We recently connected with Marilisa Lawless and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Marilisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Over the course of your career, have you seen or experienced your field completely flip-flop or change course on something?

Being in our industry of health and healing for over 30 years, we had noticed the almost lackadaisical response to depression and anxiety… Prescribers give them a prescription for an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication. And while we understand that medication in necessary in some cases it was out of control in our view. The insurance industries were pushing people to more medication and less talk therapy. We knew that people needed to feel connected to something, someone. While doing traditional insight-oriented psychotherapy we added several healing modalities that were not necessarily traditional. Functional medicine (using nutrition and vitamins under the direction of an MD/DO), bodywork with Reiki, QiGong, or massage therapy, meditation, crystals, mediums/psychics – several things for spiritual healing. If we didn’t offer it in our practice, we had referral resources. We found that not everyone wanted to be on medication for their symptoms. In 2018 Hemp-based CBD came on the market and we pivoted.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We came into the mental health field through our own therapy. We, meaning our mother and two sisters, came from various places in life and decided to go into business together. We were family therapists and became committed to helping others deal with their own traumas. We each were committed to the LGBTQIA community and to addressing sexism, racism, homophobia, and ethnocentricism in all areas of life. The Transformation Project was born in 1991. Our mother passed in 2011 and we sisters have continued on.

In 2018 we added our new company, Hemp Del Soul after about 1 year of research into this new plant-based treatment for depression, anxiety, pain, and well-being came around. With the many anecdotal stories from family, friends, and clients, we opened a retail store in the same location.
We have been in the same location since 1991.

Initially, we were not permitted to say it helped with issues, even as an adjunct to therapy – but the research has caught up with what we have heard now for the past few years.

Historically, the crystals have been a part of the office here for many years but were never part of an official store; now it is an integral part of what we offer. Crystals Del Soul is the newest addition.
It is all about “Do no harm” and offering resources & options in addition to medication for healing (when recommended).

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

The most important thing to know when it comes to healing is to know you matter and to feel connected to another human being. We truly feel connected to the people we work with and now meet in the store. It truly is about connection.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I, Marilisa, have many stories from my life that could show resilience. I myself have experienced this and to be fair, the reader would have to ask.

I have traveled and been a part of both positive and negative growth experiences. From a traumatic childhood, and as a parentified child, I still have many happy memories as well. It was never all good or all bad. The happy times have been the ones that gave me hope and helped me heal through the bad times. I learned to enjoy life as an adult and could play more than I could as a child.

Being sober for well over 30 years has been an incredible journey as well and in part led me to grab a hold of CBD when I learned that it was not a drug. It was not marijuana but hemp, though cannabis was the parent plant for both.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TheTransformationProject.net and www.HempDelSoul.com
• Instagram: transformation.project and hempdelsoul
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilisa.lawless
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilisa-lawless-3aa157aa?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BoyW2zsUNSSiAJ1PK1VqgaA%3D%3D
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HempDel
• Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC2UlUfdqRxMLsHjdVlmRBvg/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D

Image Credits
just my pictures