I’m so happy you are here.

Hey Friends!

Just a Nurse

You’ve heard that right? Maybe you’ve even said it when someone asks you what you do.

But here’s the thing… YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE.

And so am I.  Yes, I am a nurse; I’m also a mother, a wife, a daughter, a musician, an advocate, a speaker, an influencer, a yogi… the list goes on, but those are just the roles I play in this life.

Who I am is much much deeper than that.

Do you know who you are beyond the roles you play?

The journey of self excavation is life long and some will never even start to ask questions to find out who they authentically are under all the labels and descriptions and beliefs. But this is the ultimate quest of joy, passion, freedom and fulfillment, and one I am excited to be called to in my life.  It’s an exploration of who I truly am and WHY I am here on this earth in this life in addition to the important roles I play.

Finding my light

In 2016 I decided I had hidden for long enough. I had worn the perfectionism, superior performance, and the martyr masks for too long and it was time to shed the armour and face my fears. From as early as my teenage years I had developed the beliefs that my value and my worth was based on my ability to perfectly perform and that asking for help was a weakness. I created this belief and lived it like it was the truth. Anything short of perfect would open a door for the world to see my flaws.

Sound familiar? Know any nurses who fit this bill?

It was exhausting and empty.

Coming out of this hiding was terrifying. It involved me taking a long look in the mirror and confronting my past, including my traumas, my beliefs, my fears, and mostly my years of buried and stuck emotions. But, under all of the fear and self doubt what I’ve found is my light, the truest essence of the powerful being that I am. And now that I have assumed my rightful position as the leading guide of my life, nothing seems impossible. Opportunities seem limitless. Failure is an inevitability and I don’t fear it anymore. I am in control. I run this ship of my life and it’s up to me to steer it in the right directions. I don’t believe I need to BE perfect, because I believe I AM perfect, with all my flaws and fuck ups and highly sensitive & emotional personality. All traits I used to be ashamed of and believed made me less than, weak, and worthless, that I now embrace and love as parts of what make me, me. Living full self acceptance and authentic truth has allowed me to dropped my armor and my masks and find the freedom I had been craving.

What you see is what you get so hang on tight because I’m pretty freakin awesome.

“Before joining the Nurse Rx Program with Sandra I didn’t know I was numbing and blocking my pain. I was pushing through and ignoring my emotions out of pride. I was very skeptical starting out but knew I had to do something different and this program was more helpful than anything else I’ve done. So much acceptance, understanding, coming together and growth, Sandra is amazing and wonderful.”

Training and Certifications

I became a Registered Nurse in Canada in 2006 after completing my Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from The University of Manitoba and spent nearly half of the time since caring for sick infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’s in Winnipeg MB and in Prince George BC. Although I loved working for those beautiful babies and their families I was burning out fast.  The shift work, understaffing, unreasonable expectations while at work and then trying to balance having a family at home I was so overwhelmed and exhausted.  I needed a change.

As I moved into Community Nursing I found a passion for teaching wellness and helping guide people to making informed empowered decisions in their lives.  I worked in a variety of settings over the years working with people experiencing diabetes and heart disease but felt like I was coaching these clients inside a box.  There was so much more that I could do with them but limited by management and budget restrictions.  I was frustrated, actually I was angry.  I became a nurse to really help people and affect positive change in the world and here I was handcuffed and trapped. I knew that I was meant to do more in this life, I was exhausted, unfulfilled, frustrated, and unsure what to do.

After my last son was born in 2017 my self discovery journey catapulted and I decided that I could do more for people, and in fact I could do a lot more for my nursing colleagues.  I wanted to have flexibility and an open opportunity to serve people in the ways that were aligned with my passions and my beliefs.

I completed my education as a Holistic Wellness Coach through the International Association of Wellness Professionals’ Wellness Coach Certification Program. The IAWP is an international organization that supports and trains holistic professionals and coaches to create wellness careers in order to inspire people to make healthy changes.

The problem with most health and wellness programs today is that they’re narrowly focused on one area of wellness (whatever that expert’s specialty happens to be).

My holistic approach teaches that one imbalance in your life can create an imbalance in another area. So you’ve got to address the whole you. Because that relentless feeling of sadness may be an indicator of lack of purpose. And that may be caused by your stressful career. And that can impact your relationships as well as your health choices. In this case, your emotions, your purpose, your career, your relationships and other health behaviors are all interconnected.

See it’s not necessarily that you need to change your career because a lot of those imbalances in the other areas of your life will still be there. An alternative approach to start balancing those other areas and see what kind of impact it has on your career.

I’m not out here to encourage people to leave the profession of nursing because we need nurses.  I need them, you need them, our parents, friends, family, everyone, we all need nurses.  But the reality is that nurses are leaving at a much higher rate than ever before because of exhaustion, overwhelm, burnout, depression, and so much more.  But it is my belief that if we can start to create change in the other areas of our life we can return ourselves to the passion that we first entered nursing with.

In 2019 I became Certified as an Aroma Freedom Practitioner after recognizing a gap in my services I want to offer to my coaching clients.  The cornerstone of the coaching I offer and the content I teach, is on our mental and emotional health and well-being.  Deeply connected to that is learning to let go and fully unleash yourself to reclaim joy, freedom, and passion in your life… but how can someone accomplish this if they have the many layers of fears, limiting beliefs about themselves and their worth, painful heavy stuck emotional energy and so much doubt that blocks their way.  Aroma Freedom is a simple and extremely effective technique to dissolve these limiting beliefs and overcome fears and doubts.  AFT is a psychologist developed step by step process for identifying and releasing negative thoughts, feelings, and memories that interfere with reaching our goals and dreams.  It is meant to be used as a way to set a person’s emotional energy flowing in a positive direction, towards growth and expansion rather than contracting in fear, doubt, and paralysis. As a practitioner I am certified to guide others through the process and set them free from the subconscious beliefs that are standing in their way of living the authentic passionate life they desire.

In 2019 I also became a Certified Meditation Facilitator.  This training took me completely by surprise.  I thought it was going to be a step by step process like so much of our western ways have taught us, but it wasn’t. It was so much more.  The training allowed me to deeply explore who I truly am and discover many insights about myself and my beliefs and behaviors.  It reconnected me with the inner knowing that has always been there to guide me. It opened up a deep welcoming and acceptance of my emotional experiences and my empathetic sensitivity. It taught me the importance of a daily meditative practice as well as techniques to guide myself and others.  Meditation is a powerful and underestimated tool of self discovery that is essential and non-negotiable in any holistic wellness program.

In 2019 (a big year for me obvs) I also discovered Kundalini Yoga and Meditation.  The powerful impact it almost immediately had on my emotions was profound.  The changes I began to feel to my energy, my clarity, my confidence, my trust, was palpable.  Kundalini changes your energy inside.  It is the Yoga of your potential using specific postures and movements to unlock the blocked energy in your body and rebalance and realign your energy for you to live your life fully expressed.  Its the Yoga of unleashing yourself fully and completely.  After completing my certification in 2020 I am now bringing this powerful physical practice to both my community and my clients.

Until you start working with actual people we really aren’t aware of how much trauma everyone has experienced in their lives.  Nurses and Women are at the top of the list of people who have been victimized in many sometimes subtle ways.  Trauma is not about the experience and it can’t be compared with others. Trauma is about the experience inside of you.  Trauma is about the neurological, hormonal, and energetic responses and reactions that occur inside of your body and mind that get stuck and unprocessed.  Working through trauma involves accessing the body and listening to it’s wisdom.  It involves created a safe supported space in the present to process the trauma of the past.  The 4 part training that I have undergone has not only solidified and affirmed what I was already doing with myself personally but expanded my awareness of people’s profound experiences and gave me additional tools to help support myself, my family, and of course the clients I work with.

The journey of life is unpredictable.

Over my years I’ve learned from some of the most renowned health and wellness experts, including IAWP Faculty Members Dr. Bernie Siegel (Wellness Pioneer), Dr. Stephen Rechtshaffen (Co-Founder of the Omega Institute), Sally Fallon Morrel (Traditional foods expert), Marci Schimoff (World renowned transformational teacher), Dr. Benjamin Perkus (Aroma Freedom Technique Founder), Jon Martin (Shamanic Healer), Heidi Hirdaya (Meditation Teacher & Guru), Gloria Latham (Kundalini Yoga Teacher), Alyson Quinn (Trauma Counsellor & UBC Professor) and my beloved friend badass and business coach Megan Jo Wilson (Rockstars Rising), as well as many other leading experts.

Who knows what else is in store!!

The journey of life is unpredictable. With openness and clarity the opportunities are limitless. Trust in yourself and the roads will all lead you in the right direction. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Feeling called to do more as a nurse? Ready to share your passion for Wellness with the world on your own terms?

Discover what it takes to become a successful Holistic Wellness Coach with the IAWP