Dr. Katherine Echo Kim, L.Ac. ADS Forgiveness Walk | Forgiveness Clinic | AcuDetox | Integrative Stress & Pain Management | Westport, CT

📍Location: Westport, CT USA

Katherine Echo Kim, D.Ac., L.Ac. ADS

D.Ac. -- Doctor of Acupuncture
L.Ac. -- Dually Licensed Acupuncturist (CT, NY)
ADS -- Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist
Nationally Board-Certified Diplomate (NCBAHM)

Lineage of Acupuncture Training & Practice:

• St. Vincent's Hospital, Integrative Stress Management Clinic
• AcuDetox, Michael Smith, MD Lincoln Recovery
• Acupuncture Physical Medicine & Trigger Point Therapy, Mark Seem, PhD 

Dr. Kim has pioneered hospital-based AcuDetox delivery and integrative stress management since 2002. She was the only acupuncture-school-trained ADS (AcuDetox Specialist) on-ground at St. Vincent’s Hospital’s Integrative Stress Management (ISM) clinic in New York for 5.5 of the six years of the clinic's operation. She treating survivors in the wake of 9/11 with a multi-disciplinary team. The ISM was one of the first hospital-based, holistic stress-management programs in the world and has been widely researched and replicated internationally. 

Areas of clinical specialization: Non-pharmacological pain and stress management. Acute stress disorders, generalized anxiety, depression, panic attacks, PTSD, emotional trauma, community crisis response. 

She earned her doctorate in Acupuncture from Pacific College of Health & Science and a Master of Science from Tri-State College of Acupuncture. She completed her AcuDetox training at Lincoln Recovery, training directly with NADA founder Dr. Michael O. Smith. She also had the fortune of studying with Dr. Mark Seem, founder of Acupuncture Physical Medicine, and with Kiiko Matsumoto. 

Dr. Kim has two decades of advanced training and practice in: Traditional Chinese Medicine, multiple acupuncture styles, dry needling, trigger point therapy, neuromuscular acupuncture, electroacupuncture, and manual therapies such as cupping, gua sha, kinesio taping, moxibustion, and  cold/hot contrast therapies. 

Nationally board certified and dually licensed in CT and NY, she has owned and operated private acupuncture practices in Union Square, NYC, and Westport, CT.

During her teens through 30s', she completed Zen monastic training in the U.S. and overseas, studying directly with a Korean Zen Master and international monks. She became an acupuncturist at the urging of her Zen teachers.

She holds several certifications in clinical hypnotherapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction through the Yale Stress Center and Mindful Schools. Her immersive lived experience and contemplative mind-body training give her rare listening depth and perceptive skill in the healing arts. 

Dr. Kim created Ancestral Acupuncture, an original clinical framework that integrates acupuncture informed by Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems model and Bert Hellinger’s Family Constellations work. 

She recently served on the NCBAHM Artificial Intelligence Taskforce, advising on ethical AI education and adoption and contributing to national policy guidance for the acupuncture and herbal medicine professions across North America.

Drawing on her extensive clinical experience, Dr. Kim trains a new generation of practitioners in AcuDetox, integrative medicine, and clinical stress management delivery.

Spring 2026 - Dr. Kim is on sabbatical. 

Autumn 2026 - Dr. Kim is in the process of completing 50 Forgiveness Walks and launched AcuRitual Forgiveness Clinic. Our new core mission is empowering people to forgive and heal. We support clients during the forgiveness journey with  our nearly 25 years of evidence-based, integrative stress management expertise. 

Affectionately known as
Dr. Kiki Kim