Dr. Kinsey: Bringing the Benefits of Acupuncture to Black New Yorkers

Fern Gillespie
Dr. Shadidi Kinsey is a healthcare history maker. She is the first African- American to be licensed by New York State to practice acupuncture, studied acupuncture at the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture, the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine of New York City and became a certified doctor of acupuncture at the International Institute of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine in Canada.

Since the 1980s, she has used acupuncture to aid clients with healthcare issues encompassing fertility, allergies, migraine headaches, arthritis, alcoholism, substance abuse and AIDS. Physicians have referred patients that are receiving chemotherapy and radiation to use acupuncture to relieve side effects of the medications. Today, many insurance companies accept acupuncture services.

In 1990, Dr. Kinsey founded the P.E.A.C.E. Health Center in Bedford Stuyvesant. She brings the healthcare service to Brooklynites from adults to children. To celebrate Women’s History Month, Our Time Press spoke to Dr. Kinsey about the benefits of acupuncture.

How does acupuncture help people who are dealing with stress?
“The needles are inserted, and it releases certain chemicals that are just naturally within our body which have a very, very calming effect. Acupuncture is really is beneficial with stress. What we do is balance the body’s natural energy and where there is an imbalance of the energy to get that energy to flow evenly.

And when that occurs, it reduces the stress. Acupuncture is a scientific art of healing that goes back thousands of years. It’s very therapeutic and it’s natural. It’s the body’s own energy that’s doing the healing. We’re just directing that energy where there’s stagnation such as with migraines or stress. To remove those blockages so that the energy can flow.”

Is acupuncture also a treatment for people in detox for alcoholism and substance abuse?
For years, I’ve worked in different venues where I was a supervisor with the acupuncture detoxification for alcohol and substance abuse and also for the treatment of HIV AIDS. I first learned acupuncture at the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture under the directorship of Doctor Matula Shakur.

He brought me to Lincoln Hospital with the acupuncture with the five point protocol because the ear has a point for every part of the body. The use the acupuncture for the detoxification which is very, very effective. It reduces the withdrawal symptoms and in reducing the withdrawal symptoms, it reduces cravings.

Benefits were patients were able to overcome the alcohol and substance abuse addictions and naturally that is the most important part. At Lincoln Hospital they were with the methadone and the patients said “no.” They wanted acupuncture. They closed the that part of the hospital and banned acupuncture because they couldn’t see replacing one drug with another. With the acupuncture, there’s no drugs involved.

With the healing, it’s all natural. So with these endorphins and these natural chemicals that are within our system to reduce the stress of withdrawal, to reduce the withdrawal symptoms such as insomnia, the nausea and all the different effects that withdrawal brings, the acupuncture can reduce that. And that reduces the cravings.

Have you observed that holistic health is gaining much more popularity?
Definitely. I call it a complementary healthcare. Some people say alternative healthcare. I encourage my patients that I’ll work with your doctors if your doctors want to get in touch with me. To have that balance. People, I think, are taking responsibility with their well-being with their well-being.

What’s coming back is the laying on the hands. That’s as old as time. We came up with grandma and the herbs and the different methods to promote health. We are returning to our roots. You know, and that’s what people always remember, my grandmother this, my mother did that. Not just straight medications. The different medications have done wonders. But this is a part of who we are.

Why is the P.E.A.C.E Health Center unique?
The Peace Health Center has been here since 1990. We are in our 35th year. We practice Kwanzaa’s Nguzo Saba. The seven principles are in my practice through struggle, service, and healing. To restore our people to their traditional greatness. That’s my Nia, my purpose. A collective vocation. We have complementary healthcare. We have a naturopathic doctor. We are going to have a massage therapist soon. We have iridology, looking in the eyes and making the diagnosis with the naturopathic doctor. We have reflexology and different complementary medicines that we incorporated. When patients are having their treatment, they’re listening to jazz. It’s a very wholesome healing.