Holistic practitioner wants to be Sonoma’s ‘village healer’

The day before she signed the lease for Creekside Healing Village – a new collaborative health space with a handful of practitioners – holistic health practitioner Melinda Phoenix was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma, also called Hodgkin disease, is a type of blood cancer that originates from white blood cells called lymphocytes within the lymph system.

Melinda Phoenix knew she wanted to be in the medical profession as far back as she can remember. In high school and college, she volunteered at hospitals with the intention of following the path to become a doctor. But while attending nursing school and considering what direction to take next, she veered from her original plan.

“I realized that Eastern medicine had a broader expanse of how you can take care of your patient, without being controlled by insurance systems that might be detrimental to client care,” said Phoenix. “For instance, I typically spend two hours getting to know my patients. Whereas with a normal doc, you might only have 15 minutes. My patients get care for many more things than they came in for.”

While integrative treatments have been practiced for hundreds of years, the allopathic approach – or, modern medicine’s use of medication and surgery to treat illness – has become the status quo for the last century. But the tides are turning. Americans paid more than $30 billion out-of-pocket in 2012 on alternative health practitioners, chiropractors, and acupuncture, as well as supplements and other forms of alternative medicine, according to a 2016 report from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Phoenix considers herself an east-meets-west practitioner. “Western medicine was my first love,” she said. “Eastern medicine has truly captured my soul. In Western medicine, I was finding that the chronic cases get pushed underneath pharmaceuticals. And that’s where Eastern medicine comes in and truly heals. It addresses all the chronic conditions that Western medicine doesn’t really solve.”

Phoenix received her masters from Five Branches University, a school of traditional Chinese medicine in Santa Cruz. She then went on to complete her doctorate studies from American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) in San Francisco. Over the years, she also became a trained doula, orthopedic and cosmetic acupuncturist, and herbalist.

In 2017, after finishing her masters program in Santa Cruz, Phoenix moved to Ukiah just two weeks before the Redwood Complex fire swept through Mendocino County. The fire took not only her home, but every material possession she and her family had. It was then that Phoenix and her husband, a Sonoma native, decided to come back to his hometown. That’s when Phoenix opened her practice out of Sonoma Roots, calling it East-West Collaborative Health.

As she attended her doctorate program in San Francisco, Phoenix trained on the biophotonic scanner, which tests antioxidant levels. She noticed her antioxidant levels were dropping each month. Concerned, she started undergoing the testing that ultimately lead to her Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis. It was during this time that her dream for building a healing space was ignited.

“I had been waiting to know what was going on in my body before I signed the lease. It became this relief,” said Phoenix. “I knew the space I was creating was exactly where I would want to be going through this journey of healing. I wanted to create a sanctuary that would be a good space for others based on what I needed for my own healing.”

Phoenix knew that Hodgkin lymphoma was treatable, especially if caught in the early stages, which hers was. But with a young daughter, husband, and a practice she loves, the weight of the diagnosis hit her hard. She used it as an opportunity to reflect on her values in life.

“If I only had a year to live, what would I want to be doing?” she asked herself. “I’d be treating my patients, at my clinic, at home having dinner with my family every night. I’d want to be creating my dream and sharing it with others.”

When Phoenix found a space available for rent in Jack London Village – on Arnold Drive in Glen Ellen – she immediately knew it was special. But as she did the research, she uncovered some interesting history about the location – where Sonoma and Asbury Creeks intersect. She learned it was the location where three native tribes – Pomo, Miwok and Wappo – had come to meet regularly for trade and ceremony.

To honor the history of the native tribes, and to represent her vision of being a holistic wellness center for the ageless, Phoenix decided to have the main wall painted showing three generations of native women. The mural is prominent as you enter the space, which also includes a comfortable sitting area, Himalayan pink salt lights and crystals, traditionally thought to have healing powers. There are two additional rooms for practitioners to use. The office faces the Sonoma Creek and has ample deck space outside.

Since their soft opening in early-October, Creekside has offered wellness events and workshops like “Ancestral Traditions & Ayurveda,” “Wellness & BioEnergy” and “Spiritual Health and Wellness Tools.” They plan to offer regular events to the community.

“We want to be a place that treats every age,” says Phoenix. She envisions their patients ranging from teenage girls, to women who are about to give birth, to women seeking anti-aging treatments, to people seeking help for health ailments at any age.

Creekside offers cosmetic acupuncture and facial rejuvenation; techniques that are gaining momentum as being more effective and safer than botox, and claim to have longer-lasting results.

And while Phoenix has embraced the Eastern philosophies and has tools that traditional doctors don’t, she is still focused on primary care. “I can order all the tests that doctors can order... and can take insurance. People can come to me if they have a cold.”

True to form, Phoenix has chosen an east-meets-west treatment plan for her own Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her holistic approach includes a protocol of Chinese herbs, regular superfood cleanses to rid the body of toxins, nutrient-dense smoothies, a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods, in addition to chemotherapy. By using this approach, she is able to build up her immunity in between rounds of chemo treatment.

“Through my journey, I want to bring back the village healer approach to health,” Phoenix says. “My goal is to bring back the soul of medicine. It’s what our system needs - the personal touch.”