A Washington State Department of Health investigation is continuing into the work of Bethany Barnes, according to a department spokesman.

Barnes offers pain management services to islanders. The department is investigating her for practicing without a license at the office she established last year on Vashon.

“This is not an easy or quick process,” David Johnson, public information officer for the health department, said in a recent email to The Beachcomber.

Barnes, who has presented herself as a medical doctor but said she practices naprapathy, was reported to the health department after a number of islanders became concerned about the experience and credentials she cited on her website. An investigation was launched after state Sen. Sharon Nelson’s (D-Maury Island) office became involved.

Barnes, who last month said that she hadn’t done anything wrong and just wanted to help people, noted that the practice of naprapathy does not require a license in Washington. However, it was concern over the multiple references to herself as a medical doctor and in one case, as an osteopath, that led the health department to open its investigation.

Johnson said that Barnes did respond to the health department by the Jan. 3 deadline she’d been given.

The Beachcomber will continue to update this story as it develops.