We are all Healers

We are all Healers

It was funny, I was listening to What Happened to You? Conservations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Dr. Perry and Oprah, and one small phrase had me wracking my brain, and making new connections.

The Line was, “We are healers”. An Indigenous healer from New Zealand had told Doctor Perry this when he was working in a clinic there. Originally, he thought the woman was talking about the two of them. Later, he came to understand that the woman was talking about the community.

When I heard this story, my brain lit up. I immediately thought of our innate ability to heal ourselves. Of course, we are all healers! Of course, everyone has the capability to heal and help others heal because that is what people do. They heal. They form community and help their people through struggles. It doesn’t matter if you have a doctor in front of your name or certifications.

Humans have the ability to heal and therefore are healers. If we get a cut, our cells will form a scab, the scab will fall off and leave our skin healed. We all have this ability. So after this wonderful realization made e critically analyze what being a healer really means.

I take pride in my abilities as a healer. What do I really mean when I say healer then? I came to one logical answer. My job as a healer is to help facilitate growth and change the old patterns keeping people in pain. Essentially, I am a highly trained tour guide as the person sitting in front me heals themselves.

I unconsciously was still attributing my identity to being able to heal people. When I found out that didn’t make me special, I took a deep dive into my ego. This was the first time I really knew, in my heart, that I am a compassionate, loving and kind tour guide. Doesn’t matter what letters come after my name. I am not THE healer.

My self-worth isn’t wrapped up in what I can do for people. My self-worth stems from who I am as a human being; kind, compassionate, sarcastic, spicy, playful, intelligent, wise, and so many more beautiful qualities. This was another layer of my trauma physiology and mentality coming up to be healed.

High functioning over achievers and perfectionists run the limiting belief that I am valued for what I can provide and do for others. Cancel, Cancel, cancel that non-sense. I am valued for who I am!

A lot of stress released that I was still carrying around unconsciously. It is not my responsibility to heal the world. It is my responsibility to guide and train people to more effective healers so they can continue to heal themselves.

I cannot make someone heal. I cannot force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. I can facilitate and help them with different tools that will make them kickass healers. This means that my patients and clients need to step up for themselves. Take back what they are actively trying to project on me.

They need to step into being their own healer. I need to better facilitate their growth, motivate them to be an active participant in their healing, bring awareness to their amazing value, she light on their self-worth that they have forgotten and stand in their magnificence when they can’t see it for themselves. That job description is a very different one than healer.

What just shifted for you? What do I need to know? What questions do you have? Book in a Zoom tea and let’s discuss! I would love to hear what you have to say!

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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Shaping Our Neurology

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Shaping Our Neurology

I am a huge fan of audiobooks, and the last one I listened to was, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Dr. Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey.

I was shocked when they talked about Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs and the impact they have on forming neurotypical pathways, behavioural responses and our ability to self-regulate. I first heard of ACEs during a mental health conference I attended years ago. They talked about ACEs being linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use problems in adulthood. ACEs can also negatively impact education, job opportunities, and earning potential.

The CDC defines ACEs as potentially traumatic experiences that occur in childhood (0- 17 years old). In What Happened to You? Dr. Perry talks about how early a child experiences a traumatic event is more predictive of chronic health problems, mental illness or substance abuse. This was fascinating, and a little frightening when I discovered this.

As a mother of a three year old, who had a hard time adjusting to the demands of motherhood, I felt guilty. A part of me was relying on the fact my child wouldn’t remember the struggles I had during my transition from Maiden into Mother. I never thought of the impact of my husband going to Iqaluit for a month right after my child was born, would shape his neurology more so, than the months he has been separated from his father when he was a toddler.

The earlier the exposure matters more than the length of the exposure in terms of likelihood of developing maladaptive behaviours. Now, the human brain is extremely flexible. Our neuroplasticity means that we have the ability to change throughout our entire life. We can change the way we are wired.

Yes, our childhood and ACEs will shape our neurology and our coping strategies. ACEs will activate the sympathetic nervous system to be on overdrive, leaving people to have short fuses, see the world as unsafe and live in chaos. What is really important is that you can change that. There are ways to heal from past traumas. That wiring doesn’t have to dictate your life.

Just because there is a link to chronic disease, substance abuse, low income, and a multitude of other consequences, doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. It means that we have to look at different strategies when dealing with children or adults that come from trauma. It means that working with the deepest structures of the brain is mandatory. Being part of a community that helps you get over the hurdles is mandatory.

As a person that checked off all the ACEs except for my parents getting divorced, I can tell you that change is possible. That finding that inner quiet and changing your behaviours to get you where you want to go, is easier than you think.

Every interaction and relationship you experienced shapes your brain structure. We like it when those interactions and experiences are healthy. They lead to neurotypical pathways. Make no mistake, it does not matter your background, there is always hope for a brighter future.

If you suffered from any past trauma and want to start living the life you have always dreamed about, book a discovery call with me right now. I promise you there is always a way to get to where you want to go!

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Re-defining Individualized Healthcare

Re-defining Individualized Healthcare

How often does a textbook case walk into your office? Do your patients say, “I’ve been diagnosed with multiple conditions”? How many hours have you spent searching the internet to find the diagnosis that fits most of the symptoms?

You rarely get a textbook case walking into your office, and sometimes their symptoms seem random and unrelated. People are different. They experience the exact same medical condition differently.

Take someone with anxiety. There are many different manifestations of anxiety. Some people will overeat to comfort themselves; others will stop eating all together. Some people will have constipation, others chronic diarrhea, and still others will experience bouts of diarrhea and constipation. Even the way they experience their own anxiety can change and morph over time as they evolve.

The way we experience our reality will shape the way we interact with the rest of the world. This is true of our medical conditions. This is why, individualized healthcare as gained popularity in the last few years. It took into consideration our individual needs and our unique intricacies.

I would like to take this one step further. Each symptom that we experience is a message for us to learn from. That message is individualized to the person who is experiencing it. People who are experience heart palpitations would have different lessons to learn from the exact same symptom.

One may need to deal with their past childhood abandonment issues that left them feeling unworthy of love, another patient may need to deal with tendency to control the world around them. Guiding them to feel empowered on their healing journey has very different sets of actions and tasks. Yet the same supplementation and dietary recommendations would be indicated.

The areas that we need to spend more time on are different in every single case, if you want their healing to be truly transformative. Someone with anxiety may need to find their own place to live in order to facilitate their healing. Others may need to get a roommate. Each of these options requires different strategies and resource management.

When you make healthcare so individualized it takes into account patients’ unconscious programming, you change the entire health paradigm. You gain deeper insight into your patients’ unique needs and create more effective treatment plans. This also increases patient compliance and drastically changes their health.

We know that the body does what the mind commands. You train your patients to change the way they think and how their mind responds to stimuli, their body naturally follows. You teach them to listen to those slight changes in their physiology so they can respond in healthy way.

This is simpler than it may seem. This level of individualized care happens when you integrate neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy, Timeline Therapy, and NLP Results coaching into your practice.

Adding these tools will transform your practice and allow you to re-define the meaning of individualized healthcare.

What questions do you have? What has shifted? What as-has have come up? Book an Zoom tea with me I would love to hear what you have to say. Click the link below and book your time, right NOW!