See Kay Madsen's story of career change from attorney to acupuncturist in Bethesda Magazine
Bethesda Magazine - September/October 2013
Getting to the Point: A one-time lawyer's career takes a sharp turn
Getting to the Point: A one-time lawyer's career takes a sharp turn
Kay Madsen - M.AC.,L.AC.,DIPL.AC. (NCCAOM)
Nationally Certified Licensed Acupuncturist
"Let me personally welcome you to the Family Acupuncture Center, where I bring my years of clinical experience to patients of all ages. Many come to me where their doctors aren't fully helping them and they may be looking for solutions other than drugs or surgery.
After leaving behind a decade of practicing as an attorney, I received my Masters of Acupuncture in 2002 from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland. (Now operating as the Maryland University of Integrative Health.) It certainly was an interesting career shift. Every day I am increasingly grateful to do this amazing work. I still use some of my old attorney skills to analyze and piece together every patient's experiences to create a picture of health concerns from a Chinese medical perspective. From there we fashion an individualized strategy together toward healing. It never gets old to watch a person's sufferings unravel. Sure beats interpreting government regulations for a living!
Although I trained in a so-called Five Element school, I use Traditional Chinese Medicine ("TCM") as a primary practice style. I find it gives the most effective and reliable clinical results. I am passionate about studying the Chinese medical classics. And I tend to be quite traditional in my treatment approach, utilizing the full panoply of tools. Acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, Chinese herbal therapy, as well as dietary and lifestyle counseling. Explore the website for more information. And don't forget to check out the testimonials to see what my patients have to say.
Like these patients, I trust that you will have a positive experience, not only with your improved health, but also in my treatment room. I spend ample time with every patient. I pride myself in helping people completely understand their medical issues from both a western and Chinese point of view. And I set clear guidelines of what to expect from treatment. We are full partners in your journey to good health.
I keep balance in my own life by sharing my love of outdoor experiences with my husband and daughter. Camping, hiking and critter watching are much loved family activities. I also have a passion for gardening and cooking. It's especially rewarding when I can cook from my own garden. I've adapted my cooking over the years to mesh with the healthier and balanced diet proscribed by Chinese medicine. At the request of many of my patients, I am actually in the process of writing that cookbook.
I also enjoy dabbling a bit with artistic endeavors, especially with my daughter and her friends. When you come to my office, you will see some of my paintings and photos. While they aren't ready for the National Gallery of Art, they are created with joy. Many of them were inspired by scenes from my original home in northern Idaho.
The main focus in my life outside of the treatment room is my family and raising my beautiful daughter, who is now a teenager. Chinese medicine has always been her primary care. I feel like I am both being true to my calling and giving her a foundation of balance.
Inside the treatment room, the standard of care I strive for is to treat every patient as if they were a part of my family. That doesn't mean I'll be coming to your 4th of July picnic. It does mean that when it comes to your treatment, my thought is, "If you were my mother, daughter, son, father, sister, brother, or husband, what would I do for you?"