Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Paulus and Celeste Levitz-Jones.
Five Point Holistic Health began with five like-minded acupuncture students, who studied at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Chicago.
The original owners were struck by the irony that they would not be able to afford their own medicine, and they were frustrated with the lack of options for recent acupuncture graduates. They set out to make something that was community-minded and accessible, something that stepped outside of the typical mold of acupuncturists renting a room somewhere. What they came up with was Five Point Holistic Health, a worker-owned cooperative that operated primarily with a focus on community-style acupuncture. Built into the business was a concept of equality, transparency, accessibility, and community. Five Point sought to be a model of how holistic medicine could be offered: focused on patient-centered growth, healing, and education.
At Five Point, member-ownership is dynamic, as workers have an opportunity to become owners of the business. Currently, Celeste Levitz-Jones, Ryan Palma, and Dinah Samuelson are the three original owners still present, with the addition of Nathan Paulus in 2016 and Joslynn Adams in 2018. All business responsibilities are shared and divided among the owners, and the direction of the business is dictated by consensus decision-making between the owners and with input from all contractors and employees. The cooperative model has worked well in creating an environment where various voices have a chance to be heard, and the atmosphere that is created is one of a large family.
Five Point offers a variety of services, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, bodywork, psychotherapy, classes, and workshops. So far, our business has enjoyed a great reception in Logan Square and has a diverse and varied clientele. In the future, we hope to be able to expand and open another location or to have our model adopted by other practitioners looking for an effective way to promote good healthcare and foster community.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Besides the massive effort of conceptualizing and getting Five Point off the ground, we’ve had many difficulties learning how to run the day-to-day operations of our business.
Most all of us at Five Point are clinicians first and foremost, so the business part is secondary. Each member-owner participates in two of four teams: operations, marketing, human resources, and finance. Learning how to effectively perform these roles with little prior experience has been a steep learning curve. Luckily, our owner Ryan Palma has a background in business and finance, and that has helped us manage the financial end efficiently.
Being structured as a worker cooperative also has unique struggles. One challenge is that our business has certain obligations to the community in meeting its mission. For us, this is prioritizing equitable economic relationships, which means balancing financial accessibility to our clients while also offering our workers and ourselves a fair wage. Additionally, we aim to be ambassadors for holistic medicine and cooperative business models, which means being transparent about how we operate and being a space for education.
Internally, a worker cooperative means that every owner has an equal voice, meaning that open communication must be fostered so that all voices are heard. This process can be very difficult to achieve, and business decisions can take more time and require more discussion than in a business that only has one owner. Luckily for us, we feel very passionate about cooperative ethics and principles, and so we are happy to meet any challenges and make refinements to overcome difficulties.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Five Point Holistic Health – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Five Point truly attempts to offer “holistic health” services and practices that treat both mind and body. We offer community acupuncture, private acupuncture, herbal medicine, psychotherapy, myofascial and structural bodywork therapies, and craniosacral and Swedish massage. We offer classes and workshops on mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and tai chi.
We are very proud of how competent and talented all of the practitioners are at our business. When people come to us for healthcare, they get better. We pride ourselves on working with our patients to direct them to the practitioner and therapies that will best benefit them or referring them out when that is the best course.
Something that very much sets us apart is offering community-style acupuncture. Community acupuncture happens in a shared space where multiple clients receive treatment simultaneously. This model is different from the more common way of receiving acupuncture in a private room. In the community setting, acupuncture is only performed on the arms and legs, so no undressing is required. Music and white noise machines help keep conversations confidential.
By treating up to four people per practitioner in one hour, we can reduce the cost of each session by about 70%. These affordable treatments allow the community to try acupuncture with a low barrier to entry and to come in more regularly for treatments, which is the way the medicine is most effective.
Who else deserves credit – have you had mentors, supporters, cheerleaders, advocates, clients or teammates that have played a big role in your success or the success of the business? If so – who are they and what role did they plan/how did they help.
The Center for Workplace Democracy was an organization that initially taught us how to become structured as a worker cooperative and gave us legal and accounting resources. We were also largely influenced by a few local community acupuncture spaces: Sage Community Health Collective and Milwaukee Community Acupuncture. Both clinics were very generous in sharing their systems, experiences, and lending support to answer our many questions.
Another group called the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture in Portland, or, pioneered the community acupuncture movement in the US. They provide tons of trainings and resources for anyone looking to start up a similar clinic. We also couldn’t have done it without the support of so many of our partners, friends, families, and teachers who designed our logo and website, took photos, co-signed loans, painted, cleaned, spread the word, and offered endless encouragement.
Pricing:
- Community acupuncture treatments are $30 for repeat visits
Contact Info:
- Address: 3234 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago, IL 60647
- Website: fivepointholistichealth.com
- Phone: 773-466-9882
- Email: info@fivepointholistic.com
- Instagram: @fivepointholistichealth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fivepointholistichealth/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/five-point-holistic-health-chicago-2
Image Credit:
Jessica Sladek
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
