Five Branches Institute

Top Reasons Why You Should Consider Five Branches Institute For Your TCM Education

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), including acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, qigong, Chinese medical massage and nutrition, is the fastest growing medical profession in the U.S. Based on age old medical knowledge gleaned from the sages of China's past, TCM is a fount of wisdom and insight into how to maintain health and well-being while preventing disease and imbalance. As a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) in the State of California you are a primary healthcare physician on a par with medical doctors and chiropractors.

Location

Located along California's scenic Central Coast, Santa Cruz is renowned for its beautiful beachfront and nearby redwood forests. Santa Cruz is home to both the University of California and Cabrillo College. It thus has the cosmopolitan appeal of a college town, as well as the ambiance of a small coastal California city. The cultural life of Santa Cruz is diverse and progressive. The downtown area has shops of every description and some of the best bookstores in California. Year round festivals along our famous boardwalk add a plethora of activities to enjoy and remember.

Clinic

Five Branches Institute has recently expanded its clinical facilities to include an additional 11 private treatment rooms, increasing the total number of fully equipped, professional treatment rooms to 18. The Five Branches clinic is thus one of the largest and most modern TCM treatment facilities in the country. There is a well-stocked herb room as well as a separate consultation room where students and supervising practitioners can sit together to discuss individual case histories. The Five Branches TCM clinic is recognized far and wide to be among the very best in the nation

Study Abroad

Our program provides the opportunity for our students, and other healthcare practitioners, to study at the TCM and Western hospitals in China for 2 weeks to 3 months.

Faculty

The Five Branches Institute faculty has years of both clinical and classroom experience. Our core faculty received their educations from some of the most prestigious TCM universities in China. Many of them were educated in both TCM and western medical sciences. Our clinicians have an average of 20 years clinical experience and 7 years hospital practice. Our faculty members have various specialties such as medical qigong, five elements acupuncture, gynecology, neurology and pediatrics, just to name a few.

Academics

Our students receive the most comprehensive education in Chinese medicine available, through exposure to a faculty thoroughly imbued with the spirit of TCM, and grounded in years of practice and teaching. Our student's preparedness for a lifetime of TCM practice is evidenced by their high success rate in passing both the National and California Acupuncture Exams. Our clinical classes begin during the very first semester of study with observational theater, so students begin their practical experience with TCM from the very start of their medical training. Clinical experience and academic coursework go hand-in-hand, allowing students to integrate both theory and practice in a mutually reinforcing way. Five Branches Institute is a medium sized school that offers students the opportunity to get to know our faculty and TCM practitioners on a personal basis. Classmates stay together as a cohort throughout the program, allowing them to form ongoing study groups, receive mutual support, and develop a camaraderie that will last a lifetime.

Job Satisfaction & Community Service

TCM is a non-invasive, holistic and philosophically sophisticated medicine As a TCM practitioner you can guide your patients to wholeness and well-being, the basis for good health. Proven and effective, TCM is the medicine of choice for a growing number of patients concerned with making their own healthcare decisions. It offers its practitioners a sense of fulfillment hard to find in any other profession.

TCM is based on centuries of tried and true methods that increase the body's ability to ward off disease and recover one's health. As a licensed acupuncturist you will be able to professionally administer many approaches to healthcare, such as herbal medicine, energetic exercise (qigong and taijiquan), and nutritional medicine, that patients have been doing on their own without proper guidance. As a TCM practitioner you will provide the public with a well-integrated body of medical knowledge that will nourish the community you live in for decades to come.

Admissions

Five Branches Institute is on the semester system and has entering classes in both Fall and Spring. In order to have top priority please submit applications by May 1st or December 1st, respectively. A minimum of 2 years college (60 semester units) are required for admission.

If you are interested in any of our programs and would like to find out more, please Request Information.