Meet Sarah

I am currently in a Master’s degree program to become an East Asian medical practitioner where I mainly study acupuncture and Chinese herbalism. I will graduate in 2020. My interest in East Asian medicine began in 2010 when a new friend shared her experiences with me.  I chose East Asian medicine over other medical fields, because I longed for a more holistic approach to dis-ease and healing. In the US where most East Asian medical practitioners aren't trained as primary care providers, eastern medicine complements western medicine very well. Prior to starting graduate school, I worked for a private, for profit, residential care agency that provided services to individuals with developmental disabilities, and finished my bachelors’ of science in health sciences at Cleveland State University and Kent State University.

While I am fat, female, and queer, I recognize that being a middle-class, white, and cisgender woman has afforded me many privileges. I strive to listen and learn from experiences that differ from mine. Not only have I lived in a larger body most of my life, I remember struggling with dieting and every main category of eating disorder from the age of 9 until I was 34 which was fueled by my desire to be thin, so that I could avoid weight stigma at all costs. My own experience influences my passion for educating medical professionals about weight stigma, how to practice in a weight-inclusive manner, and how to practice in a trauma-informed manner with health and food.

Because of the desire to heal my own relationship with food and body, I discovered Be Nourished in NE Portland, Oregon in July 2016. I enrolled in their 6-month Body Trust Provider Certification Training in October of 2016. I will become certified in this program during the fall of 2017. This training has been truly invaluable in helping me to address my own biases, understand and learn how to put weight-inclusive health care into practice.