IMG_6972For most of us working in the alternative field of holistic healing it was, and continues to be, a calling — the result of a search for answers to questions formed early in life. It is the ‘why’ we do what it is we do. This is what I offer here. 

Like so many, I grew up in a household rife with dysfunction. I witnessed the daily battle between my parents’ demons, watching helplessly as our family was slowly consumed from within. As my mother struggled with bi-polar disorder and self-medicated with alcohol, my father’s frustration continually ignited his unpredictable rage. Life in this prison of fear, shame, and secrecy was fertile ground for the many forms of abuse that occurred during those years. I escaped into adulthood with my own sanity barely intact.

Having studied and trained in corporate communications, I worked as a corporate writer and went on to marry and raise a family. During that time, I re-invented myself as a freelance writer, then a decorative painter. But self doubt and shame were always lurking just below the surface of my carefully constructed life. Conventional practices and beliefs of mainstream psychology and medicine gave me no relief and so I immersed myself in alternative studies in 2003. I was encouraged by the possibilities provided by understanding consciousness and metaphysics. Finding respite and hope in the science and tools of consciousness technologies, I became an holistic practitioner in 2006.

By 2009, I had a growing practice helping others utilizing skills I found effective in my own process. This came to a screeching halt that summer when our then sixteen year old son experienced recurring psychotic episodes due to self-medicating his depression. Admitting to once again smoking pot after recovering from episodes of the weeks before, the fear I felt for our son consumed me. Triggered by childhood memories, the intensity of my anger engulfed him and I “saw” him split in two, just as I had witnessed all those years ago when my father raged at my mother. It was in that moment I knew: I was the greatest danger to my own child.

This was about so much more than our son’s choices. This was about my reaction to everything in my life. If our son had any chance of overcoming whatever it was that had him in its grips, I realized that I had to do more than heal. I had to change. Having seven years of deep awareness and training, I knew that there were different choices available.

Once we addressed the immediacy of our situation and got our son out of harm’s way, I deepened my search to understand how depression and addiction was passed along though generations so I could break this cycle once and for all.

Coming full circle and incorporating what I’ve learned these past twenty years, with the skills and awareness of how they work,  I was able to access the origins of my patterns and beliefs, and make enduring changes.

You too can make a different choice. With dedicated cooperation and support, change will outpicture in your reality as deeply embedded patterns shift. As you develop, coherence, you will have access to the joy and freedom that is your natural state.

Are you ready for a change?

Donna Cerame is an holistic facilitator since 2005, with experience in a broad scope of healing modalities. Working with Dr. Richard Bartlett’s consciousness technologies, Donna sees clients both in person in the Hudson Valley, and remotely via Skype.