Life and Work with Colleen McCarthy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen McCarthy.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
For years, I danced ballet professionally, the last few years of my career my body was starting to show signs that it was time to leave dancing full time, my body was starting to wear down, my mind was foggy and I just felt I needed a break from having a job that was so physical. So, I took the leap and moved to Atlanta from Charlotte, NC to attend Atlanta School of Massage as I have always been interested in how the physical body ticks. While I was in massage school, I connected with my body in such a different way. I began to gather information about my life and others lives simply by touching them, at the time I had no idea what was going on, I just knew that after every massage that I gave, I was completely drained and my mood was VERY different after each massage I would give. I started having more and more physical ailments like migraines, stomach issues, vomiting, etc. So, I finally had enough and decided it was time to do something with my diet to hopefully get rid of these terrible migraines, stomach issues, mood changes, foggy brain, etc.

So, in 2008, I ended up finding a naturopath in Atlanta and went to see her. Within the first appointment, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. This was a game changer for me. With little to no direction from the person who diagnosed me, I went on this healing journey alone. It had many ups and downs to the point where I decided to go back to school for nutrition and dietetics to learn more about the body and nutrition. I went to school to get a base for nutrition, while I was in school, I did a lot of research, presentations and case studies on autoimmune diseases, I wanted to know all the things.

At that point, I knew I wanted to help people heal and not have to go through the journey alone as I was doing, having to navigate so much, listen deeply to my body, decode what it was trying to say, etc. Meanwhile, I was still dancing and practicing massage. After graduating I continued to study food sensitivities, gut health, and the immune system. In 2012, shortly after I graduated, I decided to start my practice. This was advised against by my mentors at school, however, my gut was telling me to get to it!

Starting my practice was just the beginning of diving more into healing my body, learning it’s language, deepening my connection with my body and the opening of my intuitive abilities. I went on to get my yoga teacher certification as that had been a huge tool for healing in my transition from dancing professionally full time to now nutrition and wellness.

I began to reconnect with my body in ways that I had not ever connected with it before. I studied under many healers, intuitive mentors, and mediums to heal myself and unknowingly building my toolbox. I learned so much about myself, my body and my intuitive abilities. As I grew as a person, so did my practice.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road, and I never really thought it would be smooth sailing. I started my business on 4k, which isn’t a whole lot, but I did it. I know I needed to learn how to really negotiate and learn the in’s and out’s of the business world, and I am still moving and growing in that way today.

Some of the things that I struggled with was self-confidence as an expert in my field and being confident in my offerings. As a healer, sometimes people put alot of pressure on you to “heal them” but really, as a healer, I am just a facilitator, a guide if you will. I struggled with time management in the beginning, I was always working… always. I was on the verge of burn out a few times until I finally realized I needed to take some of my own medicine and stop trying to please and help everyone. I needed to create firm boundaries around what I needed to do to take care of myself, so I could show up fully with each and every client. I feel like this is an on going process, but it’s one that I now welcome when I feel like itch of, ugh… I know it’s time to create more time for myself to get me through.

What I would offer to younger women that are wanting to start their own gig, espcially if it’s in the healing arts is to always put yourself first and remember why you started. Remember that you have to be well to take care of your business. Working long hours happens, but you also need time to recharge, and reflect. Checking in with yourself and doing a review of what has worked and what has not worked in your business each year has been a HUGE help for growth for me, so I recommend to take in the bigger picture of your business each year, check in and see if you are still moving with the same intentions and mission with whatever you are putting out into the world.

Another piece of advice is to stay strong and confident in what you have to offer. My confidence continues to grow, along with loving boundaries and I feel like this was a struggle for me in the beginning, my boundaries were more like non existent and that caused alot of stress in trying to grow my business…. boundaries, boundaries, boundaries is what I would say is the most important lesson I have learned.

Please tell us about On Pointe Nutrition | Colleen McCarthy RDN.
I am Medical Intuitive, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, and Certified LEAP Therapist. I am most known for my work with the gut and food sensitivity detection. Calming the immune system down through food and getting to the root causes of body pain, inflammation and many for diseases that doctors have missed or told my clients that “nothing is wrong”. I am usually the last resort after clients have seen many doctors and have not healed or gotten better at all, I am a registered dietitian, but I am not like any other you have probably met. I am a functional and itegrative practitioner which means I take into account the body as a whole and get to the root causes of things. I’ve evolved much further than most dietitians. So, I like to refer to myself as a medical intuitive healer nutritionist.

As a medical intuitive, I have the unique ability to intuitively “scan” your body and detect the root causes of your illness. With my medical training and my intuitive skills, I can help you gain a deeper understanding and clarity of what is making you sick or has chronically made you sick. Most importantly, I can provide you with a road map to true healing. I help people with uncovering the hidden blockages, beliefs and habits that may be contributing to ill health. I also am able to sense nutritional and environmental factors that you have overlooked and that have prevented you from healing. I use my intuition and funcitonal blood testing to uncover what is physically going on with the body after I gather information in the reading. From there, I create a custom map for each client’s healing journey and we get rolling on that together. I work with clients anywhere from 3months to a year, sometimes longer. I also offer intuitive and spiritual life coaching which usually my clients will continue with after we clear out the physical body from pain and inflammation. That is always the first step in healing is opening up the physical body to allow healing to begin.

I have made it my mission and it is my passion in life to help others awaken to their inner truth to find healing, true happiness and a deeper connection with their body, mind, and soul.

The clients that often come to me are highly intuitive, and yet their body’s are very foggy, so connecting with themselves and their body is usually not happening, one of my favorite parts about my job is helping my clients reconnect to their body and their intuition, seeing them empowered through the proper nourishment mentally, physically and spiritually. I really believe that all aspects have to be addressed to allow for full healing to happen.

I am also a reiki practitioner and perform distance reiki on most all of my clients as a compliemnt to their healing. I also read tarot, so I have been known to integrate tarot readings into my private client sessions.

My practice is 100% virtual, meaning I see all of my clients over a video conferencing software. I have been doing this virtual thing for about 6 years now, so it’s cool to see most of the medical field starting to offer this now.

What sets me apart from most I feel is my connection to my body and my intuition, I have been through this healing as well, so I empathize with all of my clients, and we can work together from anywhere in the world! I love being able to reach people that really need my services, even if they are miles and miles away! Energy is always close!

I use a blood test, I mentioned this above, to detect what your immune system likes and what is causing it inflammation, from there, I create a custom plan to clear out and calm the immune system via food. This is the most accurate way to cleanse the system. The immune system and gut are very complicated beautiful parts of our body. They can be very tricky to heal as well… I do not like to shoot in the dark when it comes to healing and nutrition. There are many food sensitivity tests out on the market today, none of them are like the MRT. I’ve done so many food sensitivity tests on myself and I’ve never got the results with them like I do the MRT and Leap program. It’s amazing and so very healing. There is a method to the madness that other tests do not offer. I had to get an extra certification and take a test to be able to offer this as one of the many tools that I use in my practice. I’ve been using it for 6 years and I’ve never had a client tell me it didn’t work.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I feel like some of the biggest barriers that females face today as leaders and entrepreneurs are being taken seriously, as experts in our fields and as leaders. I know that when I was first starting out, I feel like I had to work extra hard as a business owner to be taken seriously by a number of people from banks, to male clients, etc. I feel like we had to work extra hard to prove ourselves in the workforce and that’s unfortunate. In my industry, it’s female dominant, but that didn’t change the fact that I felt like for a while I had to prove myself so much more to my male clients, who were seeking ME out for advice. I will say that it has pushed me to grow in ways that I would never have imaged, it’s helped me to make sure that my voice is heard and it has also shown me that my voice and expertise matter, a whole lot.

Pricing:

• Initial Intuitive Health Reading and Nutritional Consultation $165
• Distance Reiki Session $90
• MRT Food Sensitivity Testing, Analysis and Results Session package $2,700- $3600

Contact Info:

• Address: 12850 Hwy 9 North
  Ste 600-180
  Alpharetta, GA 30004
• Website: www.Colleen-McCarthy.com
• Phone: 413-367-8404
• Email: Colleen@Colleen-McCarthy.com
• Instagram: @ColleenMcC_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OnPointeNutrition/

Image Credit:
Thu Tran of 2T Photo, Joy Hmielewski of Joyelan.com

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