Acudetox is a five-point acupuncture treatment. It’s been used as a method to reduce cravings and symptoms of withdrawal but has helped many people detox from various other things. The ear acupuncture also relaxes the nervous system and calms emotions. It can also balance energy levels in the body.
Rebecca Linn is a qualified, 70-hour didactic, hands-on acudetox practitioner in Nederland. She belongs to the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA) and is working on her Auricular Acu-Technician certificate.
Linn has lived in the Front Range since 1976, and in Nederland for the past 19 years. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania and studied drawing and painting at the Ivy School of Art in Pittsburgh.
She worked briefly as an illustrator but her desire to study art further, motivated her to join the US Army to receive the GI Bill, completing her Army career at Fort Carson, Colorado, in 1976.
Linn received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and a Colorado Teachers’ Certification from CU Boulder in 1988. Being a self-proclaimed “learning junky,” she also earned a Fitness Specialist certification.
After retiring from the Boulder Valley School District in 2018, Linn began working as a carousel operator at the Carousel of Happiness. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she began helping repaint animals, leading to a new career.
The story of how Linn began practicing acudetox is equally heartbreaking and inspiring. On November 1, 2023, she received a phone call while out on a hike that her daughter, age 33, died as a result of fentanyl poisoning.
Linn didn’t know much about opioid addiction but knew her daughter struggled with it for years. “I began to read up-to-date information about addiction and how it affects our brains and our bodies,” shares Linn.
She also says she spoke with Avani Dilger, an addictions counselor in Boulder who is certified in a multitude of healing specialties. From Dilger, Linn learned what opioid addicts physically go through.
Linn confesses, “My heart broke for them. I had to do something!” Upon learning of an upcoming Boulder training for acudetox practitioners, she signed up for January 2024 without hesitation.
Linn has learned how to use Narcan and fentanyl test kits, which she says are always in her bag. “I practice ear acupuncture now to honor my daughter and to give back to my supportive community; to bring healing to anyone who walks in ready to receive it.”
Linn says when she offers ear acupuncture to a person, she gives and receives profound healing. For kids and folks who are needle-averse, she places ear seeds on the five needle sites instead. “I even have sparkly ones!” Linn shares.
The Carousel of Happiness has welcomed her into their space, which covers Linn’s insurance. Linn says the Carousel is a great fit as acudetox aligns with its mission as a 501(c)3 “to serve the wellbeing of the community.”
Linn has fallen in love with Chinese Medicine. It allows her “to connect with and help heal wonderful beings who are my community!” She’s looking forward to bringing acudetox to more mountain communities south of Gilpin County and north of Ward.
As of February 23, 2024, POCA offers free Five-Needle Point Protocol Acupuncture every Friday from 12 to 1 p.m. at the Carousel of Happiness. Free services are supported by grants related to opioid drug settlement funds.
Patients are asked to participate in a brief online survey, easily accessible via QR code to help keep the funding sources flowing. Linn leaves the following touching message:
“We are a nation of independent do-it-yourselfers who pay a price for our unwillingness to listen to others or accept our neighbors. We need each other! We all have value and much to offer; that is how we will heal as a society.”
To learn more about acudetox, visit https://www.boulderacudetox.org/. You can text Rebecca Linn at 720-435-9948 or email her at badgersnowfree@yahoo.com.
The Carousel of Happiness is located at 20 Lakeview Drive, Nederland. You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CarouselofHappiness/ or call them at 303-258-3457.
