Dr. Paul C. Copeland, M.S., D.O., the founder of Healing Pathways Medical Clinic Inc., is a board-certified psychiatrist with more than 25 years of experience practicing clinical psychiatry for children, adolescents and adults. He is a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association, and is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, the American Academy Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Osteopathic Association, the California Medical Association, and the Central California Regional Psychiatric Association. He also is a patron donor for the International Association for Yoga Therapists, and is on the leadership council for the National Association for Mental Illness.
Healing Pathways Medical Clinic satisfies a long-term vision that emerged when Dr. Copeland was traveling in India during his early formative years. He envisioned a fully integrated health clinic performing state-of-the-art comprehensive psychiatric care in conjunction with integrative holistic practices, using evidence-based therapies encompassing the developing field of Yoga therapy.
Raised in Northern California, Dr. Copeland underwent much of his professional training in the Sacramento Valley. He already had developed an interest in Eastern culture when he was an undergraduate student majoring in philosophy and divinity at the University of the Pacific, so he took the opportunity to study abroad in India. His fascination drew him to investigate the discipline of Yoga. The luminary Yoga teacher Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya recognized his zeal, and accepted Copeland as a student of Yoga. Honored by the privilege of receiving individual instruction from one of the world’s foremost Yoga masters, Copeland delayed his return to California and remained in India to continue his studies with Krishnamacharya. The introspective Yoga discipline led Copeland to his decision to enroll in medical school, become a psychiatrist and build a clinic for healing.
After returning to the United States, he enrolled as a pre-medical student at the University of California, Davis. Drawing upon his Yoga-inspired insights about the synchronous nature of mind-body interactions, he designed his own major, physiologic psychology, and became the first to graduate with that degree, with honors. While at UC Davis he pursued his interest in the growth and evolution of Yoga by working closely with Yoga apostles Rama Vernon, Judith Lassater and Mukunda Stiles. He became the first science editor for the Yoga Journal in the 1970s, began teaching Yoga — first locally, then statewide and nationally — and became published in the field . He also taught at the Institute for Yoga Teacher Education in San Francisco, one of the first early credentialing programs combining physiology and Western science with the discipline of Yoga.
He then went on obtain a master of science degree from UC Davis, where he focused his master’s thesis on the physiologic effects of certain Yoga practices. He was accepted into Osteopathic Medical School at the College Of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery at Des Moines University and graduated with honors with his D.O. degree. He completed a residency training program in adult psychiatry at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa. After completion of a two-year fellowship in child psychiatry in 1985, he became board-certified in psychiatry.
He and his wife, Linda —whom he had met at UC Davis — and their young family then returned to California, where they both initiated practice as physicians. Paul Copeland established a private practice and became involved in the Sutter Health System, a major statewide clinical and hospital system. He eventually became the Medical Director of the Sutter Health child care unit, Medical Director of the system’s child-adolescent unit, department Chief, and finally, Medical Director of all Sutter mental health units. He always held onto his long-term vision to operate a truly innovative clinic that integrates all evidence-based therapies — traditional medical therapies as well as evidence-based Yoga therapy. He achieved that dream by electing to step down from his many leadership positions and established Healing Pathways Medical Clinic in 2007. He practices Yoga daily, and the environment of the clinic is as upbeat, optimistic and hopeful as he is.
He thoroughly loves his work with children, adolescents and adults, whom he helps through his expertise in a wide variety of psychiatric disorders. Dr. Copeland is committed to using his expertise to help military personnel and their families. He has worked extensively with World War II and Vietnam veterans, and he has keen insights about the ways in which their post-traumatic stress disorder can affect entire family systems. He prides himself on his hard-earned, clinically superlative listening and clinical skills that have been exceptionally valuable in the service of others.
The clinic is and will continue to be a good corporate citizen, offering support for local agencies that help special-needs children with various disorders, including those who have autism and developmental disabilities as well as kids in need of special education. Healing Pathways also hosts a free clinic once each month for those in need.
