Gillian P., Geraldton, Northern Ontario.
At present I work as a Mental Health and Addictions Counselor for North of Superior Counseling Programs based in Geraldton, in Northern Ontario. I have worked there since we moved here from Scotland in 2010. In Scotland I worked as a Service Coordinator for Turning Point Scotland at their new criminal justice service. TPS supported women to find the root causes of their offending, much of which was trauma related.
I was a manager there for 3 years and before that a front line worker. I worked directly with the women who would offend to fund their addiction problems. The manager at this service was an amazing woman who taught me a lot about the holistic aspect of us as human beings, and she was always open to us finding more caring ways to help the women and staff in any beneficial way.
During my seven years there I learned Indian Head Massage, Full Body Massage- with anatomy and physiology, and Auricular Acupuncture. I have taken a first degree level training in Reiki, and I am a registered AcuDetox Specialist here in Canada, so holistic therapies have been a big part of my life for over 10 years.
My experience with depression that has been in and out of my adult life enabled me to learn what I need to do to try and keep my mood from dropping. I have been taking anti-depressant medication for years. In May 2013 I was burnt out and had to take 3 weeks off work, at this time I was on 40mgs of Fluoxetine and 150mgs of Wellbutrin. But I was very unhappy with taking drugs by this time, so I reduced and stopped taking anti-depressants in June 2013, not because I felt better, but because I hated what they did to me. They don’t lift your mood, they stop you feeling anything, good or bad.
So I have really struggled with my mood this past summer, but for the past 12 weeks I have felt better, the tears are flowing freely.
I have become frustrated with the way we are ‘fed’ drugs, foods, lifestyles, and diets. If we look a little closer these things are not good for us, they are about money and greedy companies keeping us ill and fat so we use the drugs, eat the food, buy the diets and lifestyles and pay for it all with our money but more importantly with our health. Before I went off work in May I began to suffer from dermatitis on my face and experienced migraines. On visiting my nurse practitioner I was given drugs for both with no mention as to why I was getting these problems. This made me more annoyed and I wanted to learn more about my worries.
So I researched migraines and somehow found information about homeopathy. I thought this sounded like a treatment option I can take. Homeopathy looked at the person as a whole and the remedies are gentle.
Now I want to learn homeopathy so I can pass on my knowledge to others so that they, (and I), can be truly well and healthy without harmful drugs and their damaging effects. I have a passion for helping people and seeing them succeed and live good lives.