Taking Charge – Examining the Need to Take Ownership of Our Profession
Stephen Birch Traditional East Asian Medicine, especially acupuncture and all its related approaches, seems to be constantly under pressure and threat from various sources. This article raises topics that currently pose threats to our profession and what kinds of actions will probably be needed to try to counter them. These threats to our profession are both external and internal. External threats come from groups that want to rid or sideline the profession, groups that want to dictate to us what we do and how to do it, and groups that want to usurp its methods or take ownership of it. Internal threats come from inconsistencies within the field, from being poorly informed about academic debate and knowledge of the profession, and the associated paucity of efforts made to identify and solve the academic and scientific problems we face.
