Wellness Reimagined:
Sarah Dawkins Of SD Essential Health On 5 Things That Should Be Done To Improve and Reform The Health & Wellness Industry
My Interview With Maria Angelova
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Encourage Personalization: Health and wellness is a highly individualized experience, and personalized treatments are highly effective. Encouraging practitioners to offer personalized treatments and tailoring care to individual needs could help improve outcomes.
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In our world of constant change, and with life moving faster than ever, topics such as mental health, self-care, and prevention have become popular buzzwords. People are looking to live healthier lives, and there is superb care out there that is being offered. At the same time, there are misconceptions about the meaning of self-care and exercise. Many opt for quick solutions — surgery, pills — to dull the problem without adequately addressing the underlying cause. Meanwhile, many parts of the industry are unregulated and oversaturated. People with years of training are competing with people with weekend training. Many providers are overworked, overwhelmed, and underpaid. The general public is not educated about asking the right questions when selecting a wellness provider. In the face of all this, what can be done to correct the status quo? In this interview series, we are seeking to hear from a variety of leaders in the health and wellness industries who agree that the wellness industry is in need of an overhaul and offer suggestions about what can be done moving forward. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Sarah Dawkins, BSc. MSc. AMC.
Sarah is a Holistic Health Coach, Keynote Speaker, the Author of HEAL YOURSELF, a Multi-Award winning Entrepreneur and previously, she was a Registered Nurse for twenty years.
She has extensive experience in health and wellness gained from naturally self-healing a multitude of health issues and her work as a Registered Nurse.
Sarah supports clients to find and heal the root cause of their health problems, thereby improving their health and ultimately their lives.
Thank you so much for doing this interview. What is your “why” behind the work that you do? What fuels you?
My “why” I do what I do is because I have been sick and naturally healed myself so I know what it feels like and do the healing work necessary, making it possible to heal ourselves. I now want to help others to understand that they too can heal themselves.
Working with clients and seeing them have major breakthroughs when they discover the root cause of their symptoms and health problems feels amazing. I feel honoured to be on their journey, supporting them along the way, seeing them do the work and heal themselves. This truly fuels my desire to help more people to help themselves.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now?
I have just launched my podcast called Heal Yourself with Sarah Dawkins. I am sharing my own healing and interviewing some of the healers from my book Heal Yourself, as well as some of the coaches who donated articles to my course Heal Yourself At Home, in the hope that sharing all of our healing will inspire others to look at starting their own journeys.
As well as interviewing guests, I am writing and sharing bi-weekly articles, with further information and tips on natural self-healing.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I managed to release an unedited podcast episode as I chose the wrong file to share. I happened upon it by accident, after it had been in the public domain for six hours. Thankfully, because it is released very early in the morning (UK time), it was showing that only one person had listened to it.
I stumbled over my words several times, muttered and mumbled my frustrations on it, repeating sentences it until I got it right. Thankfully, I found it and swapped it for the edited version. Now, I am more thorough at checking I have the right file scheduled to be released. I was truly embarrassed when I realised what I had done, but I can now laugh at it.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. From where you stand, why are you passionate about the topic of Reimagining The Health and Wellness industries? Can you explain what you mean with a story or an example?
I am truly passionate about changing the health and wellness industry from a reactive state to a proactive state, as well as looking at our bodies and minds as a whole rather than separate systems.
The current system in the hospitals and doctors offices reacts to symptoms that people present with, then (usually), only treat the symptoms. Being “healed” therefore, is defined as a lack of symptoms. This is really sick care, not health care.
If we can change the way we look at health and take back responsibility for it, we can be proactive in our lives to do what we can to stay healthy and stave off illness.
When I had psoriasis, eczema and acid reflux, the doctor prescribed me pharmaceuticals to relieve/reduce the symptoms. The root cause of the symptoms/dis-eases was never addressed. While my symptoms disappeared with the medications, I wasn’t cured. I went on to develop an underactive thyroid and burned out my adrenal glands because my body found another way to send me the message that I needed to address my past emotional traumas and the stress I was under.
When I talk about Reimagining the Wellness industry, I am talking about reimagining it from the perspective of the providers as well as from the perspective of the recipients and patients. Can you share a few reasons why the status quo is not working for both providers and patients?
The status quo is not working because health has been separated out into specialities. We have cardiologists, pulmonologists, dermatologists, etc. Our bodies and minds are inextricably linked and as such, we need to look at health holistically. One system affects another and therefore, should not be separated out.
We have been conditioned over the years to give the responsibility of our health to the medical profession and as such, doctors’ offices and hospitals are overflowing with sick people. We need to take back that responsibility and look at how our lifestyles, beliefs and thoughts affect our health and make any necessary changes.
Many people have become reliant upon pharmaceuticals, yet there is much we can do for ourselves to heal and prevent ill health, rather than pop a pill. Yes, taking a pill is easy but they have many side-effects that often require another medication to counter the side-effects. Changing a lifestyle takes effort, but it is worth it in the long-term.
Why do you think there is a good opportunity now to improve and reform the health and wellness industry?
Since the start of the pandemic, more and more people are starting to distrust the pharmaceutical industry. Many are now looking at what they can do for themselves, outside of taking pharmaceuticals.
Holistic practitioners can fill this need and help people to understand how they can heal themselves as well as to stay healthy and boost their immune system, without pharmaceuticals.
It is health that is our wealth. Without health, we have nothing.
Can you please share your “5 Things That Should Be Done To Improve and Reform The Health & Wellness Industry”? Please share an example or story for each if you can.
1 . Focus on Prevention: The health and wellness industry tends to focus on treating symptoms rather than preventing health problems from occurring in the first place. Shifting the focus to prevention, such as through assessing beliefs, improving nutrition and lifestyle interventions could help reduce the incidence of chronic diseases and improve overall health outcomes.
I grew up within the medical model so believed I could do what I wanted and just take a pill to relieve any symptoms I had. My beliefs were adopted from my family. Once I realised that I could change my beliefs, I had more understanding of how I could naturally heal myself.
2. Focus on Holistic Healing: Address the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of health, when looking at healing.
Every time I went to the doctor, I was given a diagnosis from my symptoms and a medication to take that “healed” those symptoms. I was never asked about my lifestyle, beliefs, mental health etc. Sadly, I think doctors only allocate around five minutes per patient, so there wouldn’t have been time to discuss my life in relation to the symptoms I had.
3. Encourage Collaboration: Many health and wellness practitioners operate in silos. Encouraging collaboration among practitioners could help service users understand what other therapies and options are available.
Often, we don’t know what is available to us, to help our healing. Many years ago, I used a chiropractor for back/neck pain, which worked well. I would have benefitted from a referral for emotional/trauma healing to get deeper into the reason I had the pain.
4. Increase Education: Many people lack knowledge about health and wellness. Increasing education, such as through public health campaigns or school curriculums, could help people make informed decisions about their health.
Sadly, most public health campaigns focus on medical intervention, so this needs a radical overhaul. School curriculums need to incorporate growing your own food, composting, sustainable living and lifestyle choices, including self-care and how your thoughts and beliefs affect your health, starting with young children in infant or junior school. I didn’t get this education and know I would have benefitted from it as an adult and possibly not succumbed to some of the health issues I did.
5. Encourage Personalization: Health and wellness is a highly individualized experience, and personalized treatments are highly effective. Encouraging practitioners to offer personalized treatments and tailoring care to individual needs could help improve outcomes.
All healthcare should be personalised to the client. When working with my clients, I listen to their story and ask pertinent questions about specific parts of it, to get them to reflect on their own thoughts and beliefs. Everyone is different, so my questions and suggestions are different for everyone.
From the recipient and patient side of the industry, can you please share a few ways that patients and recipients should reimagine what the wellness and healthcare industry should provide?
The reimagined health and wellness industry will be focused on prevention rather than cure. It will help educate people to take back the responsibility for their health and guide them through lifestyle changes, in small baby steps so as not to overwhelm.
Health/wellness services will be provided holistically, taking into account the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects and look at the body and mind as a whole.
Wellness groups with a range of activities, art, physical, musical, movement, mindfulness and meditation will be available to everyone. These will help people to support others and build communities of likeminded, supportive people.
What do you think are the biggest roadblocks to reforming the industry? What can be done to address those hurdles?
The biggest roadblock to reform is changing people’s beliefs that they need a doctor and pills to heal because of the many years of conditioning. Having people share their own natural self-healing will be a step towards helping people to see that it is possible. As Dr Joe Dispenza says, to change a limiting belief that something is impossible, you only have to see one person doing what you thought was impossible.
Having people assess the origin of their beliefs helps them to see if the beliefs are truly their own, or borrowed from their caregivers when they were small. It also helps them to change any that they no longer resonate with as new information is taken onboard.
Financing wellness centres will be challenging as we are told there is no spare money for anything. Some of the buildings around hospitals could be repurposed for these centres. As more people take charge of their own health, there will be less hospital visits, freeing up some of the areas and staff. Staff could be retrained in holistic health, or coaches could be brought in to take sessions within these centres.
I’m very passionate about the topic of proactive versus reactive self-care and healthcare. What do you think can be done to shift the industries towards a proactive healthcare approach? How can we shift the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike?
Me too. Education and self-reflection will help people to see how their beliefs are showing up in the symptoms they present with. Holistic Health Coaches can support people to heal themselves.
Sharing my book Heal Yourself and others around natural self-healing with the providers of traditional health care will help them to see that people all over the world are naturally healing themselves from conditions believed to be un-healable, proving that it is possible. The providers could also sit in on some of the wellness sessions being provided, speak to the people involved as well as the service users.
Thank you for all that great insight! Let’s start wrapping up. Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
The quote that helped me the most is by Henry Ford, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.
When I was in a deep depression with suicidal thoughts, this really resonated with me. I knew that I had to make changes to my thoughts, beliefs and life. As I naturally healed the depression, my thyroid and adrenal glands, I knew that I had to leave my job as a Registered Nurse and become a Holistic Health Coach, to help others on their own healing journey, from what I had learnt on mine. I changed my thoughts and beliefs, my job and my lifestyle and started living more sustainably and naturally.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 😊
I would love to speak to Dr Bruce Lipton about his stem-cell research.
I appreciate your time and valuable contribution. One last question, how can people reach or follow you?
I can be reached through my website www.sdessentialhealth.com . My email and links to my social media sites, as well as my free podcast, are on there.
Thank you for the opportunity to be featured by yourself. I hope my answers help others to see that they can heal themselves, naturally and without pharmaceuticals.
