Our grand opening in March 2018
Our grand re-opening at our current location in January 2023 (5295 NE Elam Young Pkwy #160)
Dr. Ellie Barrett, DAOM
Licensed AcupuncturistEllie Barrett is a dedicated professional specializing in all aspects of women's healthcare. With a background as a former midwife for over two decades, Ellie brings a wealth of experience and compassion to her practice. Her journey began with a Bachelor's degree in humanities, specializing in Midwifery from the New College of California. Throughout her career, Ellie has navigated the intricate phases of women's health, from preconception care, including pre and post IUI, egg retrieval, and IVF, to the beautiful and transformative journey of pregnancy. Her passion lies in offering comprehensive support for the mental, physical, and emotional preparation for labor and birth. Ellie takes pride in assisting mothers and babies during the postpartum period, creating a nurturing environment for their well-being. Ellie's expertise extends beyond midwifery and acupuncture, as she is trained in Craniosacral Therapy to aid babies with latch and nursing issues. Her commitment to holistic care is evident in her focus on treating hormonal, endocrine, and pain issues throughout a woman's life, including perimenopause and menopause. Ellie holds a Master's degree in Acupuncture and Chinese medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, Ellie has pursued further academic excellence with a Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, specializing in women's healthcare. Her dedication to continuous learning ensures that she stays at the forefront of innovative and effective healthcare practices. Ellie's holistic approach extends to various therapeutic modalities, including calming anxiety and assisting the nervous system in resetting. Her skills also encompass facial acupuncture to address migraines, jaw and neck pain, and various skin issues. With Ellie Barrett, you're not just receiving medical expertise; you're gaining a caring partner on your journey through the diverse phases of women's health. She is committed to empowering and supporting women, ensuring that each individual receives personalized and comprehensive care
Ellen Liu
Licensed AcupuncturistEllen first encountered Chinese medicine when she was young. The grown-ups talked about how to eat and live accordingly and took her along to herb shops. Then she had her first acupuncture treatment from her allopathic family doctor, who used one needle to relieve her sore throat instantly. She sees medicine as a philosophy and a way of living, and with allopathic medicine, they can work together like a beautiful duet. Ellen studied engineering and worked in the high tech industry for several years. She liked solving problems at work but found it unfulfilling. With luck and opportunities, she came back to the medicine she had a glimpse of as a child and found the missing human connection she was searching for. She now enjoys working with patients to solve their health issues. Examples of the areas of care Ellen provides: Women's health Fertility GI issues Sleep issues Pain management Outside of work, Ellen enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and having new experiences. Ellen was born and raised in Taiwan before moving to the United States. She grew up with Chinese herbal medicine and has always thought it is magical. She earned the B.S. degree in engineering at UC Berkeley and worked in technology until she realized her true passion lies in helping people. She earned the degree of Master in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (MAcOM) at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. She interned at Legacy Health Pain Clinic and used acupuncture to relieve acute and chronic pain. She is a certified Diplomate of Oriental Medicine with the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).
Dr. Amber Reding-Gazzini, DACM
Licensed AcupuncturistAmber Reding was born and raised around the Portland Metropolitan area, highly influencing her desire to give back to the community that raised her. In 2011 Amber Commissioned into the US Army where she served as a Human Resources Officer. As a female combat veteran Amber is particularly sensitive to the many different ways that events can create traumas in our lives. She strives to create a safe, trauma-informed treatment space where she hopes all people feel comfortable and SAFE! At the most basic level, healing begins with a safe place and a kind touch. Due to Amber’s military background she has a passion for treating physical pain through the body, the mind and the spirit. She has witnessed first hand that mental, emotional and physical pain cannot be separated and in order to promote balanced, and lasting healing people must be treated on all three levels. After attaining her acupuncture license in 2017 Amber began to realize the immense healing potential of treatment through focusing on the face. As humans we interface with the world through our expressions. Treatment of the face is treating human emotion and experiences. The human face is unique in that it is the only place where muscles attach directly to skin. To ensure patient safety and best clinical effects Amber took an additional one year certification on Facial Acupuncture which includes cosmetic, neuromuscular conditions and microneedling. Amber has a Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, an Advanced Certificate in Face Reading, an Advanced Certificate in Chinese Herbal Medicine for Dermatology and an Advanced Certificate in Facial Acupuncture. In addition to being a clinician Amber is an advocate for the Acupuncture profession. She believes that she can maximize her potential to help people by creating a space for other clinicians to practice and thrive. Since its start in 2018, Hillsboro Wellness has been able to continuously grow and is now a beloved part of the Hillsboro community. We are proud that we have been able to be part of so many people’s healing journey. Amber is passionate about fighting for acupuncturists rights and currently is the board president of the Oregon Association of Acupuncturists, Oregon’s only Acupuncture professional association. When she is not treating patients, managing the clinic or advocating for the profession, Amber enjoys frolicking in nature with her dog (Dog’tor Loki), taking care of her houseplants and practicing yoga. Amber spends most of her time with her family, including her twins and her husband, Patrick. Caring people create strong communities; strong communities heal humanity!
Patrick Gazzini
Licensed AcupuncturistPatrick has been practicing acupuncture since 2015 when he graduated from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine with a Masters in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He ran an acupuncture practice at the Providence Milwaukie Hospital in Milwaukie, OR from 2015-2020 when he moved his full time practice to Hillsboro Wellness. He specializes in treating acute and chronic pain from sports injuries, auto accidents, overuse, and more. While able to reduce pain with just acupuncture, Patrick works to find the functional or structural dysfunction that’s causing your pain and help you fix it so your pain doesn’t return. A former Division I college athlete and coach, he understands the human body and can help you maximize your health and performance. He continued his professional study with a pain management and orthopedics externship at an integrative hospital in Fu Jian, China in 2018. He is certified in Applied Kinesiology and as a qi gong instructor. In addition he has completed the coursework for the extensive Sports Medicine Acupuncture Certification Program where he learned advanced techniques to treat musculoskeletal pain. This course included cadaver and anatomy study, postural assessment and Muscle Motor Point Needling. Motor point needling is often referred to as Dry Needling, this technique goes to the innervation of the muscle to reset the impulse. Originally from New York State, Patrick was a high school state champion in track and field, then went on to compete at Villanova University in track and field and did his pre-med studies in Biology. Post graduate he went on to get his Masters in Health and Human Performance at McNeese State University. Outside of his practice Patrick served on the board of the Oregon Association of Acupuncturists for two years. spends time with his wife and dog and enjoys hiking in the woods, traveling and spending time with his wife Amber, twin babies and dog Loki.
Sallie McKibbon
License AcupuncturistSallie McKibben is a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, specializing in motor vehicle accidents, injuries & pain conditions, chronic illness and anxiety disorders. Her approach to acupuncture is both exact and gentle, meeting her patients where they are at. By utilizing acupuncture therapies (needling, moxibustion, cupping, Chinese herbs, Shiatsu massage, diet therapy, and lifestyle counseling), she greatly enjoys discovering all the contributing factors to your ailments while reducing pain and promoting healing. It is a joy and honor for her to work with all of her patients, no matter their race, culture, creed, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, level of wealth, spoken language, or disability. Since 2014, Sallie has worked collaboratively with primary care physicians, medical specialists, chiropractors, and massage therapists on extremely complex cases. With her experiences, Sallie believes that the best medicine is integrative, utilizing the best of conventional and alternative medicine to bring complete care. While addressing all contributing factors for illnesses, Sallie McKibben also likes to address the secret key to healing: passion and joy. Sallie loves helping her patients reconnect to their own natural and innate healing power, finding beauty within themselves and their lives. Sallie McKibben strives for sustainable practices at home, work, and in the community. Having grown up in the woods of Missouri, the outdoors are an inseparable part of her identity, and she takes great responsibility in helping to preserve and care for our Earth. However, life is short, and she may just as easily be found wearing silly costumes, building forts with her son and husband, or reading a book in a sunny hammock.
Brian Baker
Licensed AcupuncturistBrian has been providing acupuncture therapies since 2010 after graduating from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. He created, owned, and operated Orenco Acupuncture & Wellness Clinic LLC for 12 years before coming to Hillsboro Wellness to continue to do what he enjoys – helping others achieve a better quality of health - while leaving the commitments of clinic management behind. This move allows him to support one of his personal values – being of service to others. He worked for the Oregon Association of Acupuncturists on the volunteer Board of Directors for 7 years, was a volunteer provider for the Returning Veterans Project for ~6 years and provided free acupuncture treatments at an East PDX VA outreach center for 2 years. His father was a 25-year veteran serving in both the Navy during WWII and the Air Force including a tour in Vietnam, and his brother was a veteran serving in the Marines. Helping Veterans has had a personal connection for Brian. His professional interests are the cross-roads between acupuncture and the body’s nervous system and finds many common links between the historical applications of acupuncture and its influence on the nervous system. He enjoys adapting therapies that can rehabilitate or strengthen function by stimulating and reinforcing neural pathways generally known as neuroplasticity. He has also helped men with prostate cancer or fertility issues as well as a myriad of typical conditions treated by acupuncture. Prior to graduate school at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, he worked 20 years at Intel in technology development helping to develop advanced microprocessors and later managing Wireless Network Interface Adaptor launches. He chose to leave Intel when his daughter was young because he could not support his personal family values and be an involved and present father working the expected 24x7 demands simultaneously supporting new product programs in the US, Israel, and Malaysia for example. Brian came to central OR in 1974 with his parents who returned to their home state after his father finally retired from the Air Force. Here he was able to pursue his childhood longings to be out in the forests and mountains hiking, backpacking, and climbing. He became a climb leader for a mountaineering club and taught mountaineering and rock climbing in the years following his undergraduate studies in engineering and geology at OSU. These hobbies gradually eroded by the increasing hours at Intel and finally upon entry into parenthood. The last 2-plus decades were focused on raising his daughter and running his clinic, and now that his daughter is a young woman Brian is pursuing long-distance backpacking, back-country skiing, and less technical mountaineering again. Returning to these loved hobbies is part of his retirement and happiness strategy. Life is short. Live with a focus on gratitude and pursue what brings you fulfillment, and that will create the legacy of a happy life.
Joelle Ellis
Licensed Massage TherapistJoelle is a Portland native and a PNW girl to the core. She graduated from East West College of the Healing Arts in 2015 after a career as a pharmacy assistant. When she's not geeking out about wellness tools, herbalism, and all the mysteries of the human body; you'll find her doing yoga, hiking, and doing some cozy casual gaming. Joelle's bodywork is a very slow style with an aim to ground and reset the nervous system using a fusion of deep tissue, myofascial release, acupressure, and shiatsu. She also likes to utilize many different tools such as cupping, hot stones, and vibration to open up the tissues and work into trigger points and adhesions. Joelle particularly enjoys working with desk and service workers, anxiety, the elderly and the veteran population.
Rachel Wilson
Licensed Massage TherapistRachel has experienced very common chronic ongoing pains due to car accidents and working in highly physically demanding jobs such as highway maintenance. It was through these experiences and injuries she found massage therapy to be the main solution for her. Through learning how it helped her she fell in love with becoming a massage therapist. She wanted to help people learn about how their body can react and change as they get injured and heal. She prides herself on learning new ways to work with everyone’s needs and addressing the root of their problems, not just suppressing the symptoms. She practices a variety of massage techniques such as deep skeletal myofascial manipulation with cupping, gua sha and passive/active stretches. She has worked with a variety of chronic and temporary conditions such as pregnancy and decade old injuries. She enjoys getting to know each client and works with them to rebalance within as well as on the outside. She takes the time to interpret what type of treatments you may need each session. She works within what your abilities are and towards your strengths to optimize your care. Rachel is known for her sense of humor and striving to make people laugh. She’s pretty savvy at cooking but her friends would beg to differ. She often goes to comedy shows and concerts to stay up to date and to “be cool”. She likes jumping out of planes and would do it everyday if she could
Erin Smith
Licensed Massage TherapistErin has been a licensed massage therapist since January of 2023. She has experience with both relaxation and therapeutic massage. Erin understands that massage can be a much needed reprieve from the stressors of daily living. Massage is as much about the mind and spirit as it is the body. She wants clients to have the option to take the inward journey and enjoy a restful, restorative session. In her therapeutic sessions she likes to incorporate postural assessment, passive and active joint movement, and superficial to deep myofascial manipulation. Myofascial work is performed on dry skin in order to sink into the connective tissue, smooth adhesions and redistribute stuck or gathered tissues. This brings the body back to balance, promotes better structural alignment and ease of movement. A core belief of her work is that the body is adaptable and willing to change in ways that better serve us given time and consistency. Outside of her massage therapy work Erin is also a licensed Esthetician and Certified Personal Trainer. She is interested in skin care, weight lifting, yoga, and learning tango.
Joyce Olson
Licensed Massage TherapistJoyce has been practicing in the Portland area for 34 years as a licensed massage therapist and graduated from the Oregon School of Massage in 1990. She continues to learn, heal and grow in the art of Body Centered and Holistic practices to better understand the connection to mind, body and spiritual healing. Joyce was introduced to CranioSacral Therapy while working for a dentist in Portland treating temporal mandibular joint syndrome and fell in love with the practice because of her own pain, TMJ syndrome and headaches from a head trauma she experienced when she was three. She also was diagnosed with Epstien Barr, and it was natural and holistic practices, Shamanic Breathwork, and lifestyle changes that helped her to feel less pain with more vitality, wholeness, and authenticity. Her education and practice include these modalities and more. Oregon School of Massage: 1990-1991 John Barnes: Myofascial Release I: !990 The Upledger Institute: CranioSacral Therapy Level I: 1991 The Upledger Institute: CranioSacral Therapy Level II: 1992 Foundation for Shamanic Studies: Micheal Harner: 1991-1992 Reiki Training: I, II : Sheila King Reiki Master III: William Rand Somatic Experiencing: Peter Levine 48 hours 2009 Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts: AIWP: 2001-2003 Biodynamic CranioSacral Therapy: Intrinsic Touch. 700-hour Foundation Training:2017- 2019 Holy Fire Reiki Master: Collen Benelli: 2022 The Barral Institute: Visceral Manipulation: Abdomen I: 2019 Carey Benenson Taussig D.O.: Shock to the Waters. Biodynamic CranioSacral Therapy, visceral, manipulation, shamanic healing to create space within the fluid body to facilitate healing of autoimmune diseases and trauma. 2023. Joyce graduated with a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies at Marylhurst University studying psychology and communication in 2011. She enjoys walks in nature, hanging out with family and friends, art, sewing, using herbs, foods and mindfulness practices to heal self and others.
Caitlyn Monks
Licensed Massage TherapistCaitlyn is a Licensed Massage Therapist and has been practicing since 2013. She specializes in deep tissue and myofascial with a gentle touch, working with the body to convince it to heal without forcing. She follows her hands to find the true source of the discomfort. She is especially passionate about those with chronic pain issues and those who are extra stressed mentally or physically. She believes in the health benefits of relaxation, and that pain is not always gain with massage. She has taken extra training in cupping, myofascial techniques, and is a Certified Prenatal Specialist. When she is not working she enjoys playing with her children and her dogs, going on fun outings with her family, and taking care of her dozens of plants.
Loki Barktholemew
DogtorLoki is the in-house therapy dog at Hillsboro Wellness. He specializes in snuggling nervous patients and listening to all of their most pressing concerns. He loves to play and will do anything for a snack.