EP 84 - Updates on the last 7 months

I left you hanging back in March. I am so sorry!  

We are back with a brand new look and in this episode I share what has been going on in my world for the last 7 months. 

Transcript

Sabrina Rogers  0:00  
It has been a hot minute since I have been in your ears. Let me just first say, I'm really sorry for letting the podcast go for seven months. I also recognize that that was probably the best decision for myself, and both personally and professionally at the time. So today, I'm gonna just walk you through a little bit of what has been going on with me. For the past seven months, I think I shared some of it, health wise stuff. Towards the beginning of the year. In January, I started to have a lot of gastro distress. We won't go into all the details, because you don't need to hear all of that. But it was pretty miserable. So by the time March rolled around, I had promised myself that if by my birthday, things hadn't improved, that I would call the doctor, because I really, really dislike going to the doctor and being told, we don't know. We just wait for it to pass. I waited for it to pass for almost three months, and it didn't go away. So I went to the doctor. Long story short, she thought it was my gallbladder. I went through all of the testing. Turns out it wasn't my gallbladder than we thought it was. Some other I don't know what we thought it was, we thought it was a bunch of stuff. I went to the gastroenterologist specialist, and we did a lot of bloodwork and stool samples and got scheduled for a colonoscopy. That was a huge long wait, I contacted a dietician that specializes in gut health. We did this really big protocol, and I took a bunch of supplements. And I started to feel a little bit better. Honestly, I think the the biggest change of when I started to feel better was when I went off the Metformin back in March. And then after that things kind of got a little bit better. But not enough, it was still pretty miserable. So for the last seven months, I have been trying to figure out what in the world my body is trying to tell me. And as of what date was that Friday, Friday at the time of this recording. Maybe it was Thursday. It was Thursday. I don't know my days are all messed up. Anyway. So one of these days this last week, I was at home got a phone call from gastro anthropologist office and said, hey, guess what, you came back as positive for SIBO. So, now I am taking some antibiotics, which I will tell you have left me a very gassy. Oh, the choice as the bacteria in my gut dies off, both good and bad. But I generally have balanced good bacteria in my gut, so it will come back. Fingers crossed. This helps. And all of my distress goes away. And I can start eating without pain and discomfort again. Because y'all I really miss some foods. I do. I miss them. So knowing that I had been very uncomfortable for a long time, and a lot of days back in February, March, April, May. It was all I could do to get through my counseling and coaching sessions. And the thought of sitting at my desk and recording and prepping for a podcast just it wasn't happening. And it was the one thing I could let go of. Unfortunately, that left a lot of you wondering what in the world is going on and missing these weekly episodes. So here we are, we are back. And better than ever. Knock on wood. Hopefully this is better than it was before. Because we're constantly evolving and growing. But I've got a couple changes up my sleeve to reflect what's going on in my life professionally. So you might have noticed that we've rebranded the podcast name to health harmony, which is also the agency clinic name that I have in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Professionally, some of the updates is I have switched from a solo counseling practice to a group practice, which means I have started hiring other clinicians, both counselors and looking to bring on a dietitian, I have this huge vision of what health harmony is going to be in Iowa. And y'all get to kind of watch from the sidelines and behind the scenes because I'm gonna share some of that stuff with you as we grow So that means that I am going to bring on my employee, Robin duco, to be a co host for some of these sessions. We're not in counseling, their episodes. Y'all know me, I have been calling them sessions. My brain just goes there. Anyway, we are going to do some co hosting and four episodes, she is going to share her story and a lot more information because she, she's fresh. She has a different perspective than I do. And I'm really excited to bring her on in the future. What else? Oh, yeah, so the reason for switching to a group practice, which, honestly, I've gone back and forth on for a while. Part of me just really didn't want to do that. Because I didn't want to grow up a team. I didn't want to manage people. But I kept coming back to it. And so I figured I should probably entertain this because there's a reason my brain keeps giving it back to me. Late year 2022, I was only treatment facility for eating disorders closed, which was at the University of Iowa, they no longer have a program of specializing in residential treatment of eating disorders. So Iowa is sort of this wasteland. There is nothing, we have not really any intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization programs. Which means if you live in the state of Iowa, and you have a pretty severe eating disorder, you have to advocate with your insurance company to pay for something out of state, and then travel and stay out of state. Now, there's no way that I want to open and run a treatment center, both residential or inpatient. Not my thing, not my strength. But I got to thinking like what can I do to help not going to start a program not a treatment program? So what else can I do? Well, my answer was, I can start a teaching practice, I can transition to a group model I can take on other professionals within the state. And I can train them how to treat ethically and efficiently treat eating disorders and body image. So that one, we have more resources in the state. And then also big pipe dream, you know, looking several years, five years down the road, is if I can help treat other professionals to do what I do an eating disorder treatment center that's already established or somebody that wants to start it can come into Iowa, and they will have staff already trained ready to go. So it's kind of this way that I can help make our state a little more attractive, so that we can get more resources in Iowa because we are it is bad people it is very bad. So while also having all of these gastro issues and being highly uncomfortable and in pain, a lot of the time I used transitioning to a group practice and growing this group practice as a distraction. I am super excited about my first clinical hire Robin, she is

amazing. Yeah, she's great. I can't wait to meet her on one of these future episodes, we have this wonderful office space in the northeast side of Cedar Rapids. It's seven office suite. It just feel so good in there. So if you are in the Iowa area, or if you're driving through and you want to stop by and see the space, just shoot me an email and let's connect, let's get you in there so you can check it out. I have some goals for the future. In 2024, I would love to have at least three other counseling clinicians on board. So if you are a counselor in the state of Iowa, or you're interested in moving to the wonderful state of Iowa, and you want to come work with me, let me know. I'd love to chat with you. We're taking on interns from area counseling practices and social work practices. And in 2024, one of the other big goals that I have is bringing on a dietitian, because I think it's just invaluable to have somebody working with you, especially if you have disordered eating, eating disorder issues around food at all. To have somebody who knows the ins and outs of nutrition from a Health at Every Size Intuitive Eating approach, rather than all of this other diety BS that kind of gets thrown at us. One of the things that I was on my bucket list, vision board is incorporating the mind and the body together in our healing journey. And I stalked a yoga instructor for a while all be honest. She teaches at a place that I know in Cedar Rapids and just started to watch some of her stuff on social media, I reached out to her explained to her what I was doing, asked if she would come in and teach a yoga class for us. So I am excited to announce that the third Thursday of every month at 530, Lynn block with latitude yoga and fitness is coming in to do a 4550 minute yoga class with us. And it's all very trauma sensitive to there's no touch, we're going to be nice and gentle with ourselves with our bodies. And this is just another way for you to take that healing a little bit, both figuratively and literally deeper. So you can check out more information on social media or on the website. That stuff isn't on the website yet. I need to get that listed. But it will be there. So I'm really excited for everything that is coming up in this podcast and with the private practice. I'm excited to share it with you across the world, because we've got listeners from all over. Before I wrap up today. I just also want to remind you that as we move forward with the rest of the year as we go into 2024 If there are topics that you want us to cover on this podcast, you just let me know send me an email info at health harmony.com And I will make sure that we do some research and get you quality information. Whether that's Robert and I are getting on and talking about it, bringing on some sort of expert or other professional to talk about it. We are here to help you navigate your wellness journey. Figure out what health means to you. Embrace your body and Heal your mind. So until next time brand I wish you well