Editor’s Note: This article is part of a larger series called “Becoming Anchored” by Anchored Wellness. In each article, readers can get to know Anchored better, discover more about their mission and meet the team members that are making Georgetown more anchored in wellness.
What do theatre, massage therapy and stand-up comedy have in common?
Well, if you’re Licensed Professional Counselor Associate Elizabeth Wheat, those are all things that have helped shape and mold her and her career today at Anchored Wellness.
“I have always thought [counseling] would be something I might do one day,” Elizabeth Wheat told Hello Georgetown. “On my way to becoming a counselor, everything I did was about the human condition.”
Wheat pursued a career in acting and loved bringing her personal experiences to the characters she played, while also getting to know the psychology of her characters. While acting, she discovered healing for herself and others through gestalt and jungian therapy. Later, after moving to a career as a massage therapist, she learned how the body holds onto stress and tension, and how releasing trauma in the body also helps the mind. Wheat also has been as stand-up comedian since 2009 and has experienced the power of laughter in healing and wellness.
“I finally decided that it was time to become a therapist,” Wheat said. “All of my experiences have led me up to this point and help me in my therapeutic practice.”
Now, at Anchored Wellness, Wheat helps her clients heal, and specializes in helping people in recovery from drugs and alcohol, sex and love addiction, and adult children of alcoholics. No matter what someone is struggling with, she understands their journey to wholeness may involve focusing on many pressure points.
“I think wellness is a holistic process,” Wheat said. “You’ve got to look at everything that might be affecting the person. So, to me, that means the social system they’re in, what is going on in their bodies and how they are creatively expressing themselves. Creatively expressing oneself doesn’t necessarily have to be in the arts, however it’s just really in anything that your soul is called to do. I think when any one of those things is out of alignment with the self (the social system, the body or not doing your what calls your soul) then it can impact you psychologically.”
Healing from addiction especially, she said, involves more than just the person who is struggling. It takes support from all around.
“When even one person in a family system is suffering with addiction, it affects everyone in the family,” Wheat said. “It’s important for everyone in the family to seek help in some way and try to change unhealthy patterns they may have.”
Regardless of how big or small the issue someone is struggling with is, there are several ways to begin the journey to wellness, some of which can start right away.
“I am a big believer in the morning pages…free writing for 3 notebook pages (or 30 mins, whichever comes first) first thing in the morning,” Wheat said. “It helps to empty your fears, worries etc. onto the page and out of your head. Whatever is impeding you to be clear headed. Another thing is get in Your body! Exercise! Something that you like to do. Or bodywork. If bodywork is too expensive there are schools that have student massage therapists that do massages for a discounted rate.”
Having help from a professional is important too. Wheat is part of an entire team of wellness professionals who are ready to help. Those interested in learning more about Anchored Wellness can visit https://www.becomeanchored.com or follow Anchored Wellness on Facebook or Instagram.
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