six branches family acupuncture

Six Branches Family Acupuncture offers a holistic approach to healthcare. Appointments at Six Branches Family Acupuncture may include acupuncture, massage, cupping, moxabustion, and/or custom herbal consultations.

At Six Branches we have five practitioners offering appointments during weekdays and evenings. We also are in network with most major insurance carriers.

Why Six Branches?

“Six Branches” refers to the idea of six major acupuncture meridians branching throughout the body like limbs of a strong tree. In traditional acupuncture, the meridians are thought of as pathways in the body for the movement of ‘Qi’. We don’t completely understand this phenomenon in modern scientific thinking but there have been studies that have shown higher electrical conductance through the fascia along the meridian pathways.

NAOMI SKOGLUND, L.Ac., MSTCM

Naomi Skoglund (she/her) is a Nationally-Certified Acupuncturist and Herbalist, and the owner of Six Branches Family Acupuncture. She takes your health concerns seriously and aims to be your partner in working towards optimal health. Over the past 6 years, she has seen the ways that acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine empower her patients to take charge of their health. Again and again, her patients report significant reduction in symptoms, less pain, better sleep, better immune systems, and an improved overall sense of well-being.

Naomi earned a Masters of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine with over 3,500 hours of didactic and clinical training from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, CA, one of the most prestigious schools for Chinese Medicine in the world. Her pursuit of knowledge hasn’t stopped, however. Since graduating, she has completed extensive post-graduate course work focused on treating women’s health, complications of pregnancy, and pediatrics. She has studied with master practitioners such as Dr Aide Men, Raven Lang, Sharon Weizenbaum, Jane Lyttleton, Randine Lewis and Claudia Citkovitz. She is currently studying with the White Pine Institute’s Graduate Mentorship Program under master herbalist Sharon Weizenbaum in order to take her herbal training to an entirely new level.

Before becoming an acupuncturist, Naomi was a public school teacher in New York City, where she worked with students with learning and emotional difficulties. Naomi relocated to Maine in 2015 with her daughter and husband, who is from Maine. She sees practicing Acupuncture and Chinese medicine as an extension of the work she did as a teacher and is committed to helping people grow and thrive. When she’s not helping people live the healthy lives they want, Naomi enjoys cooking, hiking, and making up silly songs with her daughter.

Angela Bell, L.Ac

Angela Bell (she/her) has been practicing acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for close to two decades, in which time she’s helped hundreds of women conceive, thrive during pregnancy, and have empowered, healthy births.

Angela received her Masters in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine from the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA). She is licensed in Maine and certified through the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine (NCCAOM). A lifelong student, she has attended the highly respected Integrative Infertility Symposium and studied with some of the top specialists in Eastern Gynecology and Obstetrics such as Brandon Horn, Debra Betts, Jane Lyttleton, Ray Rubio, Randine Lewis, and Rixa Freeze of Breech without Borders. She has also trained with some of Massachusetts’ most highly skilled acupuncturists and birth professionals, including Bo-In Lee of the New Life Health Center in Jamaica Plain, Dr. Richard Tan and Spinning Babies® approved trainer Lorenza Holt, MPH.

Angela is a trained birth doula and is certified in Better Birth as a Friend of Breech Babies. As a former board member of Resolve New England (RNE), she worked with the top fertility specialists in Boston. These collaborative relationships extended into the pregnancy and birth communities, positioning Angela as a renowned and respected professional in greater Boston’s fertility and pregnancy community. This broad network enables her to personally connect her patients with resources that best support their needs before conception, throughout pregnancy and in preparation for birth.

While focusing on women’s health, fertility, and pregnancy, Angela developed a particular specialty in helping turn breech babies naturally. In the face of the sometimes scary news that their baby is breech, Angela has provided mothers with the information, options, and resources they need to navigate their choices. She saw countless babies turn head down over the years in her Cambridge, MA practice.

And, as a new mom to a baby girl conceived via IVF, Angela has personal experience facing infertility—the protocols, the pain, the frustration, the fear. Her daughter was born at home with the loving support of a homebirth midwife. Angela brings the same deep level of compassion and insight to her writing as she does to her in-person treatments, drawing upon her experience and expertise to build individualized plans with her patients.

Angela returned to Maine where she grew up so that she, her wife and her daughter could be closer to extended family. She's excited to begin seeing patients again but this time in her home state, Maine.

SARAH SNYDER, L.AC.

Sarah Snyder is a Nationally-Certified Acupuncturist and Herbalist with an integrative approach to health and wellness. She holds a Master's in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine from OCOM in Portland, OR. She is additionally certified in Cranial Sacral therapy and completed a three-year training in Ling Gui Qi Gong under Master Liu He.

Sarah is passionate about meeting people on their journey to optimal health and honoring each person’s unique history, experience, and goals to figure out the best plan for their care. Her focus include acute and chronic pain, allergic conditions, autoimmune disease, digestive issues, as well as supporting mental and emotional well-being. She is especially committed to trauma-informed and LGBTQ-affirming care.

As someone who has utilized many different health therapies along the conventional-to-alternative spectrum, Sarah understands the complexities of living with chronic health conditions. She appreciates how subtle therapies like acupuncture can create such dynamic shifts in long-standing and difficult-to-treat health issues.

Prior to becoming an acupuncturist, Sarah worked in integrative medicine research. She aims to support her patients in navigating the complex world of health and treatment options to find what works for their lives. She is eager to communicate and collaborate with other medical providers as part of an integrative team.

Sarah joins Six Branches Family Acupuncture as a new transplant to Maine. When she isn’t poking people with tiny needles, she enjoys picnicking with friends, hiking through forests, and pickling just about anything.

Elaine Meade, MAC

Elaine is a Nationally-Certified Acupuncturist and Herbalist and holds a Master’s of Science of Acupuncture from the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) in Portland, Oregon.

Elaine’s path to becoming a healer began with exposure to natural healing while growing up. Her mother taught her reiki and bodywork, gave her herbs when she was sick, and took her for regular chiropractic visits. In her early twenties, Elaine began exploring nutrition, fitness, yoga, and meditation.

Through her own process, Elaine began to understand that the path to greater health and well-being involved tuning in to inner knowing, taking personal responsibility, and receiving expert guidance and loving support. Pulling from her years of practice, personal experiences, her formal study, and her gift as a healer, Elaine areas of focus are chronic and acute pain management, emotional health, headaches/migraines, and women's health. Elaine is dedicated to helping others along their path to finding greater vitality and well-being.

Elaine moved to Maine in 2013 and enjoys spending time in the great outdoors or in the kitchen with her family.

Ashley Truman, L.Ac

Ashley Truman (she/her) is a Nationally-Certified Acupuncturist and Herbalist. Ashley completed her Master of Acupuncture with a dual specialization in Chinese Herbal Medicine and Japanese Acupuncture (MACHM) at the New England School of Acupuncture within Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

While obtaining her Bachelors Degree in Public Health from UMass Amherst, Ashley explored ‘big picture’ healthcare thinking. She worked as a research assistant at the University of Sydney, Australia in 2016 researching breast cancer diagnosis and informed consent. Ashley then became a Clinical Care Technician at Tufts Medical Center on the Cardiac step down unit where she provided hands-on patient care. These experiences led her to explore holistic forms of healthcare such as functional medicine, yoga, and eventually finding her path in studying East Asian Medicine. Through these vantage points Ashley holds space for patients as they navigate their healing journeys, keeping in mind the levers that shift human health. Ashley believes that by attuning to our bodies and reconnecting to our inner wisdom, we can find balance and joy in our lives.

Ashley offers acupuncture, individualized herbal formulas, cupping, gua sha, tui na, movement recommendations, nutritional and lifestyle counseling as tools to support you and your body’s ability to heal.

On her days off Ashley enjoys painting, teaching her cat tricks, and moving her body outside!