Acupuncture for Community Inc. is based on Gadigal land, in Sydney Australia. We are a 100% volunteer-run, incorporated not-for-profit dedicated to community wellness, health equity and social justice. We use acupuncture in service of community-led empowerment work that challenges systemic health disparities and structural systems of harm.

We offer non-judgemental harm reduction, trauma-informed acupuncture treatments and trainings in collaboration with community members, peer-based organisations, community-controlled care services and transformative justice organisations.

All work has a lineage. Acupuncture for Community Inc. is the product of a collective history, collective education, story- and skill-sharing. Our work is part of an ongoing continuum. A rich, radical soil nourished across generations. We are deeply grateful to the local and international solidarity teams that continue to teach, inspire and hold us accountable in the ongoing work of using health care tools to transform ourselves and society.

Founder & Director Community Trainer Lead Acupuncturist

Kata Japunčić

(she/her)

Kata is an AHPRA registered acupuncturist, Community NADA trainer and clinic supervisor dedicated to community empowerment, health equity and social justice. Her healthcare work is grounded in the political lineage of Street Medics and Barefoot Doctors trained by Ron (Doc) Rosen and her 30 year history as a community organiser locally in Australia and abroad.

Originally trained in NADA and Chinese Medicine by Doc 2002-6, Kata consolidated her qualifications in Australia with a Bachelor of Health Science (TCM) at UTS and a community funded, Radical Healthcare Study Tour of Turtle Island/North America in 2013. Her initial experiences as a support NADA trainer were in Croatia 2015, 2018 and 2021. Kata is also a member of the international Barefoot Acupuncture Movement collective.

Kata’s healthcare work is grounded in relationship-building. She has delivered barrier-free services as a member of OT301.nl and in collaboration with community-based organisations including, Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre (WAGEC), Twenty10/GLCS, ACON/AIDS Council of NSW and Red Rattler Theatre.

Growing up in a migrant settler family, Kata is committed to anti-oppression principles within which access, healing justice, collective accountability and solidarity with First Nations and marginalised communities is understood as work that is always imperfect and always ongoing.

Her experiences within autonomous social centres across Europe; community acupuncture clinics, disability and healing justice spaces on Turtle Island/North America; alongside trainings and collaborations with local narrative therapy activists, prison abolition organisers and culture-makers continue to shape her healthcare practice.

Kata has a special interest in care and treatment support for Post Traumatic Stress, lived experience of Prison Incarceration and Detention, Substance use dependency, Trans, Gender Non-binary and Intersex health, HIV/AIDS, Menopause and action aftercare for activists.

In private clinical practice Kata offers Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine in a collaborative treatment approach that is trauma-centred, adaptable and responsive to each person’s unique care and health needs.

Local Solidarity Team

The services and trainings we offer are the result of slow and intentional relationships with a group of diverse local, regional and international collaborators who share our commitment to structuring safety for informed, accessible and affordable healthcare that meets people where they’re at.

Our Local Solidarity Team includes:

• Sarah Drury: Project Coordinator & Facilitator. ARC Gender Relations primary violence prevention project, Men & Family Centre.

• Rebecca Howe: Social Worker & PhD candidate.

• Leticia Funston: Insight Exchange Associate with Domestic Violence Service Management (DVSM).

• Sekneh Hammoud-Beckett: Narrative Therapist & Registered Psychologist (MAPS).

• Dương/Ocean Dang: Counsellor, Supervisor & consulting practice informed by narrative therapy, anti-oppressive, de-colonising & intersectional feminist frameworks.

• Bradley Mathers: Public health & harm reduction researcher.

International Solidarity Team

Our International Solidarity Team includes:

• Sara Bursac: Executive Director National Acupuncture Detoxification Association Turtle Island/North America & Registered NADA Trainer for Croatia.

• Blake Gentry: Registered Acupuncturist, NADA Trainer & Co-founder Guatemala Acupuncture & Medical Aid Project (GUAMAP).

• Vikki Reynolds: Consultant, Instructor & Supervisor. Her work addresses Addiction, Substance Misuse, Diversity, Homelessness, Trauma & Violence. Unceded xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), & Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories.

• Ryan Bemis: Executive Director Barefoot Acupuncture Movement/Crossroads Acupuncture, New Mexico.

• Julia Bennett: Activist healer elder, registered Acupuncturist & NADA Trainer, Brooklyn.

• Claudia Voyles: Registered Acupuncturist & NADA Trainer.

• Tanuja Jagernauth: Chicago.

• Adela Nieves Martinez: NADA practitioner, visual storyteller, traditional community health practitioner, & Carrier of the wisdom of the heart. Detroit.

• Janet Paredes: Acupuncturist, NADA Trainer & President NADA Philippines.

• Greg Schnabel

• Lamia Gibson: Registered Acupuncturist & NADA Trainer. Portal - Art | Acupuncture | Alive, Toronto.

• Laura Cooley: Acupuncturist, Registered NADA Trainer with a special interest in Disaster Relief support.