Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shanna Miller Ghizoni. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

There were several defining moments in my life that helped me clarify what I wanted to do with my professional career. The biggest one was when I was in my early twenties and going through a ‘quarter life crisis’. I was planning on moving out of start a new job in the environmental field and was really struggling with life direction and what I wanted to do. At this point, I was a biochemist and project manager; also dating a loser that I couldn’t shake. My mom, a psychotherapist, sent me to a wonderful cognitive behavioral therapist and my father, a chiropractor, sent me to a physcial therapist who did CranioSacral Somato-Emotional Release (CST SER). I had two sessions with the PT who worked with me in such a way that my life was transformed. My grief, shame, guilt, limiting beliefs, and confusion was dissolved, and I knew that I wanted to ‘DO THAT!’ for people.
There were other defining moments when I was cured by a homeopath at the age of 10 from chronic bronchitis, I went to a Spring Forest Chi Gong provider and could feel the energy move, and when my father would take me to Functional Medicine seminars when I was in grade school. However, the biggest transformation was the emotional release and healing I experienced from the CST SER provider. I experienced tremendous amount of relief and healing from complementary and alternative healing providers. I knew that this was where my calling was. I immediately applied for chiropractic college because I knew that would give me the umbrella to work under as a CST SER provider.

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?

While I was in chiropractic school, I worked as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. After getting my chiropractic doctorate I went on to get my acupuncture certificate and became a certified health coach. I became competent at helping patients diagnose and treat their physical issues with trigger point therapy, myofascial release, targeted chiropractic adjustments and more. I went on to become a certified clinical nutritionist because I was doing more and more Functional Medicine work as I needed to address patient’s internal organ dysfunctions, inflammation, and diet. I took the courses in cranio sacral therapy and proceeded to do work with applied kinesiology, meditation practices, somato emotional release which helped me also tap into how emotions, beliefs, and trauma were stored in the body. Recently, I finished a master’s degree in clinical counseling and am working towards being licensed as a counselor. I’ve learned that it’s best to address patients’ physical discomfort, lifestyle, underlying health issues, emotions, relationships, and environment as a whole as we try to move them towards a better state of health. My favorite way to work with clients is in a holistic way. We do an extensive health history, run additional standard labs or functional labs, give lifestyle guidance through the Functional Medicine perspective, and I do an intuitive somatic emotional release sessions and guided meditations. It’s exciting and fun to work with patients as a whole person- mind, heart, body, environment, and spirit.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

I purchased my father’s small, two room chiropractic office eight years ago. He sold it to me at a fair price. The process was smooth as we are both easy going and worked together symbiotically for our best interests. He didn’t want to own, office manage, and have the stress of running a practice. I was young, energetic, and driven. I have grown it from a two chiropractor and one massage therapist office to a full wellness center. We have three chiropractors, four massage therapists, a physical therapist, an acupuncturist, a reiki provider, an energy healer, a therapist, and office staff. The stress of owning the practice, being the leader, business coach, human resources, and facilities manager is extremely stressful. I work hard at delegating tasks and defining job duties but everything eventually falls on my shoulders. I’ve tried to ‘bake in the stress’ and manage this as best as I can. I still like the benefits of working in a group setting versus being a solo provider so I stay grateful, communicate to my staff well, and always maintain the mission statement that we are a heart-centered and people centered wellness center.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I think the character trait of curiosity has been the most helpful in succeeding in my field. I love hearing my patient’s stories and I’m always looking for the WHY of what is going on with them. I’m curious about treatment options and constantly learn new things. This curiosity keeps me interested in putting people’s health challenges together like a big puzzle.

The other trait that helps with success is that I want to be such an excellent provider that I would be excited to come see myself. The other piece to this is that I want to charge an amount that I would pay for the service I’m getting.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.totalhealthandhealing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/totalhealthandhealingcenter/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TotalHealthandHealingCenter/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanna-miller-ghizoni-1baba01a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Totalhealthandhealing

Image Credits
Suzanne Shaff Photography