🎉 Welcome Dylan + What We’re Treating in the Clinic

Clinic Updates in the Spirit Of Growth and Service

Welcome Dylan

I’m really excited to share that Dylan Hawhee has joined the clinic as Associate Acupuncturist and Herbalist

Dylan and I met in 2017 when she and her family moved to Santa Rosa.  We’ve imagined working together over the years and we’re both excited that the time is now right for her to join the Thrive Team.

Two things people notice when they meet Dylan are how bright her spirit is and how genuinely caring she is.  She has a way of helping people feel at ease right away, and that’s such a big part of what we value here at Thrive.

Before becoming an acupuncturist, Dylan spent over a decade in emergency medicine as an EMT and paramedic. She witnessed firsthand how the body responds to stress and trauma—and how resilient people can be. While she deeply respected that work, she felt called toward a different stage of the healing process through Chinese medicine—supporting people in restoring balance and creating lasting well-being.

Dylan loves treating a wide range of conditions, including:

• Pain
• Allergies
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Overwhelm
• Depression
• Burnout
• Trauma recovery
• Issues that have not fully resolved through conventional care

She sees symptoms not as problems to silence but as messages the body wants understood.

Dylan’s trauma-informed approach focuses on supporting the nervous system—helping people move out of that constant “fight or flight” mode and into a place where the body can rest, regulate, and heal.  She’s especially honored to support people navigating high levels of stress—first responders, healthcare workers, athletes, parents, and the LGBTQ community.

Dylan has been practicing Chinese medicine since 2012 and has worked in a variety of settings around the Bay Area, including community clinics, private practice, athletic departments, and hospital-based programs. She brings both strong clinical skills and an intuitive, thoughtful approach to each treatment.

Fun facts about Dylan—she’s been with her wife for 30 years! And they have an 11-year-old son, 2 dogs, and 2 cats.

I’m so happy she’s part of the Thrive team.  She, Megan, and I have very similar treatment approaches and styles, so I’m excited that we’ll be able to collaborate to help our community.  She’s been shadowing Christina so she’s ready to flow in the Thrive procedures and systems.

She’ll be seeing patients Tuesday (yes, we now have Tuesday appointments!), Wednesdays, and Fridays starting May 5.

You can read more about Dylan’s background here.  And schedule with her here.

What We’re Treating In The Clinic & A Product Highlight

Allergies

Spring has been all over the place, but it’s starting to call us outside…unless your allergies have you hiding indoors!

And if it feels worse than usual this year—you’re not imagining it. We’ve been seeing allergy season ramp up earlier and hit harder the past several months, starting in the fall and carrying right through winter into spring.

So many patients have been saying:

“I don’t normally have fall allergies.”

“Am I sick or is this winter allergies?”

“I thought the rain would help. Why are my allergies worse?”

“I’ve never had allergies this early… or at all!”

Are you dealing with:

• Itchy, watery eyes
• Stuffy or runny nose
• Scratchy throat
• Sneezing fits
• Post-nasal drip
• Fatigue or brain fog
• That “snot everywhere” feeling

In Chinese medicine, allergies aren’t just about pollen—they’re a sign your system is overreacting instead of filtering things out smoothly. When your immune system is out of balance, it goes into attack mode, creating inflammation and all those frustrating symptoms.  I suspect all the extra allergies have something to do with the gloomy summer weather and damp fall creating more mildew or mold, plus the extra tax on our nervous systems lately.

The good news? You don’t have to just power through it every year.

Product Highlight: Xlear

One of our favorite simple tools for immediate relief.

It’s been a go-to in our practice for years because it:

• Gently rinses and soothes nasal passages
• Helps wash away allergens before they trigger symptoms
• Cleans out the biofilm covering your mucous membranes
• Supports your body’s natural defenses

We recommend two sprays in each nostril, wait a bit, then blow your nose:

• Morning + night for prevention
• After being outdoors or exposed to irritants
• A few times a day when symptoms flare

It’s simple, effective, and something you can start using right away. (We carry it in the office, and it’s easy to find locally too.)

And If You’re Ready For Deeper, Longer-Term Relief…

✨ Acupuncture treats allergy symptoms and helps regulate your immune system so your body responds appropriately instead of overreacting—meaning more freedom to actually enjoy the season.  We practice a style of acupuncture that is known for people feeling relief quickly.  So many patients have been telling us in the last few weeks that their head feels better when they sit up from their acu-nap.

🌿 Custom Herbal Support: We also have an extensive herbal pharmacy so we can create a custom formula that targets your specific symptoms and treats the root cause of your immune system going haywire and overreacting.  Since those pesky pollens can feel relentless in spring, it’s particularly helpful that wherever you are, twice a day you can take potent medicine to treat your allergies.  We are all so busy that being able to treat yourself twice a day in the time it takes to drink a cup of water is an every day miracle.  Yes, it’s water with herbs in it so it might taste more like medicine than water.

You don’t have to avoid the outdoors to feel okay this time of year. If you’d like help treating allergies, you can book online or reach out by phone or email—we’d love to help you breathe easier and get back to doing your thing.

Here’s to breathing easy and the kind of growth that lifts us all!

Christina and Team Thrive

P.S. Please share this with anyone you think could benefit from any of this info.