Hosted by Kevin Young

Produced by J’aime Rothbard

Societal conditioning and emotional wounding can make our search for authenticity seem daunting. In this episode, Allison unveils the path to authenticity and frames the obstacles we encounter along the way as opportunities for profound healing and reconnection.

Imagine a life where you're present in every moment and recognize the unique gifts your individual experiences deliver. Authenticity isn't about perfection—it's about embracing your humanity; flaws, mistakes, and all. 

Join us to hear fresh, compassionate perspectives on:

• Authenticity and Presence          
• Overcoming Obstacles     
• Healing Through Acceptance
• The roles played by: Trauma, Community, Connection, and Life's Continuity

Allison explains how revisiting unresolved emotional experiences with kindness enables us to deepen our self-understanding and connection. By attuning to our bodies and emotions, being present in the moment, acknowledging our feelings, and recognizing that our limitations do not define our worth, allows our true selves to shine through. Compassionate self- or practitioner-led inquiry helps us understand and accept the parts of ourselves we've previously reviled or rejected.

She explains that healing is a journey best taken with others, as being seen and heard facilitates self-regulation. By surrounding ourselves with those who offer unconditional acceptance—safe spaces—our authenticity will blossom and bloom. Regular self-reflection through journaling, meditation, or sharing true feelings also strengthens our connections and promotes authenticity. 

Try Allison’s approach for yourself. Embrace the reality of life as it unfolds. See every individual, including yourself, as inherently worthy. Accepting yourself and others unconditionally—imperfections and all—paves the way for deeper connections… and invites your true self to shine.

Dr. Allison Creech, M.ED, ND

Allison has been part of Compassionate Inquiry® since 2019 and is honored to support others as a CI Practitioner, Facilitator, and Mentor. 

A licensed doctor of naturopathic medicine with a professional focus on mind- body medicine and relational neuroscience, her clinical work has a focus on authenticity and embodiment, working with others to engage in a healing-centered process that restores a deep sense of connection and well being.  

Allison has a Master's and a PhD in Clinical Psychology and has dedicated herself to advanced study of somatic modalities and psychedelic assisted therapy, recognizing that experiential shifts are a vital part of healing.  

She has been on the faculty at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine for 20 years, where she enjoys her role as an educator who supports other professionals in their growth. 

Allison believes in the power of human-to-human connection and works from a perspective of resiliency and confidence in the human spirit.

Resources:

Websites:

Professional Website

Compassionate Inquiry®

Links: Brene Brown’s First TED Talk: The Power of Vulnerability

Quotes:    The segment of this poem quoted in this episode is in bold text.

For Someone Awakening To The Trauma Of His Or Her Past

“For everything under the sun there is a time.
This is the season of your awkward harvesting,
When pain takes you where you would rather not go,

Through the white curtain of yesterdays to a place
You had forgotten you knew from the inside out;
And a time when that bitter tree was planted

That has grown always invisibly beside you
And whose branches your awakened hands
Now long to disentangle from your heart.

You are coming to see how your looking often darkened
When you should have felt safe enough to fall toward love,
How deep down your eyes were always owned by something

That faced them through a dark fester of thorns
Converting whoever came into a further figure of the wrong;
You could only see what touched you as already torn.

Now the act of seeing begins your work of mourning.
And your memory is ready to show you everything,
Having waited all these years for you to return and know.

Only you know where the casket of pain is interred.
You will have to scrape through all the layers of covering
And according to your readiness, everything will open.

May you be blessed with a wise and compassionate guide
Who can accompany you through the fear and grief
Until your heart has wept its way to your true self.

As your tears fall over that wounded place,
May they wash away your hurt and free your heart.
May your forgiveness still the hunger of the wound

So that for the first time you can walk away from that place,
Reunited with your banished heart, now healed and freed,
And feel the clear, free air bless your new face.”
- John O'Donohue in To Bless The Space Between Us.

“When I speak to groups or before an audience at an event, it is not enough that I show up knowing what I wish to say. To be effective, I must be in dialogue with the whole, and therefore aware of the group or the audience as a dynamic system. Only noticing what is happening for me is not enough; I must be able to accurately feel with and adapt to the needs of my listeners. I need to clearly sense my participants’ degree of availability and curiosity. I also need to perceive whether and when I am being heard and received—or what else might be needed or present. The clarifying of the relational matrix comes with expanded awareness and offers an acceleration of our coming-into-relation. This is the leading edge of communication and leadership, and it requires deeper awareness of the intersubjective space from all.” - Thomas Hubl, in Attuned

“When a child walks into the room, your child or anybody else’s child, do your eyes light up? That’s what they are looking for”. - Toni Morrison

Books:

Attuned by Thomas Hubl

To Bless The Space Between Us by John O'Donohue

When The Body Says No by Gabor Maté

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Allison-Creech-MEd-ND-Doctor-of-Naturopathic-Medicine-100063606941882/

Instagram:@dr.ac.nd