"Your Wellness Connection" Brings Wholeness to Clients
& Community
An interview with Michelle Robin, D.C., and Crystal Jenkins
by Ellie Weiser
Michelle Robin, D.C., and Crystal Jenkins, Process graduates,
own and operate Your Wellness Connection, a wellness facility in Kansas
that has grown from a two-person office at its 1992 inception to an
8,000-square-foot comprehensive center offering chiropractic care,
massage therapy, acupuncture, body movement classes, plus nutritional
and spiritual/emotional counseling. Together, Michelle and Crystal
have referred more than 20 people to the Hoffman Process.
Ellie Weiser: What is Your Wellness Connection,
and how did it come to be?
Michelle Robin: Your Wellness Connection is an
8,000-square-foot state-of-the-art center, dedicated entirely to
wellness, in Johnson County, Kansas.
The center was founded in response to how I was raised and how
I live my life. My mother has been sick for a long time, so I was
focused on health at a young age. My first teacher was a chiropractor/acupuncturist
who I saw as a teenager — he taught me about keeping my body
well through the mechanical system and the nervous system, and he
introduced me to how powerful the mind is. I went through chiropractic
school, and as I grew I thought, “Chiropractic is great, but
I want people to be exposed to all that wellness encompasses.”
So I started attracting to the center those things that had kept
me healthy; mechanical, chemical, and energetic health. Then we
went into the psychological/spiritual area. We created Your Wellness
Connection around those four quadrants and the theory that if you
balance those areas you’ll find an essence of your true authentic
self in the middle.
Ellie: Is that the definition of “integrated
medicine?”
Michelle: That’s my definition. The common
definition is joining traditional health care with complementary
methods. But the traditional often doesn’t know what complementary
is doing and vice versa. So instead of integrating the two philosophies,
what I’ve done is make an integrative, complementary wellness
center. Our center has chiropractors, massage therapists, counselors,
acupuncturists, nutritionists, yoga and Pilates instructors, meditation,
and we bring speakers in to help people keep their heart in the
right space. Many of our clients are referred to us from the traditional
medical community, but we do not have a medical doctor on staff.
Ellie: Do your patients understand the difference
between wellness, which is about enhancing the quality of life,
versus treating illness?
Michelle: We call the people who visit our center
“clients” because when we do, we’re referring
to people who embrace a wellness lifestyle. The center has 100 new
clients a month and the majority still come in with a crisis, but
people are starting to understand that wellness is proactive, not
reactive, and that maintaining the status quo is not wellness. Wellness
is about enhancing your quality of life — improving your health,
whether it’s better lab results, a healthier spine or a happier
mental state.
Ellie: If you had a client who wasn’t receptive
to the concept of wellness, could you treat that person anyway?
Michelle: Some people aren’t a perfect
fit for us and we acknowledge that. But let’s say we take
15 potential clients; there will be five who are fully engaged in
what wellness is, five who have a sense about it, and five who aren’t
going to be engaged no matter what we do. So we choose to love and
care about each person. If we can understand their fears and how
to motivate them to take care of themselves, that’s our ideal
situation. Our hope is that we can show each person various ways
to improve their quality of life at any age.
Ellie: Sometimes people just need to be acknowledged.
Crystal Jenkins: The center is very good at loving
people. Something that traditional medicine doesn’t often
address, but one we think is extremely important, is that people
be truly “seen.” We tell everyone in our organization
that the one thing every person has written on her head is “Make
me feel important.” Once people have some relief from the
symptoms that brought them in, a relationship has formed because
somebody at the center saw them and heard them and loved them. We
hug everybody! Everyone who leaves here, who says it’s okay,
gets hugged. We have a reputation as big huggers.
Ellie: There are far worse things!
Michelle: It’s true (laughs). Some of our
clients have a pattern where they don’t value themselves.
Some are tough — you have to work hard to love them because
they push you away as fast as they can. Yesterday, one of these
people gave me two hugs. In her chart it says, “No hugs”
because she was that shut down. But yesterday she gave me two hugs.
It brings tears to my eyes even now because, you know, we’re
breaking down the walls…were reaching the “unreachable.”
Staff members at Your Wellness Connection
who are Hoffman graduates |
Ellie: Unfortunately, many people live that way.
Crystal: What we’ve found is that it‘s
best to meet people where they are — love them where they
are, and trust that that’s enough. So we just keep showing
up every day — seeing them, helping them, loving them, and
taking only our percentage of responsibility. We leave the rest
to spirit, and the results … the changes we witness are simply
amazing.
Ellie: Michelle, can you share about your personal
journey?
Michelle: In August of 1997 I was 31 years old,
and I finally had to own that I was completely empty. For many years
I thought, “If I just build this great practice then people
will love me and then I’ll be able to love myself.”
But I got to a point where I’d achieved my professional goals…
I had a great practice, was in a good place financially, but I felt
dead inside and I had dark thoughts. When it became intolerable,
I called my minister, Mary Omwake, who was a Hoffman graduate, and
I said, “I don’t know what to do anymore.” What’s
amazing is that she said, “Michelle, I’ve been waiting
for your call.” She suggested I do the Process and eight weeks
later I did.
Ellie: How did the Process change you?
Michelle: It changed my life, but not immediately
— instead, profound shifts have happened over time. This October
I’ll be nine years out of the Process, and I now live with
a sense of peace and a different sense of who I am and who I’m
not. I truly believe that Hoffman saved my life and changed, fundamentally,
how I am as a practitioner.
Ellie: How did you change as a practitioner?
Michelle: Because of the Process, I can look
at a client and know, “I, too, was raised by an alcoholic
parent, I understand some of your patterns.” I remember meeting
a new client right before I went to the Process, and she was in
great pain, not just physically but spiritually and emotionally.
I saw her and inwardly I pulled away — her pain and anger
were too much for me to handle. When I came back from the Process
I went to her and I said, “I want to apologize to you. Because
of my own pain I couldn’t see you.” It was a breakthrough
for both of us. She started to heal. She’s still my client
today — she comes in every month and brings her daughters.
It’s a miracle.
Ellie: Crystal, what was your journey like?
Crystal: I met Michelle in the late ‘90s,
when she had just returned from the Process. It was important to
her was that we have a shared language. She told me about the Process
and because I had what was a pretty “normal” childhood,
and I thought I was doing well, I said, “I’ll go —
if nothing else I’ll learn a lot and maybe I’ll make
some changes.” I was astounded to learn at the Process that
I was very detached from deep emotion. When you’re flat-lined
like that, you don’t feel the highs or lows; you’re
just cruising through. The Process opened me up to understanding
my parents, getting in touch with the anger I had toward them, which
ultimately led to a much deeper relationship with myself and with
them.
Ellie: How did the Process affect your work?
Crystal: In counseling clients I could no longer
sit and nod my head and do traditional behavior therapy. I started
to hit on issues related to their patterns and their parents and
explained that there was a Light inside of them and it changed everything!
My practice grew, people were excited to come back, to tell me more,
and what I was doing became far more exciting. Basically I became
happier because I found my authentic self.
Ellie: People often discover their authenticity
through the Process.
Michelle: Yes, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
It’s like that butterfly in the cocoon. It’s pushing
and it’s painful but when it comes out, it can fly like nobody’s
business. The Process is a big part of our center since lots of
people on our staff have taken it.
Ellie: How many of your employees have done the
Process?
Michelle: (Counts) Twenty current or former staff
people have done the Process! Wow I didn’t realize it was
that many!
Ellie: What would you say to other business people
who’ve thought about referring employees to the Process?
Crystal: The first thing is that you can’t
be attached to the outcome. You need to do it because you love that
person enough to want them to have the same gift you had —
but that’s it. We all know that many people come home and
make changes, so you run the risk that they’re going to come
back and say, “You know, I really want to follow my dream….”
and you need to be able to say, “Bless you, and get going!”
Michelle: There are also financial considerations,
but how do you put a number on somebody’s heart and soul?
Our business is a personal one — it’s not just come
in, let’s give you some medical care, chiropractic care or
whatever care they want. It’s about being seen and being loved.
It takes a special team of people to do that.
Ellie: What’s it like having so many Process
grads under one roof?
Michelle: The Process has given our staff a language
and a new way to relate and communicate. Also, if our team is happy,
they’ll spread that goodness. When our clients walk through
the door they know the compassion and love that comes from the staff
is authentic, not a game face. That comes largely from having a
team of people who learned how to love themselves first.
Ellie: I’m reminded of the “pay it
forward” idea. You’re creating the space for joy and
compassion in your employees, and they pay it forward to your clients
and community.
Michelle: Yes, and from my perspective, the center
is a dream place to work for that reason. Even though 90 percent
of what we do at the center is fun, 10 percent is not. We’re
human and our patterns come up, but when people on the staff speak
the same language — when we can ask ourselves, “What
pattern am I in?” we’re better off.
Ellie: Thanks to both of you for sharing with
us, and for your continued support of the Hoffman Institute.
Michelle: Thank you for having a place that we
can safely send people to do such important work. As a practitioner,
you put your integrity on the line when you refer somebody, whether
it’s down the street to the dentist or to something like the
Hoffman Process. We are very grateful.
Ellie: We’re honored to be that place for
you.ø
To learn more, please visit www.yourwellnessconnection.com
or call 913/962-7408. |
