We recently connected with Masha Schmidt and have shared our conversation below.

Masha , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

In Spring of 2022, I leased a storefront on Main Street in Beacon, NY with the intention of providing accessible holistic care to the community. The dream was big: rethink wellness, rethink capitalism, and move away from ‘self care’ to community care.

I was recovering from hip surgery and barely able to walk – racing into this new project because I could not longer continue to provide care for a privileged few. As an acupuncturist, herbalist, and yoga instructor in private practice I knew that the people needing care the most were the least likely to receive it.

Within a few weeks I had assembled a team of practitioners and fellow activists who also believed that everyone deserves access to quality holistic care. The pandemic had shown us that no individual can be truly ‘well’ while their neighbors are suffering.

Through crowdfunding – we raised the money to start our clinic and try out a new business model. We asked our community to help us create a more accessible model of care by recognizing the inherent injustice of who is able to afford modalities like acupuncture, and gave them a way to contribute to our project. We requested that our community members with more wealth and privilege pay more for services to create a direct redistribution of wealth.

In 2021, we hoped that there would be enough wealth, privilege, and altruism in our communities for some folks to pay more so that their neighbors could receive care at lower cost or for free. We know that our communities are only as strong as their most vulnerable members and created a wider web of support

Since we opened our doors in April of 2022 – we have been able to cover our clinic costs, train new practitioners, and provide hundreds of free and low cost treatments. We brought our neighbors accessible acupuncture, support groups, reiki, yoga, meditation, craniosacral therapy, acupressure, aromatherapy, sound therapeutics, workshops, celebrations, and many many cups of tea.

Had the project not been viable, it would have still been worth it.

After living through lockdown, providing care as an essential worker, and volunteering at a harm reduction center to help those with substance use disorder – I had to do something more than just continue to perpetuate the myth of ‘wellness’ as a personal quest. I had to address the systemic injustice that keep so many people unwell. I needed to be with other activists and changemakers in a space where we our community can heal, so we are creating it together.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Masha Schmidt, I am a NYS-licensed acupuncturist, yoga instructor, herbalist, aromatherapist, and AcuDetox/NADA specialist, working toward becoming an ADS trainer. I am the founder and Clinic Director of DayDream Collaborative Clinic in Beacon, NY.

At DayDream we are rethinking the ‘wellness’ industry. We believe that individual health and wellness are inexorably tied to the collective health and wellness of those living nearby. We prioritize collective care through our sliding scale and mentorship model. In this very direct way we can begin to fill gaps in the health of our communities that are suffering from the effects of systemic oppression, violence, racism, gentrification, pandemic isolation, and other harms.

At DayDream – all participants receive a high quality experience of care, whether or not they have the means to pay for out of pocket holistic services. We do not ask for proof of income or need based assistance to utilize our sliding scale or scholarships, we trust one another.

Imagining healthier communities and creating sustainable models of care is the work of the moment. In the beehive model – bees define themselves by the group rather than as individuals, and work together to create an external immune system that strengthens the hive. As bees use propolis to seal their hives from disease and pests, we imagine how this can be mimicked by humans. A community immune system could look like climate care, restorative justice, mutual aid, collective care and joy, and accessible preventative medicine.

Types of Care Provided at DayDream:

Acudetox / NADA 5 Point Ear Acupuncture Clinics

Community Care Circles led by trained restorative justice circle keepers

Holistic Therapies (acupuncture, sound therapy, reiki, acupressure, various folk medicine traditions, chair massage, herbal medicine, meditation, yoga, etc)

Mentorship – to ensure that holistic providers are supported and oriented toward healing centered engagement – thus preventing caregiver burnout

Support Groups led by licensed therapists

By incorporating training, mentorship, and volunteer hours into our clinic we give practitioners the opportunity to gain mastery in their skills. Training without clinical experience produces novice practitioners with a difficult path toward mastery. This sometimes gives the impression that holistic medicine doesn’t work as intended – and we want to change that. A lack of real world experience can also lead to harm resulting from poor boundaries, unclear scope of practice and lack of guidance when encountering clinical challenges.

We are creating a new standard of care for holistic health practitioners by upholding these values:

Best practice guidelines are clear and evolving, with a focus on trauma informed care and healing centered engagement practices

Cultural competency and origins of Folk Traditions/Traditional practices. We distinguish the difference between tradition, the voice of the medicine, and our own voice adding to the collective understanding

We strive for accessible care. In addition to financial accessibility, we hold clinics in a physically accessible space.

We strive to uphold care that is: gender affirming, trauma informed, anti-racist, and in accordance with the Health At Every Size (HAES) model. This is reflected in our intake forms, training, and policies.

We make active listening a standard of care by asking questions and honoring the lived experience of others. We are moving away from the trope of the ‘expert’ practitioner and moving towards partnership with recipients of care to determine what progress could look in their lives.

Our health philosophy moves to redefine commercialized wellness. We believe that a stable Nervous System is critical for creating better health outcomes. Nervous System stability and resilience does depend on external conditions such as living in safe, affordable, stable housing – with enough food and access to medical care. Holistic care is not a substitute for these things, but an adjunct and a support during times of health and in crisis. As we suffer the effects of late stage capitalism, climate change, pandemics, and natural disasters – we will need more places where people can come together to heal. (For example when holistic health was brought to disaster first responders at the WTC site.) DayDream is a place to come together for healing.

Although we believe that the body, mind, and spirit are highly intelligent systems that can self regulate – we also recognize that some things are not repairable. At our clinic we refrain from implying that illness is a failure of healing, but rather that this is part of the process of being alive. (The opposite of stasis.) We do not assume that certain protocols or practices will ‘cure’, and refrain from commenting when participants don’t ‘recover’. As we are all having a human experience, most of us will encounter a full range of emotions and conditions. We are not all born to a default standard of health. Even those born in peak physical condition are influenced by their ancestral trauma, life experiences, and zip codes. Commercialized wellness holds the view that health, longevity, and the avoidance of aging/disease can be obtained through specific practices, and we challenge this idea.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe that my reputation has been built primarily though creating an atmosphere of ease. Every single session is tailored for the day, the season, and the person. I never lose sight of how vulnerable it feels to seek help, and how delightful it is to walk into a space where you immediately feel at ease. Our care is experiential, it is not something you can read about on the internet. That is the magic.

The ‘treatment’ begins with the first interaction – even before they walk through the door. The scheduling process, intake forms, appointment confirmation, and payment process are all crafted with intention. Our booking system allows sliding scale options to be made ahead of time, so no one ever has to reveal that they need assistance. Once they arrive, the initial intake is a great time to support people in the rightness of their bodies, to help them reframe their painful coping skills as outdated or otherwise harmful. Together, we begin to reframe one’s story of health and hardiness – this provides support and builds self trust.

The physical space is set for rest, with soft sound and lighting. We provide clear information about what to expect at each step of the way. We are not only explaining what we do, we are encouraging people to settle down, trust their own bodies, and advocate for what they need. This is the main focus of how we train our staff and volunteers.

Words matter! Even if someone has been coming in for years, we always remind them that if something doesn’t work for them or is uncomfortable, we can pivot the treatment. Unlike many other medical settings, at our clinic each person is the authority on their own body, and what happens at their session. This is how we build trust and why people refer their loved ones to us for care.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My family immigrated to Brooklyn, NY in 1978 from Odessa, Ukraine. Like many immigrant families, we arrived with very few resources and a lot of trauma.

When I was about 9 years old, growing up in a chaotic alcoholic household – I found a book on meditation. I could not escape the physical reality of my situation, so I turned my attentions inward. Already filled with anxiety – meditation and visualization became a way for me to sense some power and control. A few years after that, I got hold of a college level psychology textbook. That was amazing and filled me with the hope that if I could name what was troubling me and the adults around me, perhaps there was something to be done.

In college, I studied psychology and continued to struggle with managing my own anxiety and substance use. By age 19, I realized that to survive – I would need to get clean and sober. With the help of gifted therapists and 12 step programs, I was able to get sober and stay that way. That first year in recovery, I got a book on yoga and began attending classes at a gym in Brooklyn.

26 years later, I am still sober and still practicing yoga and meditation. I have added degrees and skills to help me serve others that struggle with substance use disorder. This has brought me to work with Juan Cortez at OnPoint NYC – a Harm Reduction Center in Harlem that advocates for social justice and strives to address adverse outcomes among people who use drugs or engage in sex work.

Today I offer my skills to help those suffering and to train the next generation of holistic healers and activists.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daydreamclinic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daydreamcollaborative/?hl=en
• Other: https://www.google.com/maps/place/DayDream+Collaborative+Clinic/@41.4525949,-74.3130845,11z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89dd31a6941c2d81:0xf8c36ff03d1ac680!8m2!3d41.5032353!4d-73.9628953!16s%2Fg%2F11rv2ht06_?entry=ttu

Image Credits
Laura Simon Flynn Larsen