Providing Care for Special Operations Military Spouses and First Responder Families.
I’m the spouse of a medically retired Green Beret. Throughout his career, I became his caretaker twice. Once when he was seriously injured and then when he was diagnosed with a life-altering autoimmune disease. I realized how lonely being a military spouse can be and the toll that this lifestyle takes on the military spouse. I found that this is common within the special operations community. The personal experience has allowed me to create a strategic solution to burnout, brain fog, fatigue, and decreased mental wellness.
Christina’s Approach
Christina is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP), RESTART® Instructor, Functional Blood Chemistry certified, and HTMA certified. She uses an in-depth nutritional assessment, function labs, and a targeted interview to create a protocol that helps clients connect back to their body’s through a high-quality and properly prepared food approach. The conditions of the soil in America are leaving many plants and animals lacking the nutrients that they used to have, leading to the of supplements to either bridge nutritional gaps or to support organ function. All while encouraging the use of other positive healing modalities. I’m a believer in using multiple healing modalities when it comes to healing the body from chronic stress, trauma, and mental health, and creating optimal brain wellness.
Cultivating a Healing Space
Have you ever heard “ stress will kill you?”
I’m the spouse of a medically retired Green Beret. I understand the high stress that accompanies the Special Operations way of life. When he graduated from the Q course and healed from his HALO accident injuries we thought that he would retire at twenty years in the military as a Special Forces medic. Our story and his career in Special Forces is difficult to talk about because it was abnormal.
When my husband was injured while at HALO school I was not notified by the Army. It had gotten back to me that something had happened to him and everyone that had gone through the Q course with him knew before I did. My husband did not know that the rumor of his injuries had made its way to me.
I was in Idaho at the time of his accident. He made it back to Ft. Bragg from Yuma where he was admitted to the hospital for surgery on both his leg and his foot. I made my way back to meet him knowing that this was going to be a long road for him to recover. It took a year.
For nearly three months I couldn’t leave our apartment without having someone there with him since he couldn’t move around and he was unable to meet his own basic needs. We had a hospital bed in our living room. He doesn’t remember that he had difficulty sleeping and that I would have to lay in the hospital bed next to him so that he could sleep. Then I would catch a few hours of sleep on the couch before he would wake up and need me.
I did everything. I won’t mention some of the things that I had to do out of respect for my husband and his need for privacy.
In order to make it through this I turned inward so that I could make it day by day. People would stop by on occasion to see him before they moved. Everything falls on the caretaker and everyone was focused on my husband. No one could see me because I wasn’t a soldier. In the year that it took for him to recover not a single person reached out to ask me if I was okay. No one came to give me a break.
He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification course in a wheelchair. I could hear the other families talking about him as I watched the ceremony. At this point, most of our friends had PCS’d to their group.
A year later he was released back to active duty. Two weeks later we moved to Ft. Campbell. One month after that he deployed. Three months into the deployment his grandfather passed away and I brought him home through the Red Cross. We reintegrated at the funeral for his grandfather while surrounded by his family.
Soon after that, a friend of ours was KIA. It was at this point that we noticed that he was losing weight rapidly and had symptoms of an autoimmune disease. We didn't know which one it was for a few months. This took us back to the drawing board and through a different healing process that would take years and would lead to his medical retirement from the 5th Special Forces Group. This time we had and still have a tight circle of friends that helped us.
During this time there were a lot of family issues going on that added to the stress. My body began to shut down. The stress that started in my childhood as big T traumas and continued up until this point caused my body to shut down.
This story is unique to us. The stress. The pain. The consequences.
Every spouse has felt aspects of chronic stress, fatigue, burnout, and brain fog, and the toll that this fast-paced lifestyle takes on the special operations spouse. This is not unique.
My experience shifted my perspective to where I needed to find a solution to the overwhelmed and deep loneliness that spouses feel. This is why Intentionally Healed exists today. To be a solution for the serious gap in care for these women. The ones who go unnoticed.
“When I began working with Christina I felt sluggish and my brain was foggy. I figured it was because I was a nurse working in the middle of a pandemic. Little did I know it was so much more than that. Christina, has been patient and supportive. She’s helped me learn that taking care of myself isn’t selfish, it’s a must! I wake up ready to take on the day. Not to mention since I’ve started working with her I’m down 40 pounds. I don’t remember the last time that I felt this good! I highly recommend her to everyone that’s asks how I have lost the weight and have so much energy.”
— Client from NM
Get started with Christina, today.
“It’s a scary thing trying to get help, but Christina took a lot of that anxiety and fear out of the equation. I was able to get personalized recommendations on which plan from Intentionally Healed LLC would best fit my needs.
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