Encouraging Community Wellness for Behavioral Health (Addiction,NCDs and Mental Health)

Mr.Jainani Bin Tameran Assistant Director of National Anti Drug Agency Malaysia (NADA) under Ministry of Home Govt. of Malaysia invited Mr.Suneel Vatsyayan to conduct an orientation workshop on use of ear acupuncture for treatment and rehabilitation of drug users. The event was organized on 14th Dec. 2008 at Persatuan PENGASIH Malaysia Drug treatment center. The peer counselors ,trained social workers, officials of NADA and other de-addiction and drug rehabilitation centers working in Kuala Lumpur attended the workshop. The feedback was encouraging and participant showed their interest to take it further through exchange programs and trainings.

... While NADA and the US Air Force could hardly be more different organizationally, they share a similar need for practical, quick methods of treating health problems in settings that are often inconvenient and highly variable. Both have found a five-point ear acupuncture protocol to be extremely useful. According to an article published last month in The Baltimore Sun, the Air Force will begin teaching “battlefield acupuncture” early next year to physicians deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. The article said this move is “the first high-level endorsement of acupuncture by the traditionally conservative military medical community”....... To read more Please visit January 09 issue of Guidepoints http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IASW/index.cfm?op=dsp_resource_details&resource_id=52041&cat_id=7517

Dear Suneelji, It is useful, informative, convincing that it is applicable to post disaster of any kind. It can be combined with any of the systems of treatment. The only hitch I see in India is to get the authorization to practice it. In the film it seems that community workers were also trained to use it. And as a traditional and ancient method it was the local community elder wise person who practiced it, so what is the big song and dance about the simple understanding of ear anatomy and practice of pressure of needle being used by disaster response teams or first responders. Even local ANMs and local/traditional birth attendant who are being recognized as service providers can also be trained. I liked the fact that it induces sleeps. This method seems to give a lot of relief as in the testimony of the Fire man. Where do we try it? Who would oppose it? Do we lobby to make it into the training curriculum of the AMNs and TBA and the mental health nursing systems. Do we lobby with UNDP

...Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) launched a new academic programme in the field of Acupuncture in collaboration with the Institute of Acupuncture & Natural Medicines (IANM) New Delhi, announced Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, VC, IGNOU. The PG Diploma in Acupuncture will commence from November, 2008, he added. The course is intended to strengthen the Acupuncture in general. It shall help graduates of different system of medicine to learn a new modality of therapy and utilize it for patient benefit in treating acute and chronic diseases. The programme can be completed in a minimum period of 1 year and a maximum period of 3 years and is available to the Medical graduates (Allopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha & Homeopathy) For the first time a medical programme will be offered online with contact sessions for practical training. Internal assessment will be done through online tests / examination and term-end examination. Acupuncture is a traditional method of thera

"Unimagined Bridges" is a DVD that connects tragedy and hope between people in all parts of the globe. Producer Laura Cooley is an acupuncturist from Texas who provided treatment and support for firemen and other rescue workers in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Large scale usage of ear acupuncture for trauma related crises began with efforts of Joan Dolan, a staff nurse treating alcoholics at St. Vincent's Hospital in lower Manhattan. On September 11, 2001 she began using the same 3-5 point ear acupuncture protocol for care-givers and survivors of the terrorist attack. The team of volunteers treated more than one thousand people in the next 10 days with very favorable results. This ear acupuncture protocol is known as the NADA protocol after the U.S. organization, National Acupuncture Detoxification Association, which began at Lincoln Hospital (Bronx, NY) in 1974, There are now independent NADA organizations in 20 different countries. NADA acupuncture is a balancing

On 15th Jan, 2009, Leadership of Nada India and NADA, ADS Dr. Ajay Vats conducted a training session on Ear Acupuncture: A treatment readiness approach in addiction treatment & rehabilitation. The session was participatory and based on experiential learning. The one month training course was organized by Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses, RRTC-North, in partnership with National Institute of Social Defence, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India on "Drug Abuse Prevention" )from 18 Dec 2008 to 17 Jan 2009 at SPYM Centre, New Delhi.This training course is to enhance the capacity of service providers (Counselors/Social Workers, doctors and nurses of NGOs working in the areas of drug demand reduction and HIV/AIDS prevention in Utter Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh