We were lucky to catch up with Linnea Knisely recently and have shared our conversation below.

Linnea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea for my business began long before I realized it. I grew up watching my dad battle multiple health issues and my mom devoted her life to caring for him, my grandmother, the elderly in our church, and anyone else who needed support. Caregiving was simply woven into our family’s daily life.
When my mom became ill, I stepped into the caregiver role almost instinctively. What I didn’t know at the time was that all those years watching her care for others had prepared me. She had been teaching me how to care without ever saying a word. I was a caregiver for my parents while raising two small children, one of them with medical needs of their own. I was constantly juggling appointments, responsibilities, and emotions. I never took a break, didn’t know how to ask for help, and ran on fumes without realizing the toll it was taking.
Later, when I became a patient myself, everything came full circle. I finally recognized the emotional and physical weight caregivers carry and how invisible their needs often are. The exhaustion, the guilt, the burnout. I had lived all of it.
As I reflected over the last year, I started noticing a pattern: caregivers are everywhere, yet support for them is almost nonexistent. The more conversations I had, the more stories I heard that mirrored my own. Burnout is happening silently, and caregivers often don’t feel they have permission to take care of themselves.
That’s when I knew this wasn’t just my story. This was a widespread, overlooked need. I realized that my lived experience put me in a unique position to help. I had been the caregiver. I had been the patient. I understood both sides deeply. And that combination made the idea feel not only worthwhile but necessary.
Yes. While there are resources for the person receiving care, there is a significant gap in resources specifically designed for the caregiver’s emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing. Caregivers are often expected to be endlessly strong, endlessly available, and endlessly resilient but few systems exist to support them.
I lived firsthand what happens when that support is missing. I wished there had been someone offering guidance, tools, community, and validation. I realized that gap was exactly where I could step in.
What makes my approach unique is that it’s built entirely on lived experience. Real caregiving, real burnout, real lessons learned the hard way. It’s compassionate, practical, and honest. I offer the tools, insights, and support I desperately needed when I was in the thick of it.
You deserve rest. You deserve support. You deserve care, too.
That belief is the heart of my business.
What excites me most is the possibility of changing someone’s caregiving journey before they hit the point of exhaustion like I did.

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 brand, Healing Unfiltered, was born from my own lived journey through chronic illness and caregiving. I live alongside several autoimmune conditions that changed my life in ways I never expected. For a long time, I felt lost, not just in the physical symptoms, but in the emotional reality of no longer feeling like myself. I didn’t know who I was outside of my illness or the caregiver role I had stepped into for years.
Eventually, I reached a point where I realized that caring for everyone else while ignoring my own needs wasn’t sustainable. I was burned out, overwhelmed, and disconnected from myself. Choosing to put myself first wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. The decision to work on my own healing and identity is what ultimately led me to this work.
Healing Unfiltered became the space where I allowed myself to rebuild without perfection, without a filter, and without shame. It’s also the space I now offer to others.
I am creating tools and resources specifically for caregivers; resources I desperately needed in my own journey but couldn’t find.
I’m currently developing a comprehensive caregiver guide rooted in real-life experience, practical tips, emotional support, and accessible resources. It’s designed to help caregivers begin their own unfiltered healing process, even in the midst of caregiving responsibilities.
I plan to expand into masterclasses and guided experiences that support caregivers in learning how to care for themselves as intentionally as they care for others.
Caregivers often live with burnout, guilt, isolation, and the belief that they must give endlessly without taking anything for themselves. I relieve the problem of caregiver invisibility; the lack of emotional, mental, and practical support for the person who gives so much to everyone else.
The missing piece has always been guidance and support. Caregivers don’t need another textbook or generic checklist. I’ve been the caregiver and I’ve been the patient. I’ve navigated the loneliness, frustration, grief, and identity-loss that come with both roles. That is what sets me apart.
That’s the heart of Healing Unfiltered.
I’m most proud of the fact that I turned some of the hardest chapters of my life into something meaningful, something that can help others feel less alone. I’m proud that Healing Unfiltered allows me to honor the caregivers who rarely receive the care they deserve.
I want people to know, you matter too. Your wellbeing matters. Your rest matters. Your healing matters.
And even though I’m just getting started, I am incredibly committed to this mission. The need is huge and my determination to support caregivers emotionally, mentally, and practically is even bigger. I’m here to walk that journey with as many caregivers as I can.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My chronic illnesses became my mask. It was almost like a layer of protection. I was hiding behind my own smile. For years, I became what my friends jokingly called “a turtle”, pulling into my shell whenever things felt too heavy. It wasn’t that I didn’t want people around; it was that pretending to be okay became exhausting. Smiling through the pain, trying to be “on,” pushing past symptoms no one seemed to understand, it drained me in ways I didn’t have the words for.
When my symptoms first began, I was told it was probably in my head. That I was being too sensitive. That I just needed to toughen up. Not only did those comments sting, they stuck. They made me question myself. They made me believe my pain wasn’t valid and even worse, that I wasn’t valid. So I hid it. I hid me. Pulling back felt safer than being dismissed again.
The more I retreated, the more disconnected I became from myself. I stopped doing the things that once filled me with joy. My creativity faded. My spark dimmed. Survival mode became my normal, and I didn’t even realize how deeply I was sinking.
The turning point was when I finally understood that hiding wasn’t protecting me at all. It was isolating me. The grief, the loneliness, the fear… it all grew louder in the silence of my shell.
Choosing to come out of that shell, learning to be vulnerable, to show my pain instead of masking it, to let people see me on the hard days took strength I didn’t know I had. I’m still learning. I still catch myself “turtling” sometimes but each time I choose honesty over hiding, connection over isolation, and self-compassion over perfection, I rise a little stronger.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that pushing through pain and “just smiling” would make everything okay. I ignored my body’s signals for years! I kept thinking that if I showed up and kept going, I’d be fine. Living with chronic illness taught me otherwise, my body eventually became the loudest voice in the room. I had to stop, listen and learn what it was trying to tell me. The biggest thing I’ve learned in this experience is that it is ok to grieve out loud and still heal and see so many beautiful things.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @healingunfilteredwithlk
• Facebook: @perfectlyimperfectlinnea
• Youtube: @healing.unfiltered
• Other: Tiktok: @healing.unfiltered