Joelle Whitley
Joelle Whitley
R.Ac.
Joelle’s love for Traditional Chinese Medicine began in 2005 when she chose to study Acupressure Therapy at Mount Royal University. It was a step in the complete opposite direction of her occupation at the time; filling western medical prescriptions as a pharmacy assistant. She felt the pharmaceutical industry was missing something in it’s way of helping people so began searching for a more holistic approach to health care. The part-time program ignited a passion and she enrolled in the Alberta College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine that very next year. In 2009 Joelle spent part of her practicum studying in China at the Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. She completed a 3 month Advanced Clinical Internship and worked at a number of different clinics and hospitals around the city of Hangzhou. Upon completion of her internship, Joelle traveled west to the beautiful Yunnan province and experienced life in the foothills of the Himalayas. She came back to Canada feeling inspired by the rich culture of TCM, and began her professional practice as a registered acupuncturist in 2010. First in Calgary for 2 years between a couple different chiropractic clinics, then back to her home-town of Nelson to live a slower, more balanced, and quality life. Since moving her practice to Nelson, Joelle has worked in a spa setting for five years. This really brought back her foundational training of acupressure and allowed it to shine through deep-tissue body work. The spa setting also influenced her acupuncture practice and guided her towards providing gentle, nurturing treatments that focus on relaxation, stress-relief, and pain-related issues. She has taken a number of different classes on the subjects of myofascial release, pediatrics acupuncture, treatment of shock and trauma, alchemical acupuncture, working with essential oils, and auriculotherapy just to name a few. She is now very excited to be a part of the team at the Heritage Health Centre and continues to grow her practice in all aspects, offering treatments of acupuncture, acupressure, tui na, massage, cupping, gua sha, moxibustion, and dietary counselling. She is especially interested in functional medicine and would like to integrate that into her practice some day as well.