My journey as a healer began with my own recovery: over a decade ago, I was in a vehicular accident that almost took my life and compromised my ability to walk for the better part of a year. The outpouring of concern and help from my community was humbling, and inspired me to live a life in which I could be that support for someone in need. I enrolled in massage school as soon as I could walk unassisted, and became a Licensed Massage Therapist in my US country of origin, focusing on clinically-based, deep tissue, rehabilitation therapy.

Upon moving to Canada in 2018, I began studying acupuncture and TCM as the next chapter in my healing story and as the manifestation of the deep interest in philosophies such as Taoism that I’d held since my early 20’s. My long background in manual therapy led me to embrace and regularly combine the many manual techniques of TCM in addition to acupuncture: cupping, gua sha, tui na, moxibustion, ear seeds, gaos, e-stim to name a few, as well as continuing to blend my Western massage background with TCM. Each patient is unique in need and preference; I’m happy to have such a large pool of resources to help each person in their own way, and strongly encourage both the emotional balancing and the consciously taking charge of one’s own life choices that TCM promotes for optimum health and happiness.

After finishing my acupuncture studies in Vancouver, I moved on to TCM herbal studies at Pacific Rim College here in Victoria. Herbs can support an acupuncture treatment, stand on their own to treat internal conditions, be used as topicals in other manual therapies, and can be incorporated into a person’s daily life in the best “herbal” therapy of all, a well-regulated diet. Since becoming registered in acupuncture and TCM, I’ve practiced in Sidney, the Comox Valley, and now here in Victoria at Atlas. In my over 10 years of clinical experience in multiple disciplines, my greatest skill as a practitioner is to listen, hear your needs, and combine my skills and experience in the best way to meet those needs.

When not TCM-ing, I’m a multi-instrumental musician who played professionally in Austin TX, a horticulturist whose love of herbs was ignited in the organic garden bed, an avid reader and practitioner of metaphysics, the proud husband of a Doctor of Environmental Science and Restoration (and prodigal classical flute player), and the patient “cat dad” of a precocious tortie named Polyana.

Check out Joe’s Website: https://www.threerealmstcm.com/