Integrative Psychoneuroimmunology
MY STORY
When it comes to chronic disease and mental health management, drugs are given to mask symptoms …
… yet the disease persists …
… indicating that Modern Medicine has failed us.
Sean Merrick, MA, LMFT
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist #130857
The day I was talking with my “pop” about wanting a Vitruvian Man tattoo, I had no idea that the next 25 or 30 years would be spent in deep pursuit of personal healing.
Mind - Body - Spirit.
Nor did I know that I would pick Exercise Physiology as my bachelor degree focus.
While later in life, receiving a Master’s in Psychology.
Nor did I even fathom that I would participate in clinical internships in both chronic disease and mental health.
Nor did I know that I would present at various health conferences, participate in cutting edge research, coordinate a cardiac rehabilitation clinic or direct a pulmonary rehabilitation clinic.
Nor did I know that my professional life would include advanced educations in acute infectious diseases, chronic disease management and progressive functional, holistic medicines.
Nor did I know that I would make a soul-changing career shift into mental health. Leaving a job where I soullessly witnessed surgical procedures for the previous 7 years, within an allied health industry of over 14 years of experience.
Nor did I know that I would merge the past 3 decades of learning, becoming an integrative healing guide.
And the biggest unknown?
I certainly did not know these words would be read by you today.
Naively, all I knew decades ago, was The Vitruvian Man resonated with me.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous art piece echoed Mind-Body-Spirit and followed me until …
The story above is just part of that journey.
Ironically, the path that led me to create my practice did not all come from my education or professions listed above.
In 2004 I began to suffer from intense fatigue, significant joint pain, persistent digestive issues and severe insomnia.
It affected every aspect of my life …
… but mostly it was crushing my psyche.
Viewed by friends, family, even physicians I worked with as a pillar of health, unknowingly to them I suffered privately. I spent hours in the gym and led what was considered a healthy lifestyle.
An active lifestyle was my mantra, but behind all that activity …
I was suffering …
and getting sicker.
Now I was in my mid 30’s saying, “lifestyle modification before prescriptions.”
Only to succumb to the use of Ambien. As 4 hours of interrupted sleep was my norm. My doctor soon added Valium. Only to suggest Adderall to help with daily focus and energy.
Gratefully, I only allowed the medications to last a few years.
But the complaints continued, even into my early 40’s.
The last straw came the day my doctor suggested antidepressants.
Antidepressants for chronic fatigue, pain, and insomnia is the best answer?
Along with sleeping pills and stimulants?
Doctors do not have the answers - Our healthcare system is broken.
What began deep inside me is best identified as a SoulsQuest™
my entire life & belief systems began to unravel.
It became startling clear that our current medical model, that educated and employed me, is beyond dysfunctional and completely ineffective.
I would go so far as to say that it is codependently corrupt.
Doctors are not trained in disease resolution, rather they are trained in disease management.
Nor are they provided the education to understand how to uncover root causes or understand how to balance the Mind, Body & Spirit.
Drugs or procedures are their only answers!
n that wisdom I discovered a recognized branch of medicine known as Functional Medicine
- founded upon root cause investigation, resolution and not symptom relief.
Exposing myself to more contemporary medical approaches, I gathered new viewpoints.
Resulting in me firing my conventional doctor and in my early 40’s pursuing naturopathic care.
While under the care of a naturopath, I ironically discovered that they, too, are only trained in symptom relief rather than root cause investigation and dis-ease resolution.
However, I kept gathering more and more wisdom related to dis-ease resolution rather than symptom suppression.
I fired my naturopath …
… in the pursuit of a functional medicine practitioner.
My goal was to hire a premier Functional Medicine Provider to help me.
What came about was an unlikely discovery!!!
I discovered that I could pursue educations and trainings in functional & holistic medicine.
In 2016 I completed my first, of many, courseworks in the fields of functional medicine & holistic sciences.
This resulted in me becoming my own provider …
and I started healing, rapidly!
what was my secret to beginning the healing process?
I empowered myself!
I took control over my health.
I investigated my individual root causes.
I applied my own treatments.
I started a new way of being…
a new way of being
to be vulnerable and transparent,
this new way of being also includes something very personal.
so personal, it has largely remained private.
One difficult Saturday morning, in my early 40’s, I heard a voice.
“This is the best you got?” I said to myself.
“This is the best you got?” rang so loud that I froze.
That morning I had a breakdown that exposed difficult realizations, painful emotions and sorrowing truths about myself.
I questioned what it was to have a healthy relationship with myself.
I questioned if this relationship with myself was even soulful.
I questioned my reality, accepting that I was not truly living!
This laboring day catalyzed deep, deep healing - that my soul yearned for.
That day, I unknowingly gave myself permission to begin what I now call a
SoulsQuest™
This surrender led me to find a psychotherapist who became my guide.
She facilitated a safe container where I went deep into the dark night of the soul, allowing for true self-exploration.
In that harrowing journey, she encouraged me to unearth my suppressed authenticity, to nourish my anemic self-agency and resilience and to kindle my individual and unique self-beliefs.
She held me brutally accountable as I revealed my life force as she mentored the process toward self-growth.
I started understanding my psyche.
Opening other doors to new insights.
thus, broadening my reality and psyche that turned me to the realms of shamanic experiences.
Over the next years of self-work, inauthentic pieces of me were painfully burned off and destroyed.
in the those ashes, my fearlessness to become more began to emerge.
At this point, it became my mission to stay in the deep, dark cave of introspection and self-discovery while encouraging authenticity and self-truth.
Healing my Mind, Body & Spirit.
In this SoulsQuest™, I pushed myself so hard that I began to
discover subconscious negative patterns and beliefs
that influenced self-sabotaging behaviors and self-limiting thoughts
reinforcing unhealthy behaviors and stagnation.
i was blindly getting in my own way
That tattoo - The Vitruvian Man?
It resides on my back in honor of my father.
Who instilled the importance of personal health, personal passion and personal evolution.
He passed away not knowing it was in his honor.
But now you do.
My journey continues today.
As a healing guide for those who invite me.
Offering collaborative solutions for mental, physical and spiritual dis-ease.
What has come about in my long, personal journey is intense and profound realizations.
An awareness that what ails us is more often a confused psyche and suppressed soul - resulting in struggle and stagnation. Often reflected in fatigue, depression, sleepiness, anxiety, hormonal imbalances, chronic pain, malaise or apathy, even shame and guilt, along with frustration or dispair. Even autoimmunity and chronic illnesses.
I focus on the modern and forward-thinking Mind-Body Medicine known as Psychoneuroimmunology. This 21st Century model intersects both psychotherapy and functional medicine, in an integrative process, to address root causes related to symptoms connected to life’s struggles and the damage an unhealthy psyche causes.
My journey recognizes the powers of depth psychology, the interventions of holistic and functional medicines, and the interconnection with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, that catalyze the courage needed for …
a new way of being.
healing comes when fearlessness and courage is accepted, and one dedicates themselves to a
SoulsQuest™
One that intensely exposes our suppressed spirit, outside of our ego.
One that catalyzes our life force and dampens our conditioned self-shame and doubt.
One that weakens our self-sabotaging, negative patterns and unravels our self-limiting beliefs, destroying our addiction to unconscious conditioning.
One that has no choice but to ignite our soul, empower our personal transformation and catalyze our healing.
the words, "mind, body, spirit" are powerful.
Isn’t it time you speak them and start your journey into a …
SoulsQuest™ ?
“Awaken to your true nature, then evolve.”