Serena Whitridge started White Salmon Acupuncture in 2022. Her business provides not only acupuncture services, but also naturopathy or holistic medicine. Local art for sale adds to the beauty of the space. White Salmon Acupuncture is located at 418 NE Tohomish St., Suite 200, in White Salmon, Wash.
Serena Whitridge started White Salmon Acupuncture in 2022. Her business provides not only acupuncture services, but also naturopathy or holistic medicine.
Serena Whitridge started White Salmon Acupuncture in 2022. Her business provides not only acupuncture services, but also naturopathy or holistic medicine. Local art for sale adds to the beauty of the space. White Salmon Acupuncture is located at 418 NE Tohomish St., Suite 200, in White Salmon, Wash.
When Serena Whitridge opened White Salmon Acupuncture, she knew that she wanted her practice to be more than just a business; she wanted a true team where people of different backgrounds and specialties could come together to help patients in the Gorge. Now, a year later, she’s working toward that dream every day.
When she moved to White Salmon in 2020, Whitridge said she noticed that there were no acupuncturists that took insurance, and she wanted to be able to change that and meet that need.
“It’s been really amazing and heartwarming, just starting in a small town, because we’ve gotten a great response and just a lot of support from the community,” she said. “It feels good to have started last year and already feel like the clinic is sort of effortlessly growing to the point that other practitioners want to work together and collaborate care.”
For the last year, the practice consisted of Whitridge and one other acupuncturist, but their success has allowed her to expand and grow to include other professionals. She is currently in the process of adding two naturopathic doctors and one massage therapist.
“I wanted to create a team mentality where different practitioners like naturopaths and acupuncturists are able to collaborate about a patient’s healthcare,” Whitridge said. “We might have to change the name, but we’re trying to be more of an integrative healthcare setting in White Salmon.”
White Salmon Acupuncture is located at 418 NE Tohomish St., Suite 200, in White Salmon, Wash.
Chelsea Marr photo
Being able to share her practice, as well as other naturopathic medicine, is something that means a lot to Whitridge, she said, as it’s something that has changed her life personally.
In many ways, Whitridge said she considers her journey to acupuncture and Chinese medicine to be a “beautiful accident.” When she was a child growing up on the east coast, she contracted Lyme disease. For the next 10 years, she was on antibiotics to treat her condition.
“When I was a rebel in college, I decided I didn’t want to keep taking these pills,” Whitridge said. “My parents freaked out, and my dad found me a Chinese medicine practitioner who had written a book on Chinese medicine and Lyme.”
Whitridge found that the practitioner was able to help her, though she didn’t completely understand why at the time. At the same time, she was studying food systems for her degree and found that diet was a huge help to her energy and wellbeing, as well as her Lyme symptoms.
Serena Whitridge started White Salmon Acupuncture in 2022. Her business provides not only acupuncture services, but also naturopathy or holistic medicine.
Chelsea Marr photo
Following graduation, Whitridge worked in Hawaii doing horticulture therapy, a practice that uses plants and gardening to improve mental and physical health. While she was doing this, she was in the process of applying to graduate school. She wasn’t yet sure where she wanted to go, but the naturopath she worked with encouraged her to apply to their alma mater, which was in Portland.
“I moved to Portland and studied nutrition, and the nutrition program was at a school that has a Chinese medicine program,” Whitridge said. “I sort of went into it with curiosity because I didn’t want another four or five years eaten up by school, but here I am now, and I’m super glad. I actually feel really grateful that I ended up studying Chinese medicine. It’s kind of cool, you never know where life will take you.”
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White Salmon Acupuncture is located at 418 NE Tohomoish St., Suite 200, in White Salmon. They are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. For more information about White Salmon Acupuncture, or to make an appointment, visit whitesalmonacupuncture.org.
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