We caught up with the brilliant and insightful April Kline a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
April, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
One thing my parents really got right in raising me, was to allow me to spend most of my days out and about, on my own, in the small town where I grew up. Hours and hours of walking and biking every inch of the two-mile long town, in and out of friends’ houses, the library, the YMCA, the swimming pool, playing in construction sites and swimming holes, building tree houses and creeking. This time was the best education on how to problem solve, how to be brave, and how to be resilient. I think time on my own outdoors was the best possible way to develop my own belief system and build my faith.
All of that has served to make me a risk-taker in my adult life. I was only 19 when I moved to New York City with a suitcase and bedding in a garbage bag. Four years later, I was being prepped to take over a major fashion forecasting business, but decided to hang it up and start a Country & Western Swing band instead. While I was doing that, I was taking courses all over the world on massage, Shiatsu, Tai Chi, meridians, meditation, etc. While pregnant, I finished my massage therapy certification. After having my first baby, I decided I didn’t want anyone to ever go through as harrowing an experience as I had, so I decided to become a midwife. Nursing school was definitely not right for me though, so I went renegade and became a homebirth midwife in 2004. I finished my masters in midwifery and became a Certified Professional Midwife in 2010, and it all goes on from there. I have no training as a business person, yet I have started a dozen businesses over the years. I didn’t know what a P&L (Profit & Loss) sheet was, or how to write a business plan, but in 2023, I opened The Well with seventeen amazing careproviders offering a broad range of healthCARE services.
Looking back over all of this, it seems kind of crazy, but I wouldn’t change any of it. I have written my own story—always following my heart, digging deep into the things that interested me, and always finding ways to grow and helping others as much as I could along the way.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Most of the people who come through the hot pink front door of The Well, tell us that they immediately feel safe and welcome and seen in our space. I love this. It means I created exactly the environment I wanted to create: warm, beautiful, intelligent, open-hearted, and loving.
Most of the people who come through the door into my own office, tell me that three people told them they needed to come see me because they “have seen multiple practitioners and have tried everything, but nothing is working.” This is my favorite thing about my private practice: I get to dig deep with people and find the root of what has been holding them back, making them feel unwell, leaving them wanting something different… something more. I am always amazed by the tenacity of the people who find their way to me. They just *know* there is something they’ve been missing… and they refuse to give up until they figure it out. How lucky am I that I get to help these people become their healthiest, most vibrant selves.
All of the many and varied things I have done, all the things I have studied, and all the years of experience allow me to weave a unique healing opportunity for each individual, whether they are a newborn or an 80 year-old.
When people ask me *what* I do, I say, “I help people figure out how to be the best version of themselves they can be.” But then they want to know *how* I do that. And that question is harder to answer—because it is never the same from one session to the next. Some elements are always the same: deep listening and boundaried empathy. Beyond that, we lean into specific nutrition to support both physical and mental health, gut balancing, nervous system regulation, trauma resolution, somatoemotional release, lifestyle changes, lactation consultation, self love, relationship repatterning, etc. to create a pathway to whole person wellness.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
I think the most helpful thing for me has been ignorance. If I had not just jumped into the deep end on any of the things I’ve done in my life, I would have been stuck at the starting line for heaven knows how long, probably have gotten talked out of doing that thing, or grown overwhelmed or bored… It has definitely made a lot of work scrambling to keep up with myself, but it has never been anything but exciting and deep in the FLOW.
My seventh grade teacher made us read the Preface to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, and one line has stuck with me ever since:
“… go freely with powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and with the mothers of families—re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.”
This line has been a hallmark throughout my life: To be brave, even when I am afraid. To step forward boldly. To think open-mindedly, and to love deeply.
I hope that other people find their bravery more. I hope they don’t let business plans and voices of caution keep them from moving forward with their big visions.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I spent the early part of my career going above and beyond over and over. I had a radius of three hours around Dayton and drove thousands of miles, providing in-home midwifery care to hundreds of families. If a mom was in early labor and needed support, I would drive to the house, spend some time, then go to other appointments or go home to care for my own children, and then drive back once labor was really cooking. Sometimes this went on for days if the labor was long. Always though, there were monthly and then weekly visits until the birth, then the birth, and then 2-3 or more postpartum visits. Whew. It was a lot, but I loved it. I also loved helping in other ways like babies who were having a tough time figuring out how to breastfeed. These are time-sensitive things, births and babies, so I accommodated people’s schedules by seeing people at all hours of the day and night, This going above and beyond definitely helped establish the fact that I truly care, which is the bedrock of my reputation in this community. Not everyone agrees with everything I do, as is true of anyone. But I don’t think anyone would argue that everything I do comes from a deep desire to help as much as I am able.
Contact Info:
- Website: aprilkline.com, thewellforwellness.com, birthwithspirit.com
- Instagram: @love_aprilkline, @thewellforwellness.com, @birthwithspirit
Image Credits
Angie Lipscomb Photography
Krista Bentrup, Lady and Fella Photography