Our Mission
To provide empowering, effective, kind & caring treatments to all people. To create space for individuals to tune into their relationship with themselves and provide guidance, support and help where needed.
We believe in the body’s amazing capacity to recover and heal from any type of accident, condition or experience. We have witnessed miracles within our own bodies when attention, intention and care is provided…and we believe that the same is possible for everyone.
Our goal is to help you feel more peaceful and at ease within yourself as you return home, to a place of grounded health.
Meet Our Team
Jared Teschke
RMT & Certified Somatic Educator
Jared is deeply passionate about helping people feel more comfortable, relaxed and balanced in their body, while also instilling education, ideas and tools to help maintain the results achieved in a session.
Having a holistic approach to healing, he offers a conscious nudge to his treatments, cueing the clients first person perspective of “felt sense” to his assessments and treatments. He listens to your primary concerns & goals and then uses focused Massage Therapy and Thomas Hannah Somatics to retrain your muscles / nervous system. His sessions aim to release trauma responses, guarding from pain, or years of chronic muscle memory patterning. Throughout a session with Jared you can expect to be taught an easy and effective home-care exercise to help maintain your positive results.
Whether you are recovering from an injury or surgery, have whiplash from a car accident, or are seeking unwinding from lingering chronic tensions, Jared is able to help your body and mind feel more at ease.
Outside of practice Jared is a keen pool player, snowboarder, backcountry enthusiast, beach lover & musician.
Melanie Linka
R. AC & RMT
Melanie’s sessions aim to guide your nervous system to unwind and replenish, which ultimately supports the body’s innate healing capacity.
By weaving together Eastern & Western ideologies, she meets each person where they are in their journey of well-being. She addresses the underlying causes of disease, not just the symptoms, taking an individual “whole-person” approach to healing. Whether you are hoping to overcome physical tension and pain through an orthopedic lens, or alleviate systemic conditions such as stress, headaches, sleep, peri-menopause or digestive disorders (to name just a few) she is here to help you unfurl the layers of your unique and beautiful being.
She aims to create a safe enviornment where clients are involved in the treatment process and become educated and empowered to create positive lifestyle changes in their day to day life. She believes that we all deserve to feel a sense of ease and harmony in body, mind and spirit.
Nature is medicine to Melanie & time outside swimming, hiking, gardening, dancing, singing and enjoying special moments with loved ones is soul food!
Leslie Gunning
Healing Arts Practitioner & Ceremonialist
Leslie is a transformational midwife, folk herbalist and ceremonialist that brings a grounded and realistic spirituality into all of her work. She combines somatics, herbalism, shamanism, and intuitive energy work as she weaves over 20 years of experience of healing arts tailored to your needs. She listens deeply to you and your body and is devoted to working within the capacity of your nervous system.
Leslie is a midwife no longer attending births, having caught over 500 babies. She brings this quality of space holding, safety and care into her work.
She loves working with people who feel stuck and/or in transition for various reasons, who are in a healing crisis or deep on a healing journey and need extra support to gain perspective and depth. She has a gentle way of bringing the unconscious to the conscious so that her clients can gain more insight into what is happening and move towards wholeness.
She brings a multidimensional awareness to her work, meaning she looks beyond the here and now to see the threads of experience that extend to past lives and ancestral influences. She loves helping people with cord cutting/tending, personal boundaries, sovereignty issues and energetic attachments. The work closest to her heart is supporting women on their motherhood journeys, as the Rite of Passage into motherhood is fertile ground for healing and growth. She also offers spiritual and life mentoring, doula mentoring, and mentoring to other spaceholders looking to deepen and grow their intuitive capacities.
Email to book a free consultation: leslieanitagunning@gmail.com
Amy Tippenhauer
Counsellor, RCC
Amy’s integrative approach to counselling combines her knowledge of mental and nervous system health, nutrition, spirituality, and lived experience to form a well-rounded understanding of what it means to be human, viewing each individual as a whole with many interconnected parts.
She approaches each session with empathy, compassion, genuine curiosity, and humour to nurture the therapeutic relationship so you feel safe, supported and comfortable to share. Amy favours modalities such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), and Somatic Therapy to help you experience life with more easy and joy.
She believes that all humans have one thing in common – the deep desire to feel seen, heard and understood.
“It would be an honour to walk this path of self-exploration with you and wherever you’re at, I’ll meet you there”.
About us
Our Story
Warm greetings from Jared and Melanie, owners of Saratoga Wellness. We have recently relocated to the Saratoga Beach/Oyster River region after 8 cherished years of owning and operating Island RMT & Acupuncture in Cumberland, BC. Once our daughter came into our lives, it became clear that it was time to embrace our dream of creating a healing sanctuary outside of town, where we could offer our services surrounded by the calm, slower beat that the surrounding nature provides. We are honoured to offer a safe space that can feel like a retreat amongst the busyness of life.
What a joy it is to tend to our garden, as we settle on this land and new chapter of life. We mean this both literally and figuratively…as we continue to plant seeds, grow in our practices and evolve within ourselves, so we can better help those around us feel nourished, vital and able to thrive throughout this truly precious life.
We are so grateful to be a part of this beautiful community and in time, hope to create a collaborative multidisciplinary team, offer classes and workshops…and have a cozy wellness studio for short term retreat stays. We appreciate you landing here, and look forward to working with you soon.
Frequently asked questions
How should I book a session?
Generally online is a great way to boo!
If you are having issues finding a time that aligns with our schedule or are having any tech issues, feel free to email or call us.
Do treatments feel uncomfortable?
No, our sessions aim to keep your system feeling at ease and relaxed. Each person will appreciate a different amount of pressure or stimulation from pins…but we will clearly communicate about what feels effective to you, encouraging your feedback…and always listening to your needs.
Do you direct bill to insurance companies?
Yes, Melanie and Jared currently direct bill to Pacific Blue Cross, SunLife and all of the insurance companies under the Telus Health umbrella (about 20 insurance companies).
We do not currently direct bill for Green Shield, or ICBC.
How frequently should I book?
There are many factors that come into play when thinking about treatment frequency…mainly your wellness goals.
Factors such as the length of time you have been dealing with an issue, and the severity of symptoms also play a big part in this decision. Likely, finances and insurance coverage are also an important aspects to consider.
Our aim is to understand where you are at (the big picture) so we can come together and create an ideal treatment plan for you, in order to be the most effective we can be with your time, money and energy.
Are you apprehensive to receive acupuncture?
It is Melanie’s goal to make your acupuncture session as relaxing as possible. It is also possible to use no pins or only a couple of very gentle pins to allow the system to feel safe and at ease, while using other modalities such as cupping, tui na (TCM massage) or acupressure.
We are grateful to work, play and live in the beautiful region between the Oyster River & Saratoga Beach. We respectfully acknowledge that this is Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation.