You might be asking yourself what type of students benefit most from learning this approach. I have attracted a wide variety of students, from housewives who had already experienced the power of amino acid therapy and wanted to learn more, to MDs certified in functional medicine, who needed help in putting it all together. And everybody in between!
Well, let me tell you a quick story about a specific person I helped.
Lisa had been a highly trained, licensed psychotherapist, specializing in trauma and addiction for many years. She was cutting back her hours at work due to burn-out and exhaustion.
I first met Lisa at a lecture I gave in Denver for counselors. She was intrigued by the information and wanted to learn more, so enrolled in the Amino Acid Therapy Level 1 Course.
Before she learned about the power of amino acids and food to support and speed up the healing process, Lisa worked hard using all her psychotherapeutic skills (and she had a lot!) with her clients to bring about change, but was often discouraged by how stuck they often seemed. Often, nothing she did seemed to make a big enough difference, long term.
It never occurred to her to feed her clients in session, or to ask what they were eating (or not!), because that had never been covered in school. She hadn’t been taught that the brain needs to be fed optimally in order to support the healing and recovery process, so she wondered if maybe she just wasn’t a good enough therapist. (or, “what more she could be doing”.)
So, I showed Lisa, as I show all my students, exactly what the brain needs in general to function optimally, and how to support her clients in making those crucial life-style changes. I also showed her how to assess for specific neurotransmitter and nutrient deficiencies, and personalize the protocol to each individual client. It made tremendous sense to her, as well as to her clients as she introduced them to this new way of thinking.
When I first met Lisa, she struck me as being very bright, and eager to learn whatever new skills she needed to, to meet her clients where they really were, and move them forward. She was ready for a change!
Once in my program, Lisa quickly started introducing her clients to all the nutrients she was learning about, and she was blown away to see how quickly they improved. And, not only did they improve rapidly, but in the Amino Acid Therapy Level 2 Advanced Course, she was able to identify and successfully address her own issues, such as Adrenal Stress and Candidiasis, thus replenishing her own vitality and motivation.
Fast forward to today and Lisa now has a new specialty, that of working with First Responders, and is powerfully helping them heal and enhance their own well-being, using ALL 3 legs of the recovery stool. This makes sense to them as well! She also continues to feel better as she identifies and supports her own health and well-being in an on-going way.
What a journey…
I’d love to hear from you about this. Does Lisa’s story resonate with you at all? Did you ever have any of the same frustrations Lisa had? By the way, where do you work, and do you have clients who relapse frequently or struggle with PAW symptoms? I’d love to know, especially because it’ll help me know more about my students and how I can help you achieve more in your practice and work with clients.
What to Look for In an Effective Addiction Treatment Program
Treatment has evolved in the last 40 years, since I got into the field. New knowledge and skill sets enrich program offerings and curriculums. And of course, high end programs are more able to diversify their programming than state run programs with less resources. That said, client needs more or less remain the same, across the board. This 4 part article attempts to list the elements which I consider to be optimal and even essential, across 4 domains: