Community Healing in Focus: Visualizing the Impact of Acupuncture Through Art

Academic Mentor | Catalina Alzate
Community Partner | Urbana Acupuncture

Project Description
This project builds on the foundation that strong communities are critical to improving people’s well-being. It seeks to develop graphic materials that depict the role of community in the healing journeys of patients at Urbana Acupuncture. Acupuncture is a safe, gentle, and effective way to relieve pain, tension, and stress while promoting good health. Urbana Acupuncture provides treatments in a group setting, ensuring affordability and accessibility through a sliding scale payment system.

Patients of the clinic often form social networks, sharing their positive experiences with others and referring new patients to the service. This community-centered aspect of care is central to the clinic’s holistic healing philosophy. This project will document how engaging in a shared community space contributes to patients’ healing experiences. Through participatory sessions supported by storytelling and visual exercises, patients will collaboratively depict their journeys. These creative interactions will result in graphic materials that will be displayed in the clinic and other relevant venues, showcasing the power of community and holistic medicine.

Role of the Community-Academic Scholar
The scholar will play an integral role in every phase of the project and:

• Conduct primary research on Urbana Acupuncture’s archives and community initiativess and secondary research to understand the history and practice of community acupuncture in the United States
• Collaborate with the academic mentor and community partner to design and co-facilitate participatory sessions, helping guide patients through visual storytelling and creative exercises
• During these sessions, the scholar will assist in preparing materials, fostering a collaborative environment, and documenting insights
• Contribute to developing the final graphic materials, ensuring they are culturally relevant and reflective of the patients’ collective experiences