HOW THIS WORK BEGAN

My story

I grew up in a cult.

The Mission: PERFECTION.

Armageddon was right around the corner, and I had to be ready for Jehovah's wrath unless I wanted to suffer a gruesome and violent death. Only the purest of heart, thought, and actions would make it out alive.

The Mission: FAILED.

My personal apocalypse: the Kingdom Hall, Friday night meeting announcements, right after the Bible study and practice preaching sessions. An Elder delivered a monotone, 5-word, life-changing judgment.

“Sister Dawn has been disfellowshipped.”

In that moment, I lost everyone I loved and considered family. They were forbidden to talk to me, look at me, even think about me. I was 19 years old.

I was born into the organization, so I didn't have a support structure outside of Jehovah's Witnesses. I was totally unprepared for life "in the world" emotionally, mentally, physically, and even financially.

Spiritually I was dead, or so they said. It definitely felt like it. I was filled with betrayal, grief, and shame.

I went numb. I partied hard. I gained 100 pounds that year and didn’t even notice.

I spent my twenties desperately trying to find someone to love me and a place to call home.

Ironically, I felt the most connected when I was traveling by myself. I loved the feeling of going somewhere where no one knew me or my past.

Growing up, exploring the world was not an option unless I married a brother who wanted to be a missionary. Seeing the world on my terms was the closest thing to freedom I'd ever felt, and I had sacrificed so much for it.

I moved to Italy after college. Living la bella vita was a fresh start.

Maybe I wasn't the weird, fat Jehovah's Witness kid in horrible hand-me-down clothes.

Maybe I wasn’t a terrible person for leaving.

Maybe I could create a new identity and life for myself. Something more me. Something beautiful.

A decade later my heart was called to India. From Kerala to Delhi, I kept receiving the same message: God is love, I am love, we are all one, and my purpose was to heal myself and others.

I couldn’t wrap my brain around any of this. I felt so broken inside. Me, a healer? You must be joking. Have you seen where I come from?!?

And this God business... no thanks. I had been burned by that one. God and his judgments had created a whole lot of pain for me when my parents got divorced because my mom refused to stop being a Witness and later disowned me for leaving the organization. Screw God! No thanks.

Despite myself, even though I didn't understand it, something was lit inside of me in India.

When I got home, I dove into new age spirituality. I took intuitive development classes, bought crystals, tried to meditate, and began learning about the chakras.

I entertained the idea that I might have spirit guides and that there might be a greater purpose to my life.

I was scared out of my pants! The voices from my childhood said this was the work of the devil.

But I was also intrigued by the world of healing and metaphysics. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I wanted to learn about everything!

The more I learned, the more hopeful I felt about my future.

I took a Reiki healing class and learned Tapping.

More than anything, I wanted to be free.

For many years, all I did was focus on healing myself.

I began figuring out who I really was beyond the conditioning and discovering parts of me that I had to hide to survive as a Witness.

I started feeling less like a victim and acting more empowered in my relationships and career.

When I found the Akashic Records, I knew I had found my heart's home.

I began to heal the abuse, neglect, and betrayal of my childhood. I unraveled cult programming and negative self-beliefs.

I began to put myself back together piece by piece and rebuild myself from the core.

In time, I started sharing the tools that had such a profound impact on my life.

I started with Reiki and then reading the Akashic Records for others.

I paired it with a quantum healing modality I was studying at the time, and things took off. It turns out, I was a healer after all!

I started teaching people how to work with their soul's wisdom using the Akashic Records and how to heal themselves using Reiki.

Years later I opened a community healing center and began training and mentoring new healers.

Something in my heart kept pulling me toward working with survivors of and high control religion.

At that time, religious trauma and cult awareness hadn't hit the mainstream yet. Very few people were talking about it, and only a handful of people were providing services for survivors.

As my work developed, I began studying somatic healing and the impact of trauma on the body. I also started to investigate how the soul and consciousness interact with the physical as we evolve both individually and collectively. I became a student of the heart and its role in healing.

I continue to learn, grow and uplift parts of myself that were impacted by being born into a cult. I believe as humans, we will always continue to unfold.

What my own journey and that of my clients has shown me is that

No matter how disconnected you are, you can return home to yourself.