We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Emily Speers recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sarah Emily thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
Part of my graduate training to become a marriage and family therapist required completing a practicum training at a therapeutic site. I performed my practicum at the Center for Healthy Eating & Activity Research (CHEAR) at UCSD. Over the course of a year, I saw 1-on-1 patients and families in the therapy clinic supporting eating disorder recovery. I also assisted in facilitating research studies that were exploring the use of treatments to improve eating behaviors in children, adolescents and adults. During this time, I developed a particular enjoyment and skillset for working with individuals who struggle with binge eating or emotional overeating. As my practicum training and graduate studies were nearing an end, and my job search began- my intention was to find a job working with this population. To my great surprise and delight, my supervisor at CHEAR shared with me that they were starting a new program- an intensive out patient program (IOP) for binge eating disorder for adolescents and adults- and she offered me the job to support her in developing and overseeing the program. I was shocked and honored that she chose me for the role, not only because it was exactly what I was desiring to do, but because it showed me that she saw my potential and competency as a clinician. It was a huge undertaking, because we were creating the program from scratch and so there were many times I experienced overwhelm and uncertainty, but with the support of my supervisors and support staff we developed a program that is currently one of the top programs nation wide. I am truly grateful this was my first job in my career as a therapist, because it equipped me with the knowledge, experience, skillset and confidence to progress in my career later going on to become the Director of Behavioral Health at Premier Fitness Camp and then eventually starting my own business, Innergize Wellness, where I offer coaching and healing services to support individuals in doing the inner work to address eating issues.
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?
After struggling with bulimia for 5 years, I vowed to heal myself and then commit my life to helping other’s suffering with eating issues do the same because I never wanted anyone to suffer the way I did. My personal experience gave me my “why” and then I decided to go back to school to become trained as a marriage and family therapist. At the time I was interested in working with adolescents and so it felt important to be able to learn how to work within a family system. As I shared in my initial story, after graduating from the University of San Diego with a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy I worked at UCSD’s Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research running the IOP program for binge eating disorder. This was a fruitful time for my growth, and eventually I reached a place where I was searching for more. I intuitively sensed that there were other aspects of healing that I was missing, and I decided to set out on my own personal healing journey to explore and experience all sorts of alternative healing modalities that are not typically included in more traditional treatment approaches. I packed a bag and bought a one way ticket to Europe where I spent 3 months on a solo healing journey, experiencing practices such as breathwork, Reiki, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), and much more. This exposure to energy healing modalities changed my world. I felt this was the missing link and immediately began my training in these alternative practices. I became certified in Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Reiki Master, and Emotion Code. When I returned to the U.S., I set my intention to begin supporting individuals using a fusion of traditional mindfulness- and cognitive-based approaches with these alternative energy healing modalities. As fate would have it, I was recruited by Premier Fitness Camp to direct their Behavioral health program. I began their in-house therapist, and was able to run my own practice within their entity- supporting their clients with behavioral and emotional health work. In this space, I had the freedom to use all the approaches and healing modalities I was trained in and I observed the remarkable impact it had on the clients I supported. I began to hone my process and approach to supporting individuals through doing the inner work to address the deeper root issues underlying one’s relationship to food, eating and their bodies- because I assure you it is about so much more than food and willpower. Often one’s relationship with food is established at a very young age, influenced by attachment styles, childhood traumas, eating conditioning, body shaming and much much more. When COVID hit and the first round of quarantine took place, Premier Fitness Camp took a temporary closure. And with that, I took the jump into starting my own business which had always been the ultimate goal and dream of mine. Now I run my business, Innergize Wellness, LLC in which I offer 1-1 services, group programs, online courses and retreats to support individuals in doing the inner work to improve food and eating issues. I offer an alternative, holistic and unique approach that integrates traditional and alternative approaches including energy work, emotional processing and mindfulness-based skills. I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of souls on their healing journeys as they learn how to take their power back from food, feel their feelings (rather than feed them), process deep emotional wounds, and experience deeper sense of peace, confidence and well-being.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
I believe that a therapist’s own personal experience and lessons learned on their personal healing journey is an essential component in helping one succeed in this field. It is through doing one’s own inner work, facing one’s own shadow parts, feelings the depth of one’s own pain, and emerging through the other side with new self-insight, self-love and compassion that a therapist is truly able to hold space to support others through doing the same. When I first started out as a student training to become a therapist, I was scared of my clients emotions. When they would become angry or emotional, I noticed immediate discomfort within myself and I would want to divert them to a different topic to avoid the emotional discomfort. I hadn’t gotten comfortable with my own emotions, and so wasn’t able to truly guide these individuals through deeply transformative emotional processing. After I received my own support from other healing practitioners, I developed a new capacity to be able to hold the space to receive and witness my client’s emotions because I had faced these within myself and was no longer afraid of emotions. Now I LOVE to guide clients through accessing and processing the big, intense emotional energies because I have the capacity and skillset to do so as a result of my own inner work.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I’d say there are a few key things that have helped build my reputation in this market.
First, I have a create combination of personal and professional experience that helps clients feel like they can trust me because I’ve been in there shoes struggling with my own eating disorder, but I also have the clinical training and background that makes be competent and equipped to address the psychological factors at play.
Second, the experience and results speak for themselves. You can’t fake healing and helping people, and I feel very fortunate that my track record shows that nearly all my clients (dare I say all) benefit in multiple ways from working with me. Those benefits can range from a reduction in binge eating, to improved stress management, to processing repressed emotions, to building boundaries and confidence, to feeling more comfortable in one’s skin, and much more.
Lastly, I aim to empower the people I work with to know that while I can be a mentor and guide on their journey, the power to heal and change lies within them. This is the most important realization anyone can have, because we often seek solutions outside of ourselves when my goal is to guide you within yourself to uncover your own answers. The power is within YOU.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sarahspeers.com
- Instagram: @sarahemilyspeers
Image Credits
Image Credit: Lauren Pollard, Nicole Fisher