Susan's story
Susan Kersey, RN, found the path of holistic health and wellness as an antidote to personal, familial experiences of the limitations of modern medicine. At the age of 15, she met the late Otis Woodward, a psychiatrist in Albany, Georgia. He was a rare example of a mental health professional who did not believe in using pharmaceuticals. When he became a family member’s doctor, he and Susan opened a conversation that would continue along the course of a lifelong friendship. “His insights and directions changed the way our family lived our lives,” she says. “He enabled us to break free of many chains we carried from past generations.”
Woodward’s influence would definitively shape her own belief in a holistic course of healing. She recalls an important awareness from that time that she carries today: “Change brings more change if allowed.” “This event was my real awakening about what mental health means,” she says, noting the importance of being whole unto oneself emotionally and able to fully function in the world.
In the 1980s, Susan became a mother, and joined the increasing numbers of women who were returning to breastfeeding their infants. After she stopped breastfeeding, however, her son developed severe environmental allergies. “By three years of age, he was on so much medicine it affected his behavior and thinking processes,” she says. “Increasingly concerned, I was determinedto find alternatives.”
She worked with herbs, homeopathy, flower essences, chiropractors, and nutrition, ultimately finding ways to address her son’s severe environmental allergies without medications. Though he would eventually outgrow the allergies, she learned how critical it is to take charge of one’s health.
The worst day of her life came on her birthday in 1990, when her son fell off his bicycle and suffered a dangerous closed head injury at age six. Susan spent three agonizing days waiting to see if he would survive the ordeal.
“Spirit brought me to my knees and held my heart for an awakening that could only come through tragedy,” she says. “Spirit works in so many ways, and I had to find out about listening to what Spirit had to say.” Due to a religious upbringing, Susan had little tolerance for organized religions. But she recognized her son’s recovery without any permanent damage as a miracle and a blessing. “What I did not realize was I had cut Spirit from my life. This experience opened wide the door to Spirit in a way that was totally unknown to me.”
Her life changed as she became increasingly devoted to holistic health, becoming certified in practices such as Healing Touch and Brain Gym. Simultaneously, she earned a living as a nurse and taught nursing students. Then came the day that she couldn’t continue to teach an approach to western medicine in which she no longer had faith. “With each passing day, I found more practices in Western Medicine that I found very hard to stomach,” she says. “But, if my students were interested, I could fill in those spaces so that they would be more holistic in their knowledge.” With the lines between holistic and allopathic approaches to healing clearly defined, she walked a fine line between two worlds. Once, she was formally reprimanded for talking about herbs with her students. “I enjoyed burning that document when I retired,” she says.
The Medicine Woman Mystery School is the culmination of Susan’s broad range of experiences in holistic health. The ensuing Medicine Woman Circle tradition constitutes her original contribution as a healer and a high priestess in the lineage of Nicole Christine. Her personal, professional, and spiritual experiences have brought her to a place of wholeness from which she mentors other women, priestesses, and healers. Today, she remains committed to empowering each person with whom she works to make optimal decisions for health, wellness and life.
Woodward’s influence would definitively shape her own belief in a holistic course of healing. She recalls an important awareness from that time that she carries today: “Change brings more change if allowed.” “This event was my real awakening about what mental health means,” she says, noting the importance of being whole unto oneself emotionally and able to fully function in the world.
In the 1980s, Susan became a mother, and joined the increasing numbers of women who were returning to breastfeeding their infants. After she stopped breastfeeding, however, her son developed severe environmental allergies. “By three years of age, he was on so much medicine it affected his behavior and thinking processes,” she says. “Increasingly concerned, I was determinedto find alternatives.”
She worked with herbs, homeopathy, flower essences, chiropractors, and nutrition, ultimately finding ways to address her son’s severe environmental allergies without medications. Though he would eventually outgrow the allergies, she learned how critical it is to take charge of one’s health.
The worst day of her life came on her birthday in 1990, when her son fell off his bicycle and suffered a dangerous closed head injury at age six. Susan spent three agonizing days waiting to see if he would survive the ordeal.
“Spirit brought me to my knees and held my heart for an awakening that could only come through tragedy,” she says. “Spirit works in so many ways, and I had to find out about listening to what Spirit had to say.” Due to a religious upbringing, Susan had little tolerance for organized religions. But she recognized her son’s recovery without any permanent damage as a miracle and a blessing. “What I did not realize was I had cut Spirit from my life. This experience opened wide the door to Spirit in a way that was totally unknown to me.”
Her life changed as she became increasingly devoted to holistic health, becoming certified in practices such as Healing Touch and Brain Gym. Simultaneously, she earned a living as a nurse and taught nursing students. Then came the day that she couldn’t continue to teach an approach to western medicine in which she no longer had faith. “With each passing day, I found more practices in Western Medicine that I found very hard to stomach,” she says. “But, if my students were interested, I could fill in those spaces so that they would be more holistic in their knowledge.” With the lines between holistic and allopathic approaches to healing clearly defined, she walked a fine line between two worlds. Once, she was formally reprimanded for talking about herbs with her students. “I enjoyed burning that document when I retired,” she says.
The Medicine Woman Mystery School is the culmination of Susan’s broad range of experiences in holistic health. The ensuing Medicine Woman Circle tradition constitutes her original contribution as a healer and a high priestess in the lineage of Nicole Christine. Her personal, professional, and spiritual experiences have brought her to a place of wholeness from which she mentors other women, priestesses, and healers. Today, she remains committed to empowering each person with whom she works to make optimal decisions for health, wellness and life.
