I have always been a nurse-educator. I taught Holistic Nursing for Western Michigan University; helped WMU become a certified holistic nursing curriculum. Taught energy-based therapies nationally and internationally since 1995 both for health providers and lay persons.

My passion is to empower persons to understand how possible it is to be more well through lifestyle choices. I believe TCC allows persons to “come home to themselves”—without talking, without engaging in the dominant culture’s “power over” mentality. I see my “job” as helping other’s create the space for them to do what is theirs to do, in  life-affirming ways.

I started out in public health nursing and have always had a passion and drive to help communities be healthy by helping individuals become more healthy. As part of my joy as a Family Nurse Practitioner, I became an Energy Medicine Specialist and then Lymphedema Therapist in the 1990s. I’m passionate about the role mind-body-spirit has in creating health-and dis-ease.  I’ve been in leadership positions throughout my 45+yrs of nursing to teach, promote, live a life based on “relationship-centered-care”. There have been amazing mentors in my life to help me appreciate the role of Caritas Consciousness (Jean Watson, RN, PhD… Theory of Human Caring); Janet Mentgen, RN and Delores Krieger, RN, PhD, introduced me to Energy-based therapies and I’ve never left the world of bio-energetic therapies; Jeffrey Bland, PhD and the world of Functional Medicine-looking at what the underlying imbalances are that create dis-ease; Michael Smith, MD, who gave me the gift of knowing and practicing 5-NP ear acupuncture for a myriad of conditions. In 2022 I became a certified Cannabis Nurse thanks to American Holistic Nurses Association and then with world renowned cannabis physician, Dustin Sulak, DO. I’m deeply grateful for learning about the Endocannabinoid System and its essential necessity in creating wellness.

I believe everyone is entitled to know how to be more well. And when given the tools and the resources, can make life-affirming choices for themselves–and that benefits all of us.

My career in community health has given me great appreciation of the health disparities our culture creates. I see how deliberately those in power have worked to keep persons “different” from becoming whole and well. I see it in health services, food production and distribution, media, curriculums in education,….seemingly everywhere. Our western model of allopathic medicine that emphasizes 1 pill for 1 symptom, is illogical when you realize we are a dynamic electromagnetic being. My most emphatic example of this system of thinking is in my own family. I lost my oldest sister to suicide during the 70s…when drugs seemed to be the best “shiny bullet” to “fix” someone’s bodymindspirit….prozac helped her check out–and from that time onward I’ve been committed to helping others find integrative ways to heal.

TCC is one of the most effective, efficient and POSSIBLE integrative movement programs I’ve found.

If you’re ever in Beautiful Southwest Michigan, on the coast of Lake Michigan, come to a TCC class and renew your zest for life with us.

Barbara