69: Combining Psilocybin Education and Nurse Coaching- Chandra “CeeCee” Campanelli RN, HN-BC, HWNC-BC

69: Combining Psilocybin Education and Nurse Coaching- Chandra “CeeCee” Campanelli RN, HN-BC, HWNC-BC Transcript

Nicole Vienneau  00:00

Welcome, everyone, to the Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! podcast. My name is Nicole Vienneau. I am your host and I’m also a Board Certified Integrative Nurse Coach. And today I’m excited. We have a guest from Broad Brook, Connecticut. She is an RN, Board Certified Holistic Nurse, Board Certified Health and Wellness Nurse Coach. 

And she specializes as a psychedelic educator and guide. So I know we all want to know more about psychedelic things and related to Nurse Coaching, and how we can become more versed and understand this unique pathway to healing. And so I want to welcome Chandra Campanelli. So, welcome, Chandra!

Chandra Campanelli  00:52

Thank you, thank you, Nicole, thank you for for having me. I’m so so happy to be here. I’m Chandra, and for the purposes of the podcast, and the greater community, you are welcome to refer to me as CeeCee, which is what most of my clients call me.

Nicole Vienneau  01:10

Yay, I like CeeCee. That’s… that feels good to say that. CeeCee. So thank you for joining us. And I’ve been looking forward to having this conversation. Because this is an area that I don’t know much about. And I know our listeners are really interested in this topic as well. And we all want to be versed, because we know that these different healing modalities are coming to the surface. 

And we would like a better understanding. So I’m hopeful. And I know that we will gain greater awareness of this topic through your work, combining Nurse Coaching and the psychedelic educator and guide work that you’re doing. But before we get there, we do love to go down history lane, we’d love to know how you even discovered Nursing and what’s come up through your Nursing career.

Chandra Campanelli  02:01

Right on. All right, so a little background about me— I have been a Nurse for about 17 years. I became a Nurse sort of as an after though. I kind of lived… I was out there sowing my wild oats and turns out I was gonna have a baby. 

And it occurred to me at that time in my life that I ought to do something that I could support myself and support my son coming into the world in ways that allowed me to be the person I wanted to be, which was a caring person, and a person who could do a work that I could come home feeling good about. 

Needless to say, I got quite an awakening once I earned my degree and became a Nurse and hit the bedside and realized the level of autonomy that I thought I would have, I did not have. The time that I thought I could devote to patients, I could not devote. 

So I quickly found holistic Nursing, became Reiki certified, began to employ that at the bedside and really started to work with a holistic presence, taking a lot of info from the American Holistic Nurses Association and trying to integrate that into what I was doing at the bedside. 

And so fast forward, you know, many years of holistic bedside Nursing. 2019, I had my first patient tell me that she was micro dosing. And I had an understanding of what that was, because the previous year I had read Michael Pollan’s book, How to Change Your Mind, which is an incredible… is a fascinating book, but it talks a lot about the healing power of psychedelics and the science behind it. 

There’s a lot of great peer reviewed data in that book that had a huge impact on my way of thinking, in terms of working with people who utilize psychedelics. So in 2019, my first patient tells me, you know, I’ve been micro dosing, it helps with my pain, I’ve broken over 34 bones in my life and probably going to keep doing that because I refuse to sit still. 

And I found that really curious. And when I asked her had she shared that information with the provider, she looked at me like I was crazy. She was like, what… what… like, what are you talking about? I would never do that. So one of the things about being a holistic Nurse, when you’re open to patients, patients are open to you, and they are willing to share more parts of themselves than they’re willing to share with traditional Western providers. 

So that kind of got me to thinking about how we can truly serve people that are using these kinds of medicine, even at the bedside, how to show up for them, how to be there for them. And what does Nursing look like through the lens of psychedelic work? 

So like clockwork, and as is the case in my life with so much synchronicity, she was the first of many patients who would talk to me about psychedelics unprompted, on my part, which is pretty remarkable. I’ve always felt was pretty remarkable. And so these conversations began happening. 

And I am privileged to have a wonderful circle of women around me in my social sphere that are just really wholehearted and wise, and we meet with regularity for, you know, what is called like, girls weekend. But so these conversations are happening simultaneously in that area. And I’m continuing to read literature and studies on psychedelics. 

And this circle of women says to me, we’d really like you to facilitate for us. We want to do this, and we want you to guide us and facilitate for us. And so this is like late 2019, early 2020, just pre COVID. And I thought to myself, I can do that. I want to do that, reviewing my skills, reviewing my capacity, reviewing my knowledge, and really diving into that role. 

So that became the first time that I actually facilitated a group healing session that the participants have utilized this particular type of medicine. Now, we use the word psychedelics, and I just am going to clarify that my expertise lies specifically in psilocybin, I really can’t answer questions about the other psychedelics, MDMA and ketamine and Ayahuasca, the other various medicines that are used. 

Specifically psilocybin. So from that point, the words started to filter out that I would be willing to show up for people who wanted to use this medicine. And of course, as a Nurse, I can’t provision this medicine, that is not within my scope, and it’s not legal. But I can show up for people in terms of harm reduction. 

And that’s… in the case of psilocybin, that’s really more psychological, psycho emotional harm versus physical harm. There’s certainly an element or potential of physical harm, but the risk, the relative risk is very, very low. But psycho emotional harm, without proper guidance, without proper support, without integration, there’s certainly potential for that. 

So yeah, I jumped into that and began showing up for people. And then I decided that I was going to become a holistic Nurse Coach and joined the INCA program, late 2021, I think it was, or early 2022. And that was so eye opening for me. I had the bug. I wanted to be a Nurse Coach so bad. 

There was something about it that called to me. I just knew that it was what I needed to do. And opening the Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing, the Nurse Coaching textbook, which I think you had a hand in, right?

Nicole Vienneau  09:12

Not in the first textbook. 

Chandra Campanelli  09:14

Oh, okay. But yeah, Dossey, Luck, and Schaub?

Nicole Vienneau  09:20

That’s right. Yes. 

Chandra Campanelli  09:22

All right. Yeah. So I opened that book, and word for word, I was rereading sentences and rereading… that’s the one!

Nicole Vienneau  09:35

Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing. This is the first version. Yes.

Chandra Campanelli  09:41

Yes. Opening up that book, there was so much in it that really articulated structure and background to what I was already doing. I was already working with people in this way. I just hadn’t really identified it. And it really gave me a lot of new insight and a lot of new ways to work with these clients who were using this medicine way more effectively. 

And then of course, through the program, and through certification, I now work with a variety of clients that do or do not use the medicine. I look at psilocybin as a support for the other work that is being done. Psilocybin is not a cure all. It’s not a one and done, oh, I’m here, I did it, I’m great. 

I’m gonna be wonderful forever, I’m always gonna feel good. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, it’s a support for… it can be a support for coaching, it can be a support for breathwork, it can be a support for guided visualization, for tapping, for meditation, for all the various tools that we work with, as Nurse Coaches, to elevate and amplify the work we’re doing. 

So, being a Nurse Coach has lent itself to this work in a huge way, being able to hold space for others effectively, to hear them and connect with them. Not sitting there thinking I know all the answers and just trying to provide people with answers, that, God, seems like such a logical way to accomplish something, but it’s really just the opposite. 

That shows me when clients or patients are really having movement in the direction that they’re trying to go. So yeah, and here I am. So now I have a coaching practice. It’s called In.Spire Integrative. And I am still at the bedside, and I am coaching, and I’m busy all the time. And I’m happy as hell to move in this direction. 

And the world of psychedelics, and psilocybin is opening up, people are learning more, they’re asking for more. And I am very, very fortunate and privileged to be in the position that I am to have the experience, and the clinical background, and the Nursing— I will say Nursing— and Nurse Coaching, that really have brought me to a place where I feel right. I feel right in the role.

Nicole Vienneau  12:41

I just want to take a breath with that one. Feeling right in the world. Yes, I love that so much. And your journey has been so incredible, all the things that you’ve shared with us from not even knowing that you wanted to be a Nurse, and then realizing, yeah, let’s do something that will really support me and my family, my new family, and from your caring perspective. 

And then having building that as a foundation for all of the future work that, you know, at that time, didn’t even know what you were going to do with it, right? And then thinking, you know, taking the traditional role of learning, being at the bedside, and then realizing it wasn’t as fulfilling in the way that it was being done. 

And so then you took some steps to enhance how you could show up by becoming more of a holistic Nurse and practicing in that way. So that when you are at the bedside, it became more meaningful for you and also for your patients. Because here they are disclosing information that they would not be disclosing potentially to another type of practitioner. So just being open and being willing, and, you know, coming from a holistic, full being perspective, and just the way of showing up in that… Yeah, we always talk in Nursing, oh, we’re no judgment. But and are we truly? Right? And so how can we show up in that way so that patients are able to disclose this type of thing that they’re doing with micro dosing of something that is an illegal substance, and that they could get in trouble for, or they think they could, right? 

So yeah, all of that in the way that you were showing up at that time. Then being asked by your friends, hey, help us, help us and because they trusted you, right? And they knew that you were educated, you’re coming from this Nursing background and let’s have someone who can help us and keep us safe as we explore this opportunity for us in our own healing. 

And then discovering Nurse Coaching through the world, and then knowing that, like, I want to be a Nurse Coach too, like I want that. Yeah, and then doing it, right? And then doing it. It’s not an easy course. For one, it’s very time consuming. 

And it’s also very rewarding in so many things that we learned about ourselves through the process, as well as all of the elements that we can use within our own Nursing practice. And then now developing your own entrepreneurial steps with In.Spire Integrative, and still showing up at the bedside too. So doing both aspects and juggling all of that, plus your family, right? 

Chandra Campanelli  15:32

Plus my family. 

Nicole Vienneau  15:34

Yeah! All of the things! Yes. Okay. So I know that you have recently been involved in showing up as an advocate. So in your state, at the state level. So I’m hopeful that you could share a little bit about that, you know, some of the things that happened, what led up to your impetus to be vocal, and share how you are showing up as an advocate and a person who is willing to speak up?

Chandra Campanelli  16:09

Yeah, so I would consider the advocacy to be some of the most important work that I engage in. So for me, one of the most powerful facets of my being is my voice. I have used my voice in a million different ways. My throat chakra is unblocked. Right? Hear me now. 

So I’m not like one of the people that like to scream my opinions to the empty hall, I like to throw on a blazer and walk in and find the people that need to hear what needs to be heard. And let them know about it. So as most of the listeners are aware, psilocybin is illegal in all but… well, technically, it’s still illegal in all the states. 

Oregon and Colorado have taken measures to decriminalize. Both also have a regulated access model, meaning that you can go into a facility or a clinic, and have an experience with a facilitator in this controlled environment. Oregon, unfortunately, built this regulated access model, and it made it profitable for clinics, but they never decriminalized the medicine. Right? 

So that’s great if you have thousands of dollars to spend to go to a clinic, it’s not great if you prefer to micro dose and have medicine at home. It’s not great for equity, certainly not available for people who cannot afford it. And right now, the going rate is between 3 and $4,000 for a session. And it’s certainly very time consuming and financially consuming to run a facility. 

But it certainly doesn’t avail people like myself, or you know, other people who have been doing this for a long time who didn’t just have a bucket of capital to throw in and then start a business. Actual tried and true experience. So here in Connecticut, we are working to decriminalize psilocybin. 

We’d like it to become decriminalized in such a way that it is not… no longer considered a felony. It’s akin to a traffic ticket. And we also are looking for the capacity to grow and to share and to gift. We do expect that sale will continue to be outlawed. And truly I have no problem with that. 

I think that profiting from sale… in Connecticut, profiting from the sale of cannabis has really turned the cannabis industry upside down. It’s really malfunctioning here. It’s actually even caused a significant shortage of cannabis in the state. With psilocybin, I think it’s just fine to continue to outlaw the sale. 

But I do think that it is safe to grow at home and to share and gift for adult use. So, 21 and over. So, with respect to that, last year, we had a bill come up, I provided testimony for that, worked with local legislators to try to get that moving. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it passed. 

It passed the Judiciary Committee it passed the house and then it fell flat and the Senate didn’t even get voted on because the year came up and once… I’m not sure if it works the same in other states, but in Connecticut, once you’re in the new year, everything that didn’t get voted yay or nay is gone, you have to start again. 

So we have a new bill in Connecticut, that’s HP5279, you can look it up on the Connecticut General Assembly website. And it actually mirrors the bill that came up last year. So we have a public hearing coming up on Wednesday for that, where we really are trying to push for grow, gift, and share. 

And that would enable people like me to actually gift medicine to people who are looking to work with it, which I would much prefer, because I don’t… when people come to me and they say, hey, CeeCee, you know, I’ve got this. I’d like to do something with it. Can you help me? Can you help me formulate a way or show up for me in a way that will allow me to feel safe? 

And if anything does happen, that I know you’re there to either help or seek services that might be necessary? You know, I say to them, okay, well, what do you have? And where did you get it? Right? And the answers are not always answers that I feel really comfortable with. There’s lots of online people who who sell anything. 

There are some churches who will provide sacrament. That particular piece, I support, I know that the churches are doing a really good job of being part of the movement and showing that the movement is legitimate and safe, and representing it as such. But I would feel so much better if I could gift. 

And I know the exact amount, the strain and where it came from, and have a better idea of, you know, what you’re in for based on that information. Because gram for gram, strain for strain, the medicine is not the same. You know, at this point, I’ve been involved for so long, that I can really show up for anybody with anything confidently, but it’s not my preference, and I don’t feel that it’s the safest thing. 

And I will show up. I believe so strongly in being present for people in a way that they feel safe. In fact, feeling safe with this medicine is a huge therapeutic component of, you know, later benefits. So yeah, so I’m involved with Connecticut for accessible psychedelic medicine, in pushing for this in the state of Connecticut. 

I meet with a lot of people throughout the country who are doing the same thing in their states. Massachusetts has a bill coming up, as well, to be voted on. And there’s a lot of good reason to accept this as legislation. Psilocybin is a very safe medicine, the risk profile is incredibly low. Meaning that there are very, very, very few emergencies. 

And by the criteria of the emergency room, they’re not actual emergencies. So when people do report to the emergency room, when they’ve had maybe an experience that scared them, they’re not going requiring fluids, they’re not going we’re requiring medicine. In fact, no medical intervention is required. 

The primary complaint is anxiety, and it’s self resolving. So we know that we don’t have people dying, we do have a psycho emotional component. And that psycho emotional component can be mitigated by good facilitators. You know, as far as driving— so, driving under the influence is a big concern among legislators— well, fun fact, there’s really no evidence to show that there’s any significant mushroom related traffic accidents. 

So it’s really not the kind of medicine that people take, and then they’d go for a ride. People who take it generally have good sense of what they’re getting into. They know they need to be tucked in and stay in still for a bit. The other thing about the emergencies is that it’s primarily youth, and they’ve used mixed substances, so those emergency visits aren’t even like psilocybin specific. 

They’re psilocybin mixed with alcohol or psilocybin mixed with cannabis, mixed with a lot of weird things that kids are mixing stuff with. So you know, long term effects are primarily positive. You have… of course, you have neurogenesis. So you have the growth of new neurons, and not even just new neurons, but the new dendritic connections. 

So you’re making new brain connections, which isn’t necessarily cause aided with the improved outcomes in terms of anxiety, depression, addiction, because all of the psilocybin is showing, not promised, but results in all of these areas. It’s also showing promise in areas of helping alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms, post concussive syndrome, OCD. 

And one of my very favorite things about this medicine, and the prime reason why I don’t believe that it should be owned by the medical industry, meaning prescribed by a provider, is that there’s a lot of benefits for the walking well. People who do not have a medical diagnosis. 

We’re talking improved creativity, improved problem solving, decreased stress responses, there’s a long line of benefits for people who are just trying to feel a little better in life. Right? They don’t need… they don’t have or need a diagnosis. 

So it’s safe for common people to use. Right? It’s effective for common people to use. So why… what stops it from being legal? What stops it from being legal is propaganda and fear, and the propaganda campaigns that came out in the 60s were really effective. They were they were really, really effective. 

So much so, that, you know, if you have a group of, you know, 10 people or so, and you say, like, hey, guys, have you ever thought of doing mushrooms, you know, half of them are gonna go bug eyed and be like, oh, I’m gonna lose my mind and go to a psych institute for the rest of my life. 

They scared the living daylights out of people. And it’s just not, in fact, true. So that’s part of the advocacy, is providing education and safety information for primarily legislators, policy makers, and people in positions of authority, to understand what they’re looking at here, because they don’t understand. 

And I’m really fortunate, because a lot of them are willing to say, I don’t understand, instead of saying… I have come across some really well dressed 70 year old, silver haired legislators that say, well, young lady, it’s just not safe. And I don’t need any information. My mind is made up. To which I just move on. What are you going to do? So that’s the world we’re working in, and we’re advocating in and, yeah, that’s a little bit of my work with advocacy.

Nicole Vienneau  28:04

Thank you for sharing all of that. Nurses are really positioned to become advocates in whatever area we’re really interested in. Right? Being the most trusted profession for, what are we at? 22 years or so? Yes, ma’am. 

And yet, a lot of us are too nervous to stand up and say something. And I just want to give you a shout out, kudos, huge kudos for standing up for something that many people would not be willing to use their Nurse’s voice for.

Chandra Campanelli  28:40

I have to tell you, I mean, it does feel vulnerable. You know, I’d really like to see more Nurses on the floor speaking up about this, both in the hospital and in the general assembly. I’d really like to see it. I cannot tell you… my private client bill and group sessions are packed with Nurses. 

Nurses are interested. Nurses want to use this medicine. They want to explore this medicine. They want to understand this medicine. And inevitably, they want to share this medicine. Through our experience, we, minute for minute, spend more time with vulnerable people— not just vulnerable people, but vulnerable people in their most vulnerable times— than nearly any other profession. 

We spend really long days helping people work through their physical ails, their emotional ails, and a lot of that is all sort of… can be part of the same thing. And certainly, one impacts the other. And that experience, the empathy that we build, the things that we think about, and the ways that we’ve had to process, it not only opens ourselves up to healing ourselves more— we’ve become really aware of the parts of ourselves that need to heal. 

You know, some of us have a hard time doing that on our own, so we get coaches, like the great Nicole Vienneau. And, you know, and we get the support that we need, to do what it is that we need to do. And then others, not so great, but it doesn’t change the insight, it doesn’t change the processing, it doesn’t change the empathy or the understanding. 

And so we are already showing up for people in very similar situations that we would need to show up for them under the use of psilocybin, whether it’s through shared conversation, or therapeutic touch, or employing Reiki, or just in general, creating a sense of safety for someone when they are scared. 

I don’t know, you know, if you know this, the listeners know this, but it’s pretty damn near impossible to undergo a psilocybin journey and not be scared. It’s the absolute unknown, a little fear is gonna pop up beforehand, depending on your general level of anxiety, fear pops up beforehand. 

And then during the journey, oftentimes, you’re working through fears. And you don’t do that by not being afraid, you do that by coming face to face with your fears, and seeing them for what they are. And we do that all the time. We do that all of the time. 

Somebody is afraid that they’re going to lose a limb, they’re afraid that their kidneys gonna shut down, they’re afraid that they got a new diagnosis, and how are they going to tell their family? Like, the fears in the hospital are infinite and ever changing. And we have a huge experience in doing that. 

And we belong in the psychedelic space for that reason, we are not… and this is not to discredit therapy, I believe in therapy… but we’re not just sitting across from people in our experience, and walking them through things. 

We are with them in their experience, we are with them when they’re hurting, we are with them when they’re suffering, when they’re dehydrated, when they’re vomiting, when they can’t control what’s happening with their body. And their mind is quickly following suit. And all of that experience really makes us a rich source for support in the psilocybin journey. So, I mean, I can’t… I could never say it enough. We belong in this space.

Nicole Vienneau  33:05

Yes. Nurses are very well positioned to do many, many, many different things, right? So, Nurses, if you are curious about advocacy, standing up for something that you believe in, stay curious, and then take steps forward to be able to support yourself so that you can be a voice for whatever it is you’re passionate about. Yeah. CeeCee, how did you even find this opportunity to become an advocate?

Chandra Campanelli  33:39

Hmm. Well, it kind of fell out of the sky. And then I scooped it up and ran with it. So, in the state of Connecticut, over the course of my career, I certainly talked with a lot of other holistic practitioners and other people who have been involved in the plant medicine world, especially the cannabis movement. 

And we have a couple of really great organizations here, CannaWarriors, that were able to be critical components in the legalization of cannabis here in the state of Connecticut. And when cannabis became legal, I think it sort of opened up more space for them to consider, you know, what’s next. 

And this is what the people want. This is what the people are saying, and bringing into these groups. And so I just happen to have some connections in these groups. I was not heavily involved in the cannabis movement. But I had many connections in these groups, and one of them just reached out to me and she was like, hey, we need you to talk tomorrow. 

And I was like, well, talk about what? And she was like mushrooms, but at the state house. And I was like, well, gosh, I felt vulnerable. Because even though I’ve been using my voice really, really privately, of course, it brings up a lot of fear for me, in terms of my license, in terms of my reputation and what people will think about me. 

Like, I’m a good Nurse, I’m a good bedside Nurse, I do love being at the bedside and employing holistic Nursing at the bedside. And there’s definitely a part of me that fears that, you know, once people get a hold of, you know, or begin to associate me with psychedelics, that the propaganda mind is going to begin to discredit my Nursing, and I don’t want to jeopardize that. 

I want to be a Nurse forever. So there’s that fear. And I now know, because I’ve been doing it for over a year now, providing testimony and speaking with legislators, that I don’t have to fear. But that first time, I was so terribly nervous. I knew it was the right thing to do, because this is what I believe in. 

And I believe in bringing to the community what the community needs. These practices of withholding good things that can help our population, for the sake of old stories, is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And like I said, I don’t like to scream to empty halls. So here’s the opportunity. Yes, I’m afraid, but I’m going to take it. 

And I did. And it really was the beginning of a road for me that I did not anticipate, much like all the other beginnings of the road for me. I’m not like, really paving the way. Maybe I throw in a few pavers, but the dirt path just kind of unravels itself. And so, yeah, that’s how I ended up starting. And I found that I was actually really, really passionate about it. So I bought a bunch of blazers and took on a bunch of appointments. And now that’s part of what I do.

Nicole Vienneau  37:31

Oh, that’s so good. Right? You say this thing fell out of the sky. I think that’s funny, because it didn’t, right? You had all of these established relationships, and the connections, you had made yourself known as an expert in this field. And then they were like, we need somebody to talk. Let’s call CeeCee. Right? I mean, that is how that happened, because of your previous work. And the thing is, is that you could have said no, right? 

Chandra Campanelli  38:05

I could have said no. No part of me would have accepted it, but I could have said no. And I’m going to tell you why. Let me tell you why. Nursing. Nursing is why. Nursing might have been the crux of my fear, but it also… as Nurses, we are able to articulate clinical information in the voice of the common person. 

And that is really, really important. We can understand the difference between theory and evidence. We can also understand the difference in the nuances of what those things mean. And then we’re educated to understand, to be able to look at a piece of research and be able to understand, you know, the outcomes, not in a one phrase conclusion, but thoroughly look through that research and understand what’s happening in the process. 

And to be able to articulate that to people is a skill, and it’s a Nursing skill, especially when it comes to doing it in a way that they understand. Like this is what’s real, this is what’s been gleaned, this is what they thought, this is what they still think, and bring that information out. 

So when you’re sitting in front of, you know, a lot of people with authority, they want to hear it, they want to hear that. They don’t want to hear… right, so there’s so many flavors of advocacy… they don’t want to hear from the me that, you know, has my wispy shawl on and, you know, is like telling them of all the wonderful parts and pieces. 

They want to hear the data. They want to hear the information. And so as a Nurse, we have the capacity to do that. And we still retain so much of our humanity from the act of Nursing that we can connect. And that makes us really powerful tools.

Nicole Vienneau  40:16

So good. I’m getting those little chilly goose bumps all over my arms and legs, CeeCee. 

Chandra Campanelli  40:25

Yeah, I love it! 

Nicole Vienneau  40:26

I love it, too. Yeah, we come from the science and the humaneness. And we can combine those things, so that we make the challenging information much more palatable and understandable for the everyday person. And all us Nurses are real people, like, we have families, we are, you know… and like you mentioned earlier, we see people at the most challenging times of their life. 

And we see a lot of vulnerable people in the most vulnerable positions in their life. And so we are seeing the real humaneness of people on a daily basis. And then we connect that with our own humaneness. And then we can take the science and then make that more easily understood, and passionate too, right? 

And you’re speaking from passion here as well, to bring this alive for us, and the real need for Nurses to come out of our cocoons and our safety, and show up and stand up and use our voices in the ways that we can. 

And sometimes that requires you getting a phone call the night before and knowing you are not 100% prepared, and yet you are because you have all of this knowledge from the past. Right? And then being able to say yes, put on your dang blazer and get in there! 

Chandra Campanelli  41:54

Or go to the Capitol! 

Nicole Vienneau  41:55

That’s right! I love this. Okay, so I’m thinking of the integration of the medicine styles, like, you know, because how are you using this in practice? Like, tell us a little bit about that. So in your own practice, and integrating it with Nurse Coaching and Reiki and as a guide educator, how’s that look?

Chandra Campanelli  42:22

Colorful. Very colorful. So, you know, my private practice is called In.Spire Integrative and integrative, integration, you can look at it as just a word, but it’s an action. And it’s, you know, this coalescing of various elements. For me, and how I practice, it’s not just a word, it’s integral, right? 

Like Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! So I… coming from where I’ve come from, and being all the places I’ve been, believe in integrating all of those pieces together. So, for every person, that obviously means something different. But I will give sort of an example. So I’m not an ayurvedic practitioner. I know a little about ayurvedic. Not a traditional Chinese practitioner. 

I know a little about traditional Chinese medicine. You know, and any one of these specialties, I’m not specialized in, but I know enough conceptually, and how to suggest and to integrate some of the theories and practices. So the way I look at integration is like this. 

So if you have an ailment, right, let’s say anxiety, say you’re going… you have anxiety, and you need to work on anxiety, right? You have Western medicine, that’s going to give you probably two things, right? Medicine, and therapy. So I think the two primary routes we deal with in Western clinical settings, right? 

It is very different, right? Western medicine is this whole philosophy, it’s this whole practice unto itself. Then if you take something like aryurveda, and its approach to anxiety looks very different than a Western medicine approach. They might employ herbs, they might employ different types of practices, different types of dietary changes, to help treat anxiety, and aryurveda is a whole medicine practice unto itself. 

And then if you look at traditional Chinese medicine, it’s the same sort of thing. It’s a whole practice unto itself, but if you’re trying to treat someone with anxiety, the treatment plan looks very, very different. You may include acupuncture and may include teas or bodily manipulations, right? 

So you could go down the line and look at all the various styles of treatment for a singular ailment, and you’re going to have a lot of different answers. And this is why I think integration is so important, because if you think that there’s only one way, no matter what it is, the only way I’m going to solve this is through acupuncture, the only way I’m going to solve this is through anxiolytics, you know, you’re selling yourself short. 

You’re selling yourself short of a world of possibility and healing potential. And you know what, a lot of it is evidenced. So in our Western medical minds, and our Western medical model, a lot of it still fits. And so when I’m practicing, I pull in elements, you know, things like tapping, or Reiki or guided visualization. 

All of these have evidence, there’s evidence, peer reviewed data for anybody who can’t operate without it. There’s lots of it for many things. Prayer, right? So we think maybe of like prayer and healing, you know, in terms of like, being at church and everybody praying for you, but prayer can be very powerful. 

And there’s evidence for it in terms of healing actual ailments. So, in my approach with clients, I don’t stick to one box, I like to pull in the boxes, because every single person that I work with is a unique and whole individual. 

Their experience, their background, their happiness, their trauma, all of it is built of parts and pieces that the Western medical model may not acknowledge, and so will not be limited by that. Nor do I need to be limited, as I’ve grown into true holistic Nursing. So yeah, so I am strong in the practice of integration and as an action. 

Nicole Vienneau  47:22

You’re connecting with a lot of listeners here.

Chandra Campanelli  47:27

That’s it. Right? You make the connections and you integrate. 

Nicole Vienneau  47:31

That’s right. Love it. Yeah. And we know that one size doesn’t fit everybody. And it can’t just be one approach. Yeah, I love that. Thank you for… yes, and picking… you know, that’s what I love about learning Nurse Coaching, and then coupling it with the things that I am passionate about. 

And then using those things to support people within my practice, because they’re looking for something like that. Right? They are seeking us out in the unique ways in which we practice based on what our own passions are, our own interests, our own education is, and so, you know, integrating all of that which is truly integrating ourselves, and then coming at it from that perspective. 

Yeah. So good. Okay, so we are tying up our time here. And we’ve learned so much. I know. CeeCee has got her bottom lip out. 

Chandra Campanelli  48:32

I love talking to you.

Nicole Vienneau  48:35

I know, I love it, too. I love talking to you, too, CeeCee. So I love to ask the question, and you might take a breath for this one. What is on your heart that you would like to share with our listeners?

Chandra Campanelli  48:53

I will say that my heart is feeling very big this morning. I’m coming off of facilitating a group journey yesterday that, just, everybody got what they needed. Everybody got what they came for. I worked a program… the program that I created for the event, I think was one of the finest ones yet. 

It was so cohesive. And I always get, still, really nervous. I mean, no matter what, I always do. Because I take responsibility, and I take that to heart. And so I’m always still, you know, just nervous and want everything to… I know… I mean, at this point, I know everybody’s gonna get what they need. But yesterday was just… it was just a beautiful session. 

And the feedback already has just been so profound. And so I sit in the glow of knowing that the time that I’m devoting… which sometimes is quite an intense bit of time, you know, I take what I do very seriously, I don’t just, you know, take people’s money and show up. That’s not it. 

And so I’m really just basking in a really gratifying glow this morning, feeling that what I am doing is impactful and meaningful. And I’m so damn happy. As simple as that. And now I can relax, make my family a nice dinner tonight and catch up with my kids who knock on the door while I’m like, you know, knee deep in index cards and put my glasses down at them. 

They’re like, mom, are listening to that weird music again? I thought you were working. I’m like, it’s the same thing! You know, and so I get to turn that whole heart towards my family and it just makes for a really good day.

Nicole Vienneau  51:11

Thank you.

Chandra Campanelli  51:13

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for having me and for being willing to talk about these things. As you can see, I love sharing this information.

Nicole Vienneau  51:23

We love it. We love to hear your passion come through. And you know, why hold our passions in? Let’s bring our passions out. That’s when we feel in flow. That’s when we feel our hearts open. And we’re sharing ourselves with the world. Yeah. All right. So how can our listeners find you, CeeCee?

Chandra Campanelli  51:45

Yeah, well, you know, you can find me a few different ways. You can certainly check out my website, that’s www.inspireintegrative.com, as well as social media. I would say I’m most active on Facebook, where you can find me under my given name Chandra Campanelli. 

And I’m also on TikTok, under in.spire_integrative, where I love to give juicy tidbits, both about health, healing, and I take nature walks and talk about the forests and healing and all sorts of things… and healing! So those would probably be the primary ways to find me. 

Certainly, if you feel compelled, you can find my information on the website and you can reach out by phone or email or text. I love to talk with other passionate people. And I love to be able to offer my services or my presence in however it makes sense to do it.

Nicole Vienneau  52:49

Fantastic. And of course we’ll share all of CeeCee’s contact information in our show notes. And we look forward to seeing how your journey transpires. And we’ll be looking forward to hearing your outcomes for your advocacy work in the state of Connecticut. And just watching you shine, girl. Keep shining! Thank you so much, CeeCee.

Chandra Campanelli  53:15

Thank you. Thanks, Nicole. I always love conversing with you, and thanks for having me today. And thank you to INCA for being such an integrative part of my journey.