Courtney “Crow” Carag: Healing Denver’s Marginalized Communities

Health and healing are both major sources of power, and major problems in the queer community. For many LGBTQ folks, these things can also be cause for frustration and fear. Doctor Courtney “Crow” Carag, a specialist in acupuncture, is committed to making sure that the community is served medically, even if they don’t have the resources to pay for medical services.

Carag is co-owner of Community Care Collective, a local group of medical professionals who are committed to providing care at a reasonable price, and getting resources to those who need them. Her group specifically seeks to help marginalized individuals, including people of color, low-income people, and members of the LGBTQ community.

“Something unique about our collective is that to share our space there are a couple of things you have to agree on,” she explained. “Providers have to be queer- and trans-competent in their care, which unfortunately is quite rare in a lot of instances, or not common enough. One of our other requirements is that you volunteer a few hours a month; that ensures that we can provide access to people who otherwise couldn’t afford it or wouldn’t come in.”

As a medical practitioner and ally, Carag finds a balance between making a living and giving back the best way she knows how. Although Community Care Collective is an affordable option rather than a free one, she does her best to ensure that prices are reasonable for clients. She offers group session acupuncture, a more affordable option where those receiving treatment stay clothed and sit together in recliners while they are healed. Pricing is as low as $25-50 a session for some of the options.

Carag also realizes that even those who have the funds to afford the care they need might be seeking help from her because they have been mistreated by the health care professionals they put their trust in. This is often because of hate and bigotry, but it can also be caused by a lack of understanding around the needs of queer people. In addition to offering up the resources that are gravely needed, Carag hopes to empower industry insiders to provide better care to LGBTQ individuals.

“My practice definitely focuses on serving any kind of margianizlied communities, especially the LGBTQ community,” she said. “I focus a lot on health care, especially in the gay and trans communities, because that’s where I’ve seen the most appalling lack of access, refusal of care, and absolutely incompetent care. I see a lot of negativity, lack of understanding, outright hate, so I do what I can in that realm. I also see that there’s a much larger gray area, or what I consider a gray area, where things can go horribly wrong, but it is in fact because of ignorance; it is lack of training, people who don’t know what they are talking about in one realm. We want to educate more and talk to more people and definitely provide care, but also educate different people in the community, including providers, just to be more competent in their care so they have more to offer.”

When it comes to offering help to those who struggle with getting care or have had a bad experience, she tries to be as patient and understanding as possible.

“One of the key pieces is creating safe space, so acknowledging their experience and how negative and wrong it was, and also asking what they need,” she explained. “A lot of times it’s ‘I didn’t get this done because this person didn’t help me.’ Essentially, this is ‘how can I learn to be better?’ I don’t have all the answers and I haven’t walked anyone else’s path, but I like to try to find out what else could be done and what they need, and I will try to provide, whether it is a referral or offering care myself.”

Although many are worried about the current political climate and its effect on health care, Carag is focused on making the best of things and making her services as affordable as possible. Because of this dedication to the health and wellbeing of our community, Carag is a 2017 Power Winner and celebrated community advocate.