About Us

Meet the Practitioner

 
 
 

Hi.  My name is DeBritt Ealey and I will be taking good care of you when you come in for a visit.  I will find out quite a bit about you when you come in so I wanted to let you know a little about me… it only seems fair. 

I have been a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist for over 20 years now, which seems like a crazy amount of time, but I still love what I do and continue to be excited to go into work each day.  It’s a real honor to help my clients with their health journey.  

 
 

I am originally from the high mountains of Colorado, with many years spent in Boulder, so I am a bit on the crunchy side.  :0) I have been working with herbs since the early 90’s and have always had an interest in health and wellness. I originally thought I would go into Western medicine, but then something happened that shifted my path.  I got into Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) because, like many people in the healing field, I had an accident and found myself needing something outside of the traditional allopathic options.  When I was 20 years old I had a bad mountain biking accident.  I was a bit of an idiot really as I was riding on a back-country trail without a helmet and found myself crashing, flying over the handlebars and landing on my head, which really wrecked my jaw.  I was advised that the only course of treatment was surgery, but that didn’t work for me since the chances of facial paralysis was a bit too high to consider that as a possibility. So, I went on a quest to find another option. 

This journey into more “alternative” therapies landed me at a local acupuncturist’s office in my home town for treatment.  I had heard about acupuncture but had never experienced it up to that point.  I was completely shocked that the practitioner was able to get me really great relief in just a few treatments.  The needles weren’t painful in any way, I got to use herbs, and I got better!  I had found a comprehensive way of working with the body that incorporated healing in a totally different way to the allopathic medicine I was used to. I was amazed, and I was hooked.  TCM offered me a completely holistic way to look at and work with the body to get and stay healthy.  I have not looked back and rarely have any issues with my jaw or my health using TCM daily, even after 30 years.  

After school I moved to Hawaii to go through a wonderful acupuncture program on Oahu, and to get out of the snow and onto the beach. But, as sometimes happens, my life got side tracked - got married, opened up an environmental hemp shop & community center and had a beautiful baby boy. The marriage didn’t work out, but my love of holistic medicine did, so when my son was 1 year old, I moved back to Denver and went back to school for Traditional Chinese Medicine. Going back to school was incredibly challenging as a single parent, but so worth it.

A few years after graduating from The Colorado School for Traditional Chinese Medicine (back in 1999), doing my internships and starting my first practice in Boulder, I stumbled onto an allergy therapy that was based on TCM principles, so it was right up my alley. This is the AAT therapy that I currently offer. Long story short, I ended up becoming friends with the developer of the therapy and going to Australia to help open clinics throughout the country and to train other practitioners in the therapy. This was a fabulous 7-year adventure that allowed me to not only treat clients in the beautiful city of Brisbane, but also to train and oversee dozens of practitioners while traveling throughout Australia to the different clinics on a regular basis. Australia is so just stunning and filled with great people, I certainly miss it. I did bring back a great souvenir though…my husband from down under. :0)

 

I am currently the Chief Clinical Officer for AAT, and before that I was the Director of Training for 20 years. I feel very lucky that I still get to train practitioners in the US and Japan in the AAT therapy. Over the years I have trained over 300 practitioners in the AAT therapy, which is just amazing to me.  I love teaching and educating, so this helps support that passion. I have successfully treated thousands of patients and administered tens of thousands of AAT treatments over the years.  I still love the therapy so much and it continues to amaze me with daily success stories.  

I moved back to the states and started my practice in Virginia in 2010.  I still offer the AAT therapy and now offer many other holistic services that can help my clients, plus the variety continually keeps me fascinated and engaged.  I love a challenge, so I am constantly doing research to find the best solutions and improved treatment modalities to offer my clients.  I am still on that quest and continue to take classes to improve my skills as a practitioner.

After landing back in the states, I started working more with cosmetic acupuncture and other holistic facial treatments.  I am turning 55 this year so I have selfish, personal motivations to finding facial techniques that work.  :0) I do the treatments on myself so am right there with my clients, trying to keep my skin looking its best for as long as I can, naturally.  It feels great to help other women look & feel their best without having to use chemicals, botox or fillers.  I absolutely support women doing whatever they feel is right for them, there is zero judgment and those procedures can work really well for some people. However, many people are just not aware that there are holistic facial treatments available. I am here to spread the word!    

After treating so many people for their allergy symptoms and dealing with the results of toxins on their bodies, I looked deeper into what was going into and onto their bodies via facial & body care products, household chemicals, environmental toxins, etc.. and it was alarming to me to see the nasty stuff that was being used in these common everyday products.    I started looking for super clean products for some of my clients, but I couldn’t find products without unwanted nasty ingredients, so I decided to make them myself.  

Custom Formulated Organic Skin Care Line

I have been making my own skin care products for years and was inspired to make them on a larger scale by many of my fabulous clients who loved using the products because of how great they made their skin look and feel.  Until I dove deeper into the face & body care world, I didn’t realize that it’s really the wild west out there in terms of what is allowed in a body care product.  There are people making claims that are not true, green-washing products just for sales and an extremely long list of chemicals that are not tested for safety, while the ones that are tested include hormone disruptors, bio accumulators, cancer & organ toxicity causing agents, etc.  I don’t want any of that in my body or my client’s!  So, I started a line called Spencer St. Botanicals about 4 years ago. This was my first organic and herbal face and body care line, which you could literally eat, it was so clean. At the beginning of 2020 I re-branded that line into my current line, called Qi Botanics. (You will see links to it on this website.) This expanded line includes the same high ingredient standards and includes facial and body products as before, but also includes facial tools, acupressure kits and herbal teas as well. All the products are made with organic, fresh and bio-active ingredients that are wonderful for the skin and body.  It’s all about feeding and supporting the skin and body in the best way possible.  I get to use organic herbs and botanicals that are sustainable sourced, so I know exactly where things are coming from and how they are extracted, plus I can support fair trade practices, which is important to me.   It is so exciting and fun for me to get to create products that can help people everyday. I love using products that I create in my practice to support my clients as well, so I know exactly what is in them. It allows me to play and create, I am like a kid in a candy shop when I am working with herbs and making products. The clinic is certainly my happy place.

I am a big proponent of keeping your environment and body as clean as possible, thus the detox services that are offered at the office.  I truly believe that we need to support our body’s detox pathways on a regular basis to help counter the daily exposure to toxins in our everyday world right now.

I am excited to be able to help you on your health and wellness journey, whatever that looks like for you.  I promise to do my very best and if I am not the best fit for you, I will help you find another practitioner.  I am always striving to match the best treatment option with the individual since there is not a perfect one size fits all, everyone is unique.

I look forward to seeing you at the clinic soon.

Please feel free to contact me at any time with questions about anything or just to chat.

DeBritt

Find Us

Striving for Health is located in the Sugar Oak Office Retreat

451B Carlisle Dr.
Herndon, VA 20170

Phone
Office | 703 - 707 - 7777

Cell | 512 - 963 - 8031