I grew up in a small heavily Mormon community in western Wyoming. Nearly all of my ancestors had been Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) from the time of the faith’s founding. While this family and cultural framework did offer many beauties, for a gay kid like me, it also provided the conditions for tremendous psychological harm.

Right around the experience of overhearing my mom, I discovered genealogy and family history research with the help of my paternal grandmother. I always had an innate interest and curiosity about my ancestors, and I had always been an extremely observant, kind, mature, and deeply spiritually-inclined child.

Genealogy research gave me something to feel connected to. I discovered a natural gift for sensing ancestor spirits and intuiting their lived experiences, solving challenging research problems, teaching others, and retaining amazing amounts of information. It gave me a small bit of confidence, and ultimately, a safe place where I could escape, completely lose myself, and not feel into the pain I tried to hide.

I became rather obsessed with genealogy research. It was all I wanted to do. I was a pretty nerdy teen and didn’t have a lot of friends or confidence. Being that genealogy research holds such importance in Mormon theology, I came to believe that God had given me genealogical skills as a way to redeem myself for being gay. I firmly believed that if I did enough of the redemptive work (and being insanely “righteous” in other ways), I would one day be de-possessed from the demon I thought controlled my body.

In my mid-30s, I experienced a complete mental breakdown and nearly committed suicide. I didn’t want to be here anymore. Years of mounting stress and tension about my repressed sexuality could no longer be ignored and shoved away.

On top of that, I experienced a faith crisis around my Mormon beliefs and felt the bottom falling out of the spiritual and psychological framework I had built my life upon. Core theological teachings and faith tenants no longer made sense, met my emotional and spiritual needs, or resonated with my newly emerging "self."

After a tremendous battle of inner turmoil and LOTS of therapy from life-saving therapist, I determined a divorce was necessary and found myself starting life over again as a fresh, new person. That was most difficult and scariest thing I have ever done. Breaking away from a seventh-generation family pattern and an unhealthy cultural system is never an easy feat.

Ancestral Lineage Healing was not the only healing work that found its way to me. Around the time I began working with my Ancestors, I began having new experiences where plants and land spirits would reach out and communicate with me. This gifted me the ability to reclaim parts of my lost intuitive skills, which has been a key part of not only my own growth and healing, but also for holding space in supporting the growth and healing of others.

My connection with the plants led me to studying herbalism, and for a year I apprenticed with a  respected herbalist in our region named Constance Lynn. Following that education, I have continued to deepen my studies with other teachers in clinical and spiritual herbalism. Coupling the magick and medicine of the plants with my new animistic framework of seeing the world allowed me to expand my understanding of wellness and wholeness as humans. Prior to my Ancestral Lineage Healing certification, I had also certified as a Primal Health Coach, and have since loved stretching my framework of health, fitness, and wellness beyond the ideas the current culture teaches.

As a coach, I see our wholeness as humans being deeply tied to how well we assume our role (and right-sized place) in the great interconnected web of life. We are a part of Nature and the great energetic Mystery that animates the lives of all beings (human and non-human). We are each unique expressions of the Divine Universe, and as we heal wounds brought about by broken cultural systems (and work to dismantle those same systems), we are better able to step more deeply into our powerful gifts—gifts that not only allow us to find greater joy and vitality ourselves, but to also elevate the vibrancy of both the human and collective Universal consciousness.