesses run by homeboys and  homegirls. Homeboy Industries is now the largest gang intervention program in the world and they are successful at reducing the prison recidivism rates at an astounding rate. Father G's mentality is simple: gang members who work along side each other can no longer demonize one another. He talks about the importance of kinship and has indeed, created a sense of family at Homeboy Industries, where "hope has an address". HBI has many business enterprises, all run by homies who want to change their lives. They have silk screening, a bakery, maintenance, 3 cafes around Los Angeles including at City Hall and LAX. Their baked goods are sold around 22 farmers markets in LA, and their chips and salsa is sold in every Ralph's supermarket in Southern California. They also provide free tattoo removal, parenting classes, therapeutic services, as well as job skills training and development. 

I have worked peripherally with HBI over the years, all the while hoping for the day I could work with them and provide some service for them. When I decided to go back to school for acupuncture, I thought that would be the perfect skill to bring to the homies. Acupuncture is amazing at relieving symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, all mental health issues that accompany the gang life and subsequent traumas associated with the life. The beauty of acupuncture is that it can provide relief from symptoms until a person is ready and able to address their deeper issues. I had the opportunity this year to provide acupuncture and cupping to 22 homies and staff members in one day. I was exhausted, but I left there with a full heart after seeing how helpful just one session was for most people.