Testimonials

At the risk of sounding like a) I’m kissing your bums or b) I’m a total fangirl, I just wanted to thank you guys for Third Root, and for choosing me as part of the family [as a yoga substitute teacher].

I hit a point a few months ago, where I was completely disillusioned with the yoga community I was a part of. It was a see-and-be-seen atmosphere, a “Who can do a handstand in the middle of the room? Oh, you have to use the wall? That“s a shame.” vibe, and there have been more than a few times where I would try on four different outfits before going to class, just to make sure I looked like everyone else... that was pretty much my final straw.

And now that I’ve had the chance to sub the same classes for a few weeks in a row, I feel utterly refreshed. People come to the Center to practice yoga — a novel idea, I know... They are community members looking to better themselves and are just happy to be in class. I have left every class I’ve ever subbed with a huge smile on my face, simply from the energy of the students, as well as fellow staff...

So, thank you guys so so much again!!!

— Megan Lewicki

Jacoby and Green, two practitioners and founders of the Third Root Community Health Center, came to Wesleyan to give workshops about community-based healthcare, holistic alternatives to Western medicine, and the interplay between social justice and health. The members of the Wesleyan community who participated in the workshop — including those interested in activism and social justice work, those planning on entering medicine or public health, and members of the staff of the Wesleyan health center — came away with both an understanding of a specific model and a guiding set of principles for community-based health.

Green and Jacoby walked us through the process of building a clinic like this from the ground up: getting to know a neighborhood; finding practitioners whose skills, experience, and identities reflect the needs of communities; making holistic care accessible; providing services in a responsible and compassionate way, training and self-education so that practitioners can provide sensitive and anti-oppressive care; and so on. We heard about community accupunture, the struggle to find locally-harvested herbs, the resource library in the clinic, yoga classes for all sorts of people, and grassroots fundraising through small loans.

It was exciting to hear about the specifics of the extensive work that has gone into building Third Root. But what was maybe most inspiring was looking at this particular clinic as one example of another way healthcare can be done. It takes a lot of guts to insist that acupuncture should be affordable for everyone, that communities should have access to healthcare on their own terms, that there are options other than pills and surgery, and that there is more to wellness than medical expertise. But Jacoby and Green, as representatives of Third Root, encouraged us to imagine other kinds of healthcare that might take better care of us, and they did it with enthusiasm, dedication, and humility. If I got this much out of a workshop, I can only imagine what the clinic itself will have to offer to the people it serves.

— Alexis Horan, a Wesleyan student

Rock Dove Collective is excited to endorse the Third Root Community Health Center. We have worked with members of the clinic staff both personally and organizationally — we know and trust them as healers, and we believe strongly in the mission and vision of the Center. We Doves are working to build a system of care that transforms the relationship between client and caregiver. Third Root, in seeking community leadership as it establishes alternative avenues for healing in Flatbush [Brooklyn, NY], is partner to that work, a concrete realization of our shared vision. We have a deep faith not only in the mission of the Center, but also in the intentions and capacity of the staff to carry out that mission in a way that is truly healthy for all.

— The Rock Dove Collective