Transformative Change is about your unique approach, not what should work for everyone else. That being said, any tool can get you the improved Mental Health you desire, it all depends on the intentional awareness in how you apply it.
My name is Dr. Alina Soto, owner and Founder of Terra Dusa and the Terra Dusa Academy for Integrative Growth. I am a Naturopathic Psychiatrist with a specialty in Trauma and Traumatic Stress. My business is known for it's unique & holistic approach to Mental Health, serving those who have been reinjured by or failed by their previous providers in Mental Healthcare.
Prior to practicing medicine full time, I was a massage therapist for over a decade. During which if anyone would have told me I would become a Psychotherapist, I would have died laughing. But, looking back, that timeframe provided moments that were crucial to the foundation of my approach, Focal Neurocognitive and Physioemotional Integration, FNPI. One of the most poignant experiences I had, was with a client I had just met, who was transferred to me after many failed attempts to bring relief to her shoulder pain, over a span of years. The muscles around her shoulder were so tight she looked like this, she had done the muscle relaxers pills, seen various types practitioners and she was here just desperate for any small brief relief.
That day, set into motion a realization that would eventually become the basis for which I chose to pursue Naturopathic Medicine, chose my specialty and become the foundation to FNPI. Whether it happened to be magic or I was so on top of my game that day, her shoulder released. And then she began to cry, and what came to the surface was a story of a pretty brutal sexual assault she survived as a teen. The pain and fear had locked in place. In that moment I realized that the gap between the physical health sciences and mental health sciences, didn't make sense, because there is no mind-body or soul separation.
Naturopathic Medicine, at the time, was closest to what I was looking for, a full encompassing approach to health. But, I really wanted to bridge that gap between the physical and the mental, so I took the extra degree in Psychology. Due to a serious of unfortunate events, I did not get the chance to practice in an already established platform.
NO REGRETS HERE! I was SO TIRED of having to fight for my approach to be taken seriously because it was different from the already established. I spent so much of my life saying NO. Launching on my own let me say FUCK YES. It Feels so good to say YES. It gave me the freedom to pursue further post-grad education in Traumatic Stress Studies, and the space to design an approach I truly align with, to find joy in my work that I created with my whole self. Removed from systems that may have lead me to the most common fate for a healthcare provider, burn-out & disillusion.
With Terra Dusa, I choose to encompass the whole of mental health, acknowledging it's multiple aspects that are beyond the mind, including the systems we inhabit. My approach includes a unique and crucial component that sets it apart. A focal point, the F in FNPI. We have a very for realsis part of the Brain called the Prefrontal cortex who's sole job is to focus on a shiny or goal and then coordinate the rest of the brain to get it done. This means that healing, regardless of the tool you are using, requires an intentional plan, a why, and movement through taking physical action, these are the things that help you envision something to aim for, that exists beyond your current experience, beyond the label of a diagnosis. If you lack a focal point, it doesn't matter what tool you use, eventually it will lose its effect and you'll end up back where you started.
A new lasting experience of life, exists, I have been present to the transformation of my own patients and have experienced it myself. It's real. So I invite you to ask yourself, who do you need to become in order to embody the life you desire? That's your key, you can pick whatever tool you want, yoga, cooking, supplements, therapy, running, meditation, whatever calls to you, then make your plan.
Are you ready for Transformative Change? Check out our booking page for a free consultation, or Enroll in my course: Unraveling Resistance: Break the Trauma Loop.