Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chelsea McGee, RN, BSN, NC-BC. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Chelsea thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us 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?
The idea of Atlas Health Co., came to me at a crossroads in life. As I reflect on this defining moment of my career and life journey, I am reminded of my favorite poem by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken.” I was a year and a half in at a very stable, well paying corporate job, working as a RN holistic health coach. I loved my co-workers and patients, and as a RN coming from a hospital setting, it was quite a cushy job. However, I had been learning other holistic healing modalities that were thought to be “outside the box” and not aligned with my company’s business model. I understood and felt the power in these modalities, and I knew I had to make a choice to follow my heart over playing it safe. I was witnessing the power of energy and sound healing help my clients make incredible life transformations, and knew I had to share this with the world.
Although I was not even close to replacing my income, I trusted that taking the leap of faith would be the activation that was needed to align myself with my higher purpose. Once I found that courage and trust within myself, I was able to let go of the fears and my ego’s need for stability, security, and safety within the constructs of a corporate job. I can now reflect back on this past year and see how God and spiritual forces conspired to help me succeed.
I am now a year in to full time entrepreneurship, and although there have been challenging days, I know that my decision was for my highest good and for the highest good of the people that I have had the opportunity to help along the way.
If you have a choice to play it safe, or take the path less traveled and forge your own way, I recommend you choose the latter. It will make all the difference.
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.
My story of how I entered the medical field… Well, I believe it was pre-destined. My father is a sport’s medicine MD and my mom is an OR nurse. Witnessing firsthand their passion for helping others made a huge impact on my life from a young age. My academic background began at Michigan State University, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology & Health Promotion. Soon after completing an internship in cardiac rehab, I decided I wanted to go back to school but I wasn’t certain for what degree. At the time, I was interested in both nursing and physician’s assistant school.
The idea of joining the U.S. Coast Guard was mentioned to me by a close family friend, and it appealed to me because they had a P.A. school I could apply for. I decided to enlist for four years active duty service, and was stationed in Fort Lauderdale, FL for two years and San Francisco, CA for two years as well. The waitlist and application process for P.A. school was much longer than expected, so I decided to finish my contract and apply to nursing school instead. I ended up getting accepted to Duke University’s accelerated BSN program and graduated from nursing school in 2019. I began my career as a RN in the emergency department, and within a couple months of getting off of orientation, covid hit. That is an entirely different story in itself, but it wasn’t long into my nursing career that I knew I wanted to help people in a much deeper way than the conventional approach to health.
I knew there needed to be more to healthcare than just managing symptoms. The next part of my journey started with the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy’s 6 month Integrative Nurse Coach Certificate Program. This program taught me how to coach & guide people to optimal health using a holistic approach: healing the mind, body, & soul. I became board certified as a nurse coach in 2021, and was spiritually & intuitively led to learn other modalities from there.
In my current practice today, I use biofield energy healing to clear blockages in the energy body that may be caused from traumas, emotional suppression, and inability to cope with stress. I also utilize crystal quartz “singing bowls” to help my clients regulate their nervous system, slow down their brainwaves to a meditative state, and harmonize the cells in their body. When the nervous system is regulated and we have tools to cope with stress, the physical body heals more quickly.
In combination with energetic and spiritual healing, I use functional medicine to get to the root cause of physical & mental dis-ease and imbalance. Functional medicine is a patient-centered approach that addresses the underlying cause of disease and focuses on healing from the inside out, rather than managing symptoms alone. Functional medicine uses nutrition and whole food supplements/vitamins along with making healthy lifestyle changes to heal the mind and body.
Intertwined with these modalities, I also teach my clients how to rewire their brain- yes, rewire (I know, interesting concept!) Throughout life, we accumulate self-limiting beliefs, and negative and fear-based thoughts. Through mindset training & auricular and lightwave therapy, as well as meditation, I help clients understand where negative thought processes began, and how to replace them with healthier, more positive thoughts, beliefs, and intentions. We are multidimensional, multifaceted human beings, and our healing is, too!
I see clients both virtually and in-person, and host workshops in the metro-Detroit communities. I work 1:1 with clients, in group, as well as corporate settings. I help motivated individuals heal from the past, and step into a brighter, balanced, and more vibrant life.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Authenticity. You can spend a pretty penny on a business coach, and he/she will teach you all the sales strategies, advertising, marketing, yadayada… but if you are not true to yourself, I believe you are bound to run into issues at some point, regardless of how well you have your business structured.
I truly believe the single most driving force in attracting the right clients is authenticity.
Allowing yourself to be vulnerable, real, raw, and honesty is what people gravitate to. I think as life/health coaches, it is our depth and realness that people connect with. Our stories of how we transformed and healed our lives and in turn, want to help others do the same. When you are YOU, ego set aside, and heart open, it is the most healing force and gift you can give someone. Helping to guide them to reclaim their inner power by reflecting back to them the truth and wisdom that lies within each and every one of us. Not handing them a template of what to do, or telling them what YOU think they need to do, but rather walking alongside them and guiding them back to their highest Self.
The more that I share my true self and my story of healing, I think that people resonate with my honest, openness, and vulnerability. It allows them to feel safe and willing to share what they’ve been through, as they explore the depths of their own healing journey. We’ve all experienced traumas and negative experiences in life, and I think we all need more compassion, kindness, and understanding. As Ram Dass says, “We are all just walking each other home.”
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
We are taught from a young age that if we want to be successful, we need to get a degree and work our way up the corporate ladder. I think there was a time in society that this was necessary. It allowed families to have financial security, safety and stability, especially after World War 2. However, we are seeing a shift in many paradigms at this time, and I think it’s going to take the leaders, the light workers, guides, and innovators, to show others what is possible when we re-connect with our innate gifts and talents to help the world in a unique way. We are all each born with such beautiful talents, and they become suppressed out of fear and societal conditioning. I had to unlearn a lot of things I was taught in nursing school in order to see things from a new perspective, and open up to the possibilities of holistic healing. My mission is now to teach others how to blent ancient wisdom and eastern medicine with allopathic, conventional medicine. To educate those who are open minded about the science behind some of these ancient healing concepts that have been lost over time due to power and greed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atlashealthco.com
- Instagram: @atlashealthco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chelsea.mcgee.75/