Kids and Teens

What age kids are treated at Guiding Spirit Acupuncture?

Susan can treat kids, teens, and college-aged students.  She is trained in all aspects of acupuncture, essential oils, and Chinese herbal medicine—including how to safely modify protocols for children.Because Susan is a former teacher, she finds it natural to connect with young people and support them in a caring and nurturing way. Susan has also tutored standardized tests for over 15 years at PrepMatters (the premier test prep and educational counseling group in the DC area), so she is also no stranger to the pressures of test anxiety and college admissions. Susan can be another trusted adult to support your child or teen through the transitions young people face.

Why is Aroma Point Therapy so great for kids and teens?

Aroma Point therapy is a very accessible modality and is ideal for children and teens, as it is a way to gently and effectively stimulate acupuncture points without the insertion of needles.

Kids in particular love essential oils, as they love smelling the oils and feel a sense of control in being able to choose their favorites. They also become more engaged with their treatment and like to comment on how each oil and point combination makes them feel.

What are some conditions that Aroma Point Therapy can help?

Common complaints of children that can be addressed with Aroma Point Therapy include all kinds of digestive and respiratory complaints, as well as anxiety and other emotional concerns, and sleep disturbances. For teens and college-aged kids, here are some examples of how Aroma Point Therapy can help:

1. Ameliorating the level, degree and quality of stress associated with college admissions academics. Susan has a great deal of expertise in this area, as her first career was as a teacher, and she has tutored standardized tests for over 15 years at PrepMatters, the premier test prep and educational counseling group in the DC area. Susan knows about college pressure and test anxiety!
2. Calming and strengthening the nervous system to address the affects, on all levels, of social media and technology.
3. Balancing and normalizing hormones to address physical and emotional changes in puberty, including the area of gender identification and sexual orientation and the accelerated hormonal development of many adolescents in more recent times. We can help girls with period and PMS problems of all kinds!
4. Helping teens and college students to transform the energy of anger, frustration, irritability and even rage into creative visionary action. Teen consciousness isn’t just a problem to be solved. It’s a critical piece of the human network! These visionary beings feel hypocrisy acutely and call all of us adults to our best selves—some might even say relentlessly! We’ve got some archetypes of what we’re describing operating on the national and international level right now—just think of the Parkland students and Greta Thunberg. At home we may just experience the grumbling and irritability, but moving that stuck energy in a productive direction can help to open teens to positive new ways of being.

Can essential oils be used at home?

Young children, teens, and even college-aged kids are full of opinions and preferences about which essential oils they like or don’t like. It’s great for them to try essential oils at home or even at school! For example, gently placing a tiny drop of a carrier oil based blend of  25% Sweet Orange (for kids) or 25% Bergamot (for older teens and adults) on the ear point Shen Men has a wonderfully calming effect on the nervous system and a harmonizing effect on the right and left sides of the brain. Children and adults alike can use this simple and powerful treatment as a “reset” up to four times per day to soothe stress, anxiety or lack of focus. However, it is important that they follow Susan’s instructions on how to use the oils safely and effectively. Susan only recommends using oils in a diffusor, or, properly diluted, topically. She never recommends the ingestion of essential oils, nor placing undiluted oils directly on the skin. She’ll provide safely diluted blends of age-appropriate oils for home use. Properly prescribed, self-care with these wonderful plant medicines provides such positive support for kids’ successful transition to adulthood as they learn to care for themselves in a healthy, empowered way.