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Cathleen Beerkens is the founder of A Wellness Revolution, an institute for integrative nutrition based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. According to Beerkens, transformation and change are all around us, and as our technological environment evolves rapidly, we need to adapt to the change. As healthcare and the wellness industries are also changing, A Wellness Revolution was created to usher in new information and understanding among the global community to help this transition.
Beerkens was born in a family where she was different because she thought differently. “My parents were divorced, and we were six siblings. My effort was to maintain a balance among my five other siblings, keep them happy and bring positivity to them,” she says. However, even though she was doing all this, she never felt well. She was very emotional and always searching for something that was missing in their life, Cathleen Beerkens told WomELLE in an interview.
According to Beerkens, as a child, she had developed a strong belief in a universe that is full of goodness and love. While growing up, she was oddly struck with the overwhelming sense of a highly disconnected world and out of balance. This made her contemplate and deeply observe the pillar of disconnection surrounding her as it was duly affecting her immediate family, the community, and the global world that every individual is residing in.
At the age of 16, she visited a hospital where she was overwhelmed by the sight of people suffering from various ailments. She realized that she could not understand wellness until she cured their illness. So, she became a nurse, says Beerkens. She continued to research the true reasons behind the imbalances that so many people faced for many years.
“I found that many answers are being exposed in science and addressed the cellular connection between mind, body, and spirit. I felt that my true purpose was to help others understand the power of imbalance and coach others to create more harmony and balance in their lives.”
Beerkens graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Health Education in 1983 and continued her education by receiving a BSN from Georgetown University Nursing School in 1985. Cathleen Beerkens began her nursing career at Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington, DC. Where she worked for 11 years in various positions. She also spent many years teaching as a Teacher’s Assistant at the Georgetown University Nursing School, conducting childbirth education, and working with midwives.
Beerkens recalls that what happened to her in the hospital was intense. She saw doctors struggling and patients suffering. She realized that even after these patients were released from the hospital, they would not have enough support at home. This made her think about what could be done to get people to remain well, especially when they cannot take care of their illness.
After her marriage, Beerkens moved to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with her family in 1996. “I became Vice President of the American Women’s Club in Amsterdam for two years, where I organized the monthly events with many inspiring speakers. As the years went by, I found myself turning to many different forms of complementary medicine in The Netherlands, and I realized that my Western medical background was not offering complete solutions to promote holistic health and wellbeing,” she told WomELLE.
She was constantly amazed by the positive changes these ancient and discoveries of complementary medicine could bring and found true value in nutrition, dietary adjustments, emotional and energetic healing. With her passion for wellness, she decided to study Polarity Healing, Reflexology, and Reconnective Healing and received a certification. She also graduated in March 2017 from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC as an Integrative Health Coach.
“I have been studying many of the sciences that have been evolving in recent years, and they have revealed important pieces of a more holistic perspective of health. I am determined to bring this important cellular wellbeing education to the world.”
Talking about what led her to launch her business – A Wellness Revolution, Beerkens recalls one of Steve Jobs’ speeches, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever”. This spirit inspired Beerkens to create A Wellness Revolution. She always had a clear vision of where she intended to go. She knew she wanted to build an organization that would bring the world to a healthier and happier destination. With faith, sheer determination, and willpower, she laid one idea and goal at a time, building an organization that eventually would bring a message that now, in this present moment, seems perfectly timed and appropriate.
As Beerkens contemplated her long journey, she further stated that her passion for assisting and serving other individuals had guided her to this moment. She adds that, in the last three years of her journey, she has utilized the best of her knowledge and compassion by writing this course and building A Wellness Revolution in service to humanity. “My true motivation has always been to help others become self-actualized, find their purpose and passion, and live out their highest potentiality,” she said.
Beerkens found perseverance by helping people connect their body, mind, and spirit, and her belief that change is possible and would happen. She is a visionary and an optimist. “I would like to build a like-minded community that supports the values of wellness, cooperation, innovation, and self-development,” she said about her mission statement in the subtlest manner. A Wellness Revolution is committed to providing education and training to health and wellness coaches, to develop holistically, as we integrate the understanding and complexity of the connections between the body, mind, and spirit.
Beerkens has been teaching her peers and other individuals how to coach holistically and develop a deep sense of focus on mind, body, and spirit. According to her, health and wellness coaching is in its infancy. And to coach holistically is a comprehensive approach to helping people make the hard changes that affect them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Lifestyle change can involve food, relationships, career, exercise, sleep, stress management, social life, finances, home environment, health, emotional balance, education, and nourishing your spirit. “Holistic coaching is about learning the importance of these areas’ connections and influence on our wellbeing. It is learning how to ask the right questions to evoke in clients the internal changes necessary to lead the way to outward changes that are so hard to make and sustain,” Beerkens concludes.
WomLEAD Magazine is a print and digital leadership Magazine that made its debut in 2017 has WomELLE Magazine. The magazine targets women who are in business, leadership, and tech.
