LISTEN. EMPOWER. HEAL.

Hi! I'm Doctor Erin, a Naturopathic Physician and Facilitator of Participatory Development. To listen, empower, and heal is my professional objective and the focus of this blog. My development work focuses on the people of Karmidanda, a beautiful Himalayan village in central Nepal with tremendous potential. My medical practice is based in Portland, Oregon, where I work with patients to identify and uproot the emotional patterns that underlie their physical ailments. As I bounce back and forth between these two lives, this blog will chronicle my adventures and lessons learned. You'll see a 500-word written blog at the beginning of each month, with images and quotes along the way. Please subscribe to my mailing list for monthly updates! #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Email Address (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);

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#GivingTuesday with ParticipAid

Meet Bhagawati Neupane, a 30 year old wife and mother from the village of Karmidanda, Nepal.  Her two children survived Nepal’s April earthquake when Bhagabati threw herself over them, shielding them as the walls of their home crumbled and fell.  She’s one incredible lady, and one of the 17 people elected by her community to design the emergency relief plan that your generous contributions helped fund in May.  Thanks to the plan devised by Bhagawati and her peers, Karmidanda’s 70 families were able to survive with temporary shelters, nutritious food, clean water, and safe sanitation.

I recently returned from visiting Karmidanda, and spent some time with her family.  Her husband Mohan earns his living as a trekking guide, and the recent plummet in tourism cost him the job that supported his family.  They continue to live in their temporary shelter and are currently surviving off of the crops from their farm.  Over tea, Mohan recently lamented “How can we build a new house? How can we send our children to school? How can we manage if we get sick?”  Sadly this is the situation for the majority of rural Nepali families.  They’ve survived the disaster, but the daunting task of rebuilding their homes, their communities, and their lives looms ahead.  

I remain strong in my commitment to support Karmidanda's recovery, and I hope that at this critical time you will too.  I’ve established the non-profit organization ParticipAid, and your tax deductible donation this #GivingTuesday supports our flagship project #RebuildKarmidanda.  We continue to build on the success of our disaster relief project, and support the local leaders like Bhagabati who emerged from it. 

Our four-month program is designed to catalyze sustainable recovery by cultivating local leaders and empowering them with the skills and resources needed to manage their rebuilding process.  With your support, we are expanding our borders to benefit not only Karmidanda, but the entire 1500 family municipality in which it resides.  The road to recovery is a challenging one; thank you so much for walking it with us!

Visit and share our fundraising page today!

https://www.youcaring.com/families-of-karmidanda-nepal-470367

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Join the movement Dec 1!#BlackFriday #CyberMonday #GivingTuesday #UNselfie #GiveBack #ParticipAid #SaveTheDate (at Portland, Oregon)

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My partners and I spent a day conducting community evaluations of the earthquake relief work so many of you helped to provide. I skipped out on the men's and women's groups so as not to bias results, but sat in with the kids. #Feedback #TheyGotSkills #CrazyKids #ParticipatoryEvaluation #ParticipatoryDevelopment #CommunityBased #CommunityDriven #Karmidanda #RebuildKarmidanda #Nepal #NepalEarthquake #InternationalDevelopment (at Laharepauwa,Rasuwa)

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Spent the last couple days getting to know a women's cooperative NGO south of the Kathmandu Valley. Toured a local women's groups vegetable farm. They told stories of how the opportunity to make their own money in this way helped them change from abused and powerless to confident and empowered. My kinda ladies. #Inspired #Empowered #Women #Boss #ChangeMakers #WomensCooperative #Hetauda #Makwanpur #NewFriends #RWSC #RuralWomensServiceCenter #Nepal

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This is what’s left of the medicine for 45,000 people in a rural clinic we’ve recently visited. Since India effectively blocked its’ border, Nepal’s people have lost access to most of their medical supplies. The medicine in this picture won’t last long. Nepal needs the border open now. Please share this post! #Nepal #BackOffIndia #WTF #FuelCrisis #DisasterRecovery #SpeakUp #DoWhatYouCan #Mangaltar #Kavre (at Kathmandu, Nepal)

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Treating a Community Like You Would Treat a Patient

I spent five years in graduate school to become a Naturopathic Doctor.  It wasn’t easy, but it was straightforward.  I applied, they told me what tests to pass, and they gave me their stamp of approval.  The whole humanitarian development idea just slowly happened along the way.  I’ve gotten a ton of experience over the years, but I never took the classes, never got the degree.  I learned humanitarian development from the people I serve, from mentors and colleagues, from research, and from somewhere inside my own brain and heart. 

Now, as I gear up for my 7th trip to Nepal, I must return to the strongest philosophy I have to help me navigate the waters of disaster recovery.  I’ve broken it down intro the six principles of naturopathic medicine applied to humanitarian development.  It’s advice from present me to future me, and I offer it to anyone out there that cares deeply about helping others.    

First do no Harm

Hold your horses. Take the time to fully understand the problem you’re trying to address.  It is entirely possible that acting on your good intentions alone could cause harm - subtle or outright, immediately or down the road.    

Prevention is Better than Cure

Haiti is our freshest and most potent example of a post-disaster nation whose recovery was NOT secured by an ardent and extended humanitarian effort.  NOW is the time to take a good honest look at where we could have done better, and prevent the same thing from happening in Nepal.      

Treat the Whole Community

A community is more than their water resource, their school, or their clinic.  It’s okay to specialize in what you’re good at or most excited about, because you can’t do it all.  Don’t forget that the part you have to play is only a piece of the puzzle. A fully assembled puzzle is the goal, not a handful of puzzle pieces.

Treat the Root Cause

The people you are trying to serve are the ultimate experts on their reality.  Ask them what the real problems are.  Listen closely to their answers.  If it feels like you’re putting a band-aid on a bullet hole, you’re not there yet.  

Doctor as Teacher

You’ll soon leave Nepal to go back to your home where the walls meet the ceiling, and the water always flows from the faucet.  Share what you know with anyone who wants to learn.  Your goal is ultimately to hand over whatever power you might have, and to make yourself obsolete.  

The Healing Power of Nature

Trust in the innate capacity of the Nepalese people to heal their own communities.  They may have been shaken, but they’re resilient and know what’s best for their families.  Look for obstacles you can help to remove.  Consider what tools and skills they’ll need to support their recovery. Empower them to take control of their own development.    

Finally, we’ve got an unofficial principle to ‘meet the patient where they’re at’, or ‘meet the community where they’re at’ in this case.  Your expectations of them matter little in comparison to their expectations of themselves.  Better to open your eyes and see what’s really there, instead of what you wish was there.  Suppose that one applies to all of life though!  

Take care till next time,

Doctor Erin  

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#FlashbackFriday #FBF This fancy graphic was my first fundraising campaign to get to Nepal back in 2010, just an email attachment to my friends and fam. A week from today I'll be on a plane back there for the 7th time! Just a short follow up trip, and the agenda isn't too different from 5 years ago. #FullCircle #Nepal #ILoveNepal #Karmidanda #NepalEarthquake #InternationalDevelopment #DisasterRecovery #CommunityDriven #Grassroots #LearnToListen #ListenToLearn

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This is Stinging Nettle AKA Urtica dioica, and 'sisnu' in Nepali, in a pic with a cutie from Karmidanda. This nutritious multi-tasking herb is famed to be helpful in so many common conditions like eczema and allergies. Today I'm nerding out on its mild diuretic effects. Translation: it makes you pee more. That's a common approach to treating high blood pressure. Studies show that it works differently from the popular diuretics HCTZ and Lasix, so isn't associated with their most bothersome side effects. Interesting! In Nepal they don't really see it as a medicine, just a yummy green that they cook up when it's in season. #FoodAsMedicine #PlantMedicine #HerbalMedicine #NaturopathicDoctor #NaturopathicMedicine #Nettle #StingingNettle #Urtica #Sisnu #Diuretic #Hypertension #HighBloodPressure #HerbNerd #Farmacy #Nepal

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Just a totally normal way to spend your Saturday. I'm trying to figure out how my life works! This was a decent start. #BigIdeas #BigPaper #PostIts #Planning #ParticipAid #InternationalDevelopment #NonProfit #NeedABiggerDesk #Portland #PDX

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Making A Statement

The Need for a Clean Message in a Messy World

This past month my life has been a lot about refining the message of this new non-profit endeavor I’m fostering called ParticipAid.  It’s become clear to me that in order to get the masses on board, I’ve got to package our message in a bite-sized, easy to understand way.  Just a few nights ago I went to a fundraiser for the amazing Seva Foundation.  They can restore sight to a blind person in less than 15 minutes for just $50.  I was moved and impressed by their work, but also envious that their message is so simple, so easy to convey.  It got me thinking about the tension that exists between the enormous complexity of the global humanitarian system and the neat and tidy missions that individual organizations within it must create to attract donors.  Let’s take a walk through the history of our humanitarian system to explore how this tension came to be, and what can be done about it.

People have been helping people forever I assume, but the “system” of humanitarian aid can be pretty agreeably traced back to the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863.  They treated and protected victims of war and crisis, pretty straightforward relief work. By 1919 Save the Children was on the scene as the first recognized international humanitarian NGO.  They asserted that all children, regardless of which side their parents fought for, were eligible for relief.  At its roots, the humanitarian system was set up to provide immediate relief to those in need.  Donors gave their hard earned dollars to fund this important work, and the organizations were held accountable to their donors for how they spent the money.  Makes perfect sense, right?  I don’t know what it was like back then, but I imagine these as pretty straightforward days for humanitarians.    

Over the years, the work of long-term “development” as opposed to short-term “relief” entered the increasingly connected global system.  Relief work has a definite end, and development is more of an on-going process.  With this change, things weren’t as straightforward as they used to be.  Then in the 1970’s people really started to speak up about the beneficiaries - the local people on the receiving end.  What was their role in all of this?  I wasn’t around in those days either, but I’m going to venture that this is when things really got complicated.  On top of the task of incorporating long-term development projects after short-term relief, humanitarians realized they ultimately had to hand over control of their projects to the beneficiaries.  All this while remaining accountable to the donors that made it all possible.  Officially complicated.      

Today humanitarians operate within the imperfect framework of the “emergency-development continuum”.   On one end emergency aid is meant to be led by outsiders, and on the other end the beneficiaries are expected to lead their long-term development.  In theory it’s neat and clean, but in practice it’s not nearly so simple.  For one, the institutional cultures and donor bases on either end of the continuum are quite different, and don’t overlap as much as you’d think.

Back to that tension between the clean message and the messy system - no matter how clean and simple a package ParticipAid’s message is delivered in, I know that a clean and simple humanitarian system will never work.  The world and its problems are too complex for a “this plus this equals that” solution.  Until donors are excited to fund evolving processes over measurable outcomes, humanitarian organizations are charged more than ever to get creative.  These are exciting times to be a humanitarian – we need new disciplines and alternative perspectives to introduce the innovative approaches we’ll need through a funding paradigm that’s a tad slow to catch up.

ParticipAid is very much up for the challenge.  Check out our starter website www.particip-aid.org, and tell your friends to subscribe to my mailing list to see how all of us fit in as our work continues!

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Sequoia sempervirens, the coastal Redwood, is a real stunner. Was so surprised to find this one in my neighborhood! Good timing, though. It's the embodiment of survival through strength, balance, and persistence. The composition of its bark makes it virtually impenetrable to disease, insects, and fire. And it's monoecious, so has its reproductive needs met on different branches of the same tree. What?! It never gives up. Amazing and appreciated. #Redwoods #SequoiaSempervirens #Persistence #Survival #NatureIsCool #TreesAreSmart #MtTabor #Portland #PDX #LessonsFromNature #LookUp #Respect

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So many of my meandering paths lead me back here. Permaculture! It's philosophy blends so well with Naturopathy and Participatory Development. I'm so inspired by all the brilliant minds leading these movements, would love to get them all at the same table. My table of Board of Directors for Particip-Aid, perhaps? #Permaculture #NaturopathicMedicine #ParticipatoryDevelopment #Particip-Aid #NonProfit #InternationalDevelopment #CommunityDriven #CommunityBased #ImSoExcited

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This is @zendenyogini harvesting Artemesia from #Karmidanda back in 2012. Here in the west, we know it for its bitter aspects and volatile oils that make it a really useful plant to support digestion and relieve gas. In Nepal it's called tite pati and has many uses. Most memorable is the recommendation from their herbal folklore to "sit over the heated plant" in cases of diarrhea! Still haven't recommended that one ... #PlantMedicine #Herbalism #HerbNerd #HerbalMedicine #Naturopathic #NatureMedicine #NaturopathicMedicine #TraditionalMedicine #Artemesia

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The Art of Break-Taking:

The Challenges of Slowing Down

Imagine you’re climbing up a mountain - your pack tight against your back, your head down, your feet moving forward to the summit.  You've been climbing for a while, and your mind wanders to the beginning of the day when you were never more sure of yourself or your path forward.  Now you stop and glance around at the unfamiliar terrain, and realize that you’ve been so focused on putting one foot in front of the other that you’re not exactly sure where you are or how long you’ve been climbing.  You find that you’re exhausted, nearly dehydrated, and your feet are wracked with blisters.  As you look up at the distant summit and down at the other climbers close on your trail, you worry that you may lose momentum, or be passed by stronger climbers.  But you also know you’re not doing yourself any favors by continuing on in this way.  It’s time to unshoulder your pack, sit down, and take a break.  

You all know that summit. It's a job, a degree, a relationship, a creative accomplishment. It's any goal you've ever set for yourself.  You also know that climb.  It’s the step by step path that is unique to you.  And you all know that moment when you realize persevering is no longer an option. Taking breaks is essential not only to rest your tired muscles but also to appreciate how far you’ve come, to take stock of where you are, and to decide the best way to keep moving forward.

Our rational side can easily recognize the importance of taking a break, but our emotional side can put up quite the fight.  There’s a reason and a purpose for that.  A break is a transition.  Transitions are famously tricky because they’re marked by uncertainty and change.  This is the perfect setting for your fears and anxieties to march to the forefront. Only you know the unique reality of what’s brewing inside of you, but facing our fears is not an easy task for any of us humans. 

There’s also a purpose for the discomfort of transitions.  They offer the advantage of a different perspective and an opportunity for self-reflection that you can’t get otherwise.  Only by stopping and turning around can you take a good honest look at your last steps.  While you've had your head down, the challenges might’ve changed, the best approach to your goal altered, the object of your determination disappeared.  And in the company of your fears and anxieties is actually a great place to ask these questions:  Am I being good to myself?  Do I still want the same things for myself and the world? Am I going about this the best way?  Honest answers to these questions are invaluable. Moving forward is a good thing, but so is the insight, flexibility, and perspective you get from stopping to take stock. 

I'll admit that this is all a veiled confession. Once our Nepal relief work was well along, it came time to take a breath and take stock, to think about lessons learned, and look ahead to a future armed with the knowledge (and hopefully wisdom) gained from this experience. But it hasn't always been easy, taking this break. I’ve battled with my demons.  But I will say this – taking it has not only allowed me to feel normal again, but also given me the confidence to dream even bigger than I had before the earthquake.  Stay tuned for the launch of the new non-profit organization I’m establishing –

                                        www.particip-aid.org

My team and I will be taking the lessons learned in Nepal and sharing them around the world.  I had a great break, and I hope you do too!

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Had so much fun at the Naturopathic Medical Student Association conference in San Diego this week! So many smart and inspiring folks. These students make me proud to be a #NaturopathicDoctor. #NMSA #NMSALife #NaturopathicMedicine #NMSACup #SanDiego #UCSD

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I just read a new survey of local people's opinions on the #DisasterRelief effort in the most affected districts. Enlightening and distressing. Every response overwhelmingly negative. One of the questions was "Do you feel you've been heard?" 75% responded no. This is the linchpin, and we can do better. I think they'd get a different answer had they surveyed #Karmidanda! Pictured here is the local team trained to manage their own aid. #ParticipatoryDevelopment #ParticipatoryRuralAppraisal #LearnToListen #ListenToLearn #NepalEarthquake #NepalPhotoProject #NEPAN #InternationalDevelopment

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This is ban mara, in Nepali, and I would love to know the English or scientific name. A common wild plant across Nepal, #Karmidanda people use it on cuts and wounds. After the #NepalEarthquake I used a poultice of this with ground cinnamon to slow bleeding while patients awaited transport. Do you know this plant? #NameThatHerb #PlantMedicine #Herbalism #NaturopathicMedicine #NatureProvides #Ayurveda #LocalsKnowBest #BanMara