Alternative health care proponents want better insurance coverage for the treatments

• Thousands of people, including children, are participating in alternative therapies, including Reiki, Kinseology, acupuncture and Feldenkrais.
• Stevens, who runs Acupuncture, a Westport, Mass.-based business that provides acupuncture sessions, said the very moment a needle entered her skin something changed her forever.
• Acupuncture, developed by the Chinese and used for 3,000 years, involves using needles at different points in the body, often in the wrists and feet, to release tension and pain and boost energy.
• Some clients use the sessions to fight depression, anxiety or alleviate pain.
• Some insurance providers do cover acupuncture, one of the more mainstream of alternative therapies.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island has a complementary and alternative medicine discount program for members of massage therapy, acupuncture and registered dieticians, as well as discounts through their store, www.healthyroads.com.
• She herself doesn't accept insurance at her practice because oftentimes she is not reimbursed.
• She also said she thinks its disrespectful as a practitioner to receive $24 for an hour and a half of her time, education and services, less than half of what her sessions cost.
• Feldenkrais, for instance, is a therapy used to improve a person's quality of life and is not used for only the ill.
• Mr. Rogers said people who practice the method do it for different reasons.
• For some, it's a matter of health, and for others it's a way to improve movement.
• Christa Johnson, MD, a staff physician at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, will present a workshop on mind/body medicine and meditation for stress reduction at The Healing Co-Op in Middletown, Rhode Island's only free-of-charge non-profit center dedicated to the support of women with cancer and their families.