Whole Health Integration in Nurse Coaching: Lisa Bell Henson MBA, BSN, RN

Whole Health Integration in Nurse Coaching: Lisa Bell Henson RN, BSN, MBA

Nicole Vienneau  03:27

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 I have the pleasure of interviewing amazing Nurse Coaches from all over the world, sharing their stories, helping us realize how important Nurse Coaches are in our world and how we’re shifting the way Nurses are showing up in our communities to help shift healthcare. 

And today, we get to interview an amazing human, a joyful spirit, a very vibrant spirit in this world. I’ve known her for a few years now, and just have enjoyed getting to know her better. She’s also going to be the first person that we’ve interviewed from Farmington, Arkansas, so that’s really fun. 

So we’re going to welcome Lisa Bell Henson, who is the owner of Lisa Bell Henson, and she is a whole health Coach, holistic health Coach, experience with the cannabinoid system and doing so many wonderful things in the state of Arkansas and beyond. And so let’s welcome Lisa.

Lisa Bell Henson  04:35

Thank you so much, Nicole, it’s just an honor to be here. You’ve been one of my role models in Nurse Coaching and so thank you for all that you do for all of us.

Nicole Vienneau  04:45

Aw, thank you! So Lisa, we love to go and take a trip down history lane every time we talk to one of our Nurse Coaches. So we would love to know what your story is, as far as why you even discovered that you wanted to be a Nurse.

Lisa Bell Henson  05:00

Well, that’s a great one, but it really started because I was born into a medical family. My dad was an endocrinologist and kind of a classic Marcus Welby in a small southern town in Arkansas. He used to laugh and say that he moved there to see disease in its natural state, which that’s the state motto. 

I didn’t realize that was actually a joke. And my mom was a geriatric Nurse. Went to Duke University, so literally, was born into this wonderful servant family. And my mom had an early diagnosis of melanoma when I was just a young girl, and she really got a death sentence, not great chemo options at the time, and found comfort visiting Nursing home residents that were end of life. 

And so I literally went with her. My sister and I, and we grew up in these Nursing homes that were not great conditions in the time in small town in Arkansas. And so the sights, the sounds, seeing people, the smells, you know, all those things really gave me a very vivid image of what I didn’t want to do as I aged. And so that was a very formative experience. 

And miraculously, she was was really healed of that initial melanoma. It really impacted all of us. And 20 years later, she died of a different type of cancer, alone in a hospital bed because of the conventional care that she received. It was, you know, not expected. It was not really even supposed to happen. 

But it was one of those paradigm shifts for me that shifted in my mind, and, you know, really led to me wanting a more holistic option, instead of Western conventional care. So that’s really what the backdrop, Nicole, and so I, you know, really had that burning desire to to really help serve and help empower people to be their very best selves. 

And I started my career then as an ICU Nurse back in the 80s. It was, you know, very, very intense staffing shortages. I mean, this was before covid, obviously, but it was, it was a tough it was really one of the toughest things that I did. But it was also a formative experience for me to see kind of the downside of Western medicine, conventional care, you know, highly intense medical treatment and really kind of help determine the future path for my life. 

Because I saw these people who were suffering in my unit, that if I had been able to intervene 20 years before, I know you probably have had the same thought, that if we could have intervened with what we now know as whole health interventions, that we could have really saved them suffering and in many cases, death. 

Early on, I didn’t know how the healthcare system was going to be able to sustain itself with just the band aid that was put on disease and just the allowing of a horrible lifestyle, which we know is at least 80% of the disease equation, without really trying to change that on the front end. And that really helped dictate just my future path.

Nicole Vienneau  08:22

I’m really aligning with you, because I too did intensive care. And those were the times when I was at the bedside and I was like, gosh, if only this person had known, or they would tell me, if only I had known about taking care of myself better. And then that was when I started to question too, like, wow, what are we doing here? Like we’re helping, yes, we’re doing what we can to help now, but what about if we started way long ago?

Lisa Bell Henson  08:51

And you know, in my mind, ultimately, that’s what really led me to the holistic Nurse Coaching. It took me a long time to get there. I told you, there’s like 50 years between becoming a Nurse. Having those thoughts, it was kind of a convoluted path, but nonetheless, I learned a lot in the process. 

And just like you, I think I know you’ve had very, very high level fitness. I went to Oral Roberts University for my Nursing training, and it was really the first time that I was introduced to the term aerobics. So in college, as we were, you know, getting this ICU experience early in, I just found the joy of moving. 

And we did that initially with just learning how to jog, you know, passing a three mile field test every semester, but then learning aerobics, like when, when that came out, combining music and moves just opened a whole new world for me. My dad, you know, Western medicine, very, very bright man, but his true core belief was that nobody would have to suffer anymore because there’s such good pharmaceutical medications. 

And I discovered that moving for me, if I could just move, I could help manage my own mood. And just kind of discovering that mental health link with movement, and especially movement, with music and dance, and all the things that I surround myself with today really started in those early years.

Nicole Vienneau  08:51

I’m imagining you with an aerobic outfit on.

Lisa Bell Henson  09:02

Yeah, the leg warmers and, like, the lycra and all the you know… Jane Fonda look for sure. That’s so funny.

Nicole Vienneau 10:28

Although I was in the store the other day and I noticed these one piece body suits are coming back in again. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I said to my husband, I used to wear these when I was, like, 18 years old. Here they are again.

Lisa Bell Henson  10:48

Exactly, exactly it was, you know, just kind of introducing us to, you know, a whole different lifestyle. And, you know, one of the gratitudes I have is just for this for college, you know, just learning with Kim Cooper, who had just kind of coined the term aerobics, learning some of those benefits of cardiovascular fitness and movement. 

And I have now been able to really make that part of what I do on a daily basis. I’ve learned that my body, it’s not fair to me if I don’t have movement programmed into my day and I just bring as many people with me as I can.

Nicole Vienneau  11:28

I love this so much. Yes, it always gets better. Like doing it by yourself is okay. But then when you get to bring along people, like in a group fitness kind of atmosphere…

Lisa Bell Henson  11:39

Which I know you have done a lot of that.

Nicole Vienneau  11:41

I have, I’ve been blessed to continue to do that through my years too. One thing that you really pointed out was this connection that you made at an early age to really sense the importance of moving your body and how that then connected to your mental health as well, and when you didn’t have the movement pieces that maybe the day may not have gone as well or you could sense something was off a little bit. I’m not sure how that all worked out, but you made that connection very early on, that it is such a powerful way to help ourselves.

Lisa Bell Henson  12:19

Yes, absolutely. And you know, that’s been an area of great interest for me. And so that was definitely an area of study, even though, you know, I went on to get a master’s degree in business early on, and because I was trying to, like, really maximize my income, maximize myself professionally. 

And you know, ICU was just freaking tough, like 12 hour nights, weekends, holidays. I have so much respect for Nurses still at the hospital. It was really, truly, when I look back, it was the most grueling thing that I’ve ever done. And so I went back. I was in a college town at the time, got a master’s degree in business, got recruited into the pharmaceutical industry corporate and that’s when I, you know, kind of discovered corporate America and traded my scrubs for a business suit. 

And learned a whole different way of earning income, which was very interesting, as well as very eye opening to be In the pharmaceutical industry in the late 80s, when excess spending and I was working in the anti cancer area, and when I saw my mom really pass from the side effects of the drugs that I marketed, I walked away. 

I couldn’t do it anymore, you know, I just met doctors who said, you know, I’m not sure I would take this medication that I’m recommending to my patients, and I just had a real, real problem with that and really continue, you know, I’m certainly not anti pharmaceuticals in any way, but just that experience was very eye opening for me. 

And again, one of the things that really moved me on that holistic path is just seeing some of the downside of prescription medications, which we as Nurses, it was one of the most important classes I took, was learning how to dose them, learning how to like all the different drips and things like that, learning medications we never, ever were taught to question them. And so now there’s about 450,000 deaths a year due to properly prescribed and administered pharmaceutical medications, and so I didn’t want to be part of that anymore.

Nicole Vienneau  14:31

Yeah, and it brings me to like thinking about how Nurses are often faced with these ethical dilemmas, this moral contemplation of like, what is our North Star as we are moving through whatever capacity that we decide to work in in Nursing, and how is that aligning with our values and we’re lucky, I feel. 

We’re not lucky, we’re prepared, we make the choices in Nursing that align with us as we learn more information, and then we’re asking questions as we’re being exposed to more. And all these experiences that have led you to this point that you’ve shared with us so far have changed your trajectory more, you know, at one one time intensive care, and then slowly, kind of moving the needle more to a more whole person, holistic approach.

Lisa Bell Henson  15:24

Yes, and I think, you know, being in the gym, you know, just starting to embrace more. Like I walked away from corporate America after my mom passed, and I didn’t have a plan. I just knew what I couldn’t do anymore. And I had just had a baby. He was, gosh, rocked my world, and I knew that I wanted to, I didn’t want a parent from a coroner office. 

And I was so busy in pharmaceutical marketing, they really didn’t have job sharing, you know, it’s really before they really had, you know, parental leave and things like that. That might have been helpful. So I ended up taking my baby to this gym that was very professional. It’s kind of a high end gym, and although I had no conditioning and I had maybe one lycra body suit, I ended up trying out. 

You had to try out for an aerobic like instructor position. But they had a nursery. And I remember just I was, I was so, so depressed, postpartum depression, combined with just the grief over losing my mom, which I felt like, you know, she was 54, it wasn’t supposed to happen. I just like question my faith, and just like, God, how could this happen? 

And I remember just walking in that that gym and just putting so much into that little tryout. And but there was a beautiful Nursery there, and my oldest is super social, and he was like, See ya, you know, in the Nursery. And I literally felt my sanity come back again due to that, just the community aspect of that place, the movement. 

And, you know, just being introduced to strength training, I read a book: Strong Women Stay Young, by Miriam Nelson. And ended up flying to Boston to get that certification and started integrating with postmenopausal women, just this bone building, just another holistic way. You know, we have our own pharmacy inside, and movement is one of them. 

But movement with weight and weight bearing exercise, as you know, Nicole, you do just a beautiful job with your Menopause Movement Mission. That really was something that opened another world for me and and so I ended up leaving that gym and kind of having my own gym in my home, homeschooling my kids, ended up having another child. 

And so really, that whole fitness wellness piece, adding nutrition, really became my life, and I saw the changes that people experienced when they were able to commit their lives to those interventions. I loved that freedom. I loved being able to set my own schedule and be there when my kids were young. 

I ended up waking up one day and going, you know, this does not generate a lot of income, and my husband, at the time, reminded me that there was only 24 hours in a day. And so what are you going to do to be able to, you know, generate an income? Because I went from corporate America making very, very good money to this wellness mission where it was high on purpose, and I felt very fulfilled with the work I was doing, but I wasn’t making income that really could contribute to paying bills and that kind of thing. 

And so I really struggled with that for quite a while, and then ended up being introduced to the nutraceutical industry, and that was life changing. I know we’ve had that conversation, kind of starting with nutrition and then being ultimately introduced, because I have my youngest son has had brain health issues, I was introduced to the whole world of the endocannabinoid system, and in three days it really changed his life. 

Probably for me, 20 years in the nutraceutical industry and direct selling was the biggest education once I knew that I wanted to become a Nurse Coach and learning how to find an opportunity with Nurse Coaching, because there was a ton of personal development that I had to undergo going from who’s going to take care of me because I was raised in the south. 

And I literally was programmed to believe that if you’re cute enough and you make good enough brownies, that some man is going to take care of you the rest of your life. And that just wasn’t the way my life went. And so I had to literally go from a spoiled child in a way, to an adult and a growth mindset, and that a leader leads and helps care for others. 

And so I literally needed about 15 years of my rough edges rubbed off, and was really, really blessed to have that through the direct selling industry and started making some very significant income, and that is still a core piece of what gives me the freedom to do what I love today.

Nicole Vienneau  20:32

You have had so many experiences in your life, so many people think that life is just like should be a trajectory going up, you know, and, and I think it’s this is your story is a great reminder that it goes in all kinds of different directions, and all of them are moving us up. Yeah, moving forward. 

And we’re going we’re going along in our life, and we’re picking up all this information and knowings that become our guidance for our next steps. And so I would love to know just a little bit more about when you say direct sales and doing all that, we mean, like in pharmaceuticals, that was sales, and here you are having your your Masters in Business. 

I mean, it’s a whole different mindset than Nursing at the bedside, which is, you know what a lot of our Nurse, our listeners are doing Nursing at the bedside, and then maybe some of our listeners are already Nurse Coaches or contemplating Nurse Coaching and thinking, Yeah, I want to start my own business, but I know nothing of business. And so maybe some insights, what you know, what you’ve also learned becoming an integrative Nurse Coach as well, and combining all of your years of information.

Lisa Bell Henson  21:45

Great question. Nicole, one of the things I really suffered from was not knowing a lot about how a person can build a business, which obviously, if we are integrative Nurse Coaches, that is a different thing in the world. People, a lot of people don’t know what that is and so when I made the decision that I wanted to become an entrepreneur, and I wanted to be in the nutraceutical space, and I made that decision because I wanted freedom. 

I had two young boys. I didn’t want to have to go work 12 hour shifts, but I also didn’t want somebody to tell me what I was worth and an hourly wage. And so I had all these things I didn’t like, but everything that seemed to present itself didn’t seem to be a fit. And so I was finally introduced to a nutraceutical that really, really changed my life, and there was data and science substantiating it. 

And so when it made a difference in my life, then it was easy for me, easy, I say, easy to share it. And I had a mentor who helped me kind of short circuit, a little bit, you know, just like some of what we learned in INCA, just to have somebody to kind of mentor us and that really gave me a vision of, how can you create multiple points of distribution for something? How can you create a team? 

The higher the goal, the bigger the team that’s needed in order to achieve that goal. I just didn’t have the personal development skills to build a team, because as a Nurse, I never had to go build anything, like my patients came to me and my check came to me, but when I looked at my check, X number of hours, mean you know, X number of dollars, and if I didn’t come to work, I would not get paid. 

And so I was looking for something that would really help elevate me from that time for money equation, and this industry claimed to have it. I just didn’t have the skill sets to build a team. And so with regard to, you know, pharmaceuticals, I mean, obviously that was a business model, but I was an employee. It was very stressful job. Somebody told me, you know, working 60 to 80 hours, you’re working for somebody else’s mission and not your own. 

And so what direct selling has done over time has really given me the ability to create a separate income stream that is residual in nature, and that I can work it when it’s convenient for me. And so it gave me a massive amount of freedom, plus the income that when I go on vacation or when I’m not doing that source of job, that that income still comes to me, and that has really given us a lot of freedom. 

I’ll tell you another really funny story. I started that second business, that second direct selling business, when I was living in Indiana. I’m from Arkansas, which is where I am right now. So after about a year, my son had a just life changing experience being introduced to the endocannabinoid system, and I learned that we have these a massive amount of receptors in our body, like literally every single organ has these receptors. 

And for most of us, we live in fight or flight, and we don’t make enough of that fuel in order to fully, you know, fuel the system. And when it’s fueled properly, it can balance and regulate almost every organ system, like sleep and really, you know, mindset and things like inflammation and pain signaling, and it’s just major functions. But he had this life changing experience in three days, and his physician saw it, and all my friends saw it, and so it became a big topic. 

And so after about a year of working in Indiana, I thought, you know, I really want to bring this back to my home state of Arkansas, this beautiful project that combines science and wellness and income when appropriate. And I had one friend that literally, that I still knew from high school, and she had followed me on Facebook, and she’s like, Girl, like, I’m having issues with sleeping. 

Was able to send her some products, and she said that it really helped her. And she goes, Do you remember my brother Hal? And I’m like, My heart almost skipped a beat, because her older brother went to school with my older sister, and he was like, hunky. Like, perfect hair. Like football, Boys State, you know, he was larger than life, and I knew exactly who he was. 

And yet, the funny thing, she had the same question for him. So when I came to Arkansas that first time to bring the science, he was in the meeting, he had no idea that I ever lived, sadly, but I knew exactly who he was. And when we shake hands, we’ve been together ever since, and he’s been just an amazing partner. 

And, you know, there’s more to that story, but that’s why I’m in Arkansas. But the life changing nature of the cannabinoids really impacted me, and that, you know, really became a huge part of just the education that I provided for people is to explain, you know, what is the hemp plant, and why is that not the marijuana plant? 

And, like, you know, anyway, there’s a lot more to it than that, but all these things, you know, it was initially the cardiovascular exercise, and then strength exercise, and then the value of nutrition, and then you add the cannabinoids. And then I was looking at Facebook one day, Nicole, and I saw this beautiful description of a Nurse. 

And I was like, click, click, click, click. And it was, it was just this expanded Nurse Coaching definition. And it was like, oh, you know, like the lights came on and like heaven opened and I’m like, this is who I am. Like I’ve had this meandering journey moving forward and moving away from things that were not good for me and moving toward things that I loved.

Lisa Bell Henson  29:06

This is who I am, like I’ve had this meandering journey moving forward and moving away from things that were not good for me and moving toward things that I loved. And when I read the definition of a holistic Nurse Coach, I knew that was me, and the only thing standing between me and that, you know, is was really just my own courage to take another step and, you know, to go back to school. 

And it’s been a minute since I’d had my master’s degree in business, but yours was one of the very first videos that I saw. And I was like, who would not love this girl, this, you know, Nicole, your energy and vitality is amazing. And I just, I felt like such an alignment with all the Coaches. 

And I’m like, you know, this is really what I’ve been my whole life. I just didn’t know what to call myself. I’m way more of a Nurse Coach than I am somebody who wants to go be a hospital based, take your blood pressure, give your medication Nurse. Literally, you know, just the whole discipline of Nurse Coaching. 

And even more than that, you know, learning to ask the right questions, learning to hold space for people when I didn’t really have to have the answers, just being able to sit with people, learning how to breathe, learning how to take a breath, all those things I just, I feel like it was life changing for me, and it was a paradigm shift, and it changed the way I saw everything after that. And so I’m so grateful to INCA for just creating the opportunity.

Nicole Vienneau  30:36

Yeah, I had very similar experience as well, Lisa, with just finding this language, this description of, oh my gosh, this is what I do. I want to do more of, how about that? It’s what I was trying to get to. But didn’t know how to combine the science and the art of Nursing and all of this whole health holistic approach. I also had experiences within the program of wow, this whole personal development of myself and what I needed to do to be able to to show up in the way that I wanted to. 

As a Nurse, you also stated earlier about creating your own mission for your own business. I mean, in how you want to show up right every day that you’re working Nurse Coaching, give me like a line to that I didn’t know what it was at the time I had to explore and do my own work and see what resonated with me. And that sounds similar to you of how you’re approaching it as well.

Lisa Bell Henson  31:43

Yes, and you know, because I’ve done a lot out in the world with regards to, you know, learning how to have the mindset of a business owner, learning, you know, that nobody just goes fishing and has fish jump in the boat, that you literally have to, you know, we talked about the effort required to market yourself, and, you know, really, to decide what it is you created in your mind first. 

And so I, you know, with looking at different places that that people were doing their Nurse Coaching, and definitely took on some clients early on. Love that, and then still, I still have a few clients. I discovered that I really didn’t like just sitting and zooming with people all day long, that I need to move and I need to be out in the world and so you kind of learn your path. 

And here in Arkansas, there’s some really interesting things going on in the world of healthcare. And I had been watching this movement and this development of the whole health movement. And I don’t know if you’re familiar with that, but so the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, has a daughter, Alice Walton, and she is the wealthiest woman in the world. 

And she lives who knows, but she has presence here in Arkansas, and she has done multiple projects with the intent of literally changing healthcare to a more holistic, more whole person approach, value based care. I mean, like she has different initiatives, and I’ve been fascinated by it, because, again, you know, we do this because we want a better system for people. 

And so I had my eye on it. And during, you know, just when I was looking at LinkedIn, one day, I found this job description of literally the director of whole health of one of her entities. And it happened to be 360,000 square foot Whole Health Center for the largest retailer in the world and I thought that sounds crazy to be able to bring whole health to a corporate setting, you know, kind of my background and so I just on a lark, I just applied for it, and literally, the next day, they called me in for an interview. 

So I had about one year of that corporate experience, which was very formative. And what I loved about it is there’s something called a whole health wheel. And the VA pioneered this. You can go to va.gov, and you can just look at Whole Health. They really are the pioneers of whole health. 

But what I loved about it, just like INCA helped give me language of what I viewed myself and my mission to be as a Nurse, the whole health wheel gave me a vision of what I believe the components of health were. Because, you know, we can talk about movement and nutrition, and, you know, there’s a lot of different definitions out there, but the way that it was defined at my work was actually in the architecture of the ceiling, and it was what they really, you know, just had that throughout their mission. 

I was able to start teaching whole health and something they called “pause, notice, choose” which is teaching mindfulness, teaching awareness, teaching people to make better decisions. And we did that in the corporate setting. And then after about a year of that I was connected to the medical school, which is the Alice Walton School of Medicine. 

They call it AWSOM, and yes, and so that is now what I’m doing is adjunct faculty and teaching med students now, which is the future of healthcare, teaching them whole person care and how to infuse, you know, the transition from what’s the matter with you, as Doctor, as God, to what matters to you physician as facilitator. 

And there’s, yeah, I just was incredibly honored just to be invited to be an adjunct faculty. You know, everybody has a PhD or MD there, and then there’s me and so they, you know, I feel like that’s just a nod to what we have with INCA as a holistic Nurse Coach that has really opened so many doors for me in the corporate and now in the educational setting, that there’s just no limit to what these INCA Nurses can do.

Nicole Vienneau  36:21

Well, and who better to be teaching whole health than a Nurse? Right? Like, that’s what we learn in school. And yet we go out into this world that isn’t whole health based. So it’s like a little a mismatch with really what we really are learning, and then we get, I don’t want to say force, but I mean, we really kind of are, like, that’s how we roll at the bedside. 

I think it goes back again to realizing that the value, our own values, have to come to the forefront, like, how do we get to that point of being able to put ourselves in places where you’re getting a job exactly like the one you want? You had to put yourself in to different positions and explore different opportunities before you can align and be ready. I don’t know if it’s ready, because you’re already ready. That’s not the right word, to be able, maybe to accept that responsibility.

Lisa Bell Henson  37:26

What I’ve loved about it is I’ve learned more about myself, and I’ve learned in the corporate setting that I don’t like working without being able to move, and I found that very, very stifling and not very whole health oriented. And so now we’ve done a grassroots Whole Health collective, which is, I’ll tell you a little bit of backstory of that. 

But I live in Farmington, Arkansas, as we’ve mentioned, and I kind of jokingly call it a health desert, because there’s not a lot here to really support Whole Health. And so we, gosh, four years ago, during the pandemic, at the time that I was doing my INCA, I had this recurrent dream that I was teaching line dancing at a senior center here in Farmington, which I’d never walked in. 

And Nicole, I’ve loved Group X my whole life, but I never have taught line dancing, so it’s just an odd dream. And it kept coming up, and I finally told my husband about it, and he’s like, you know, you should, you should go in. And so four years ago, I got the nerve to walk into the Senior Center, and I said, you know, I’ve had this dream that’s recurrent, that I’m teaching line dancing here. 

I didn’t have a speech prepared, and the director’s eyes got huge, and she pulled the program out. She goes, Oh my gosh. She goes, we have this Tuesday 10 o’clock line dance class schedule, and we’ve been looking for an instructor for six months. When can you start? And so literally, she didn’t ask for my CPR card or show me my identification. She just said, When can you start? And we literally started. 

The Senior Center had been decimated by the pandemic, and so we started that next Tuesday, and there were like three older, older women there. And so I drug my husband because I thought, you know, how many different line dances can we get through? And I guess preparing the electric slide and the cupid shuffle and, you know, wobble and all these things. 

And literally, we warmed up, and everyone had to sit down. They were so exhausted. So I realized that we’re working with a very deconditioned group, and they, a lot of them, had lost hope and so four years later, we have outgrown the Senior Center. We were actually working out of a gym that was a fairly new gym here in Farmington that was looking to have a group exercise program. 

And we created, you know, founders, and it was so fun to create this schedule of six classes a week that people could come every day, and they could do something different. Until a few weeks ago, the owner said, Oh, we’ve made the decision that we’re going to put equipment there. 

And so you guys need to either disband or pause, which was like a fire under my… in my belly, to find a space. And so that really launched our whole health collective, where now we found an American Legion and a very small little town, and it can fit a lot of people in it, and we, I’ve hired instructors, and these are really adults that are committed to whole health principles. 

And they love the education, we do Matt Pilates, you know? We do strength work, we do chair yoga, we do line dance, and it’s really become a vibrant group that is literally now taking it to the lay population. What we’re learning, as you know, I learned in corporate America now, you know, teaching med students, bringing that content to people who are hungry for it, local level. And so for me, you know, being a holistic Nurse Coach is teaching line dance, because… I don’t know if you’ve read the book, The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal?

Nicole Vienneau  41:17

I have not, but I’m putting it on my list.

Lisa Bell Henson  41:19

It is such a good book Nicole, you could have written it yourself, but she talks about the value of these groups. And I’ve done personal training, I never found a lot of satisfaction with personal training, and I finally figured out it’s the community aspect which is a huge part of whole health, that when we can create communities… less than 15% of people will ever be a member of a gym. 

But if you can create a community, and for us, we’re in a very transient area. A lot of people have moved from California and other places where, you know, in the vicinity of some very big industry here, it’s the largest and most affluent part of Arkansas, but we have been able to create something called Collective Joy, and that is Kelly McGonigal term for when you combine a beautiful community and movement and music, and everyone’s moving in the same place, and we have a lot of trust that’s built together. 

You have this collective joy, and that is really what’s driven our growth in this whole health collective. It’s called Whole Health Collective because of the collective joy that we have of moving together. And they all know that our mission is to expand and duplicate. 

And you know, we’ve got ideas about that, but right now I feel so blessed that literally, you know, everything I’m doing is as a holistic Nurse, is advancing wellness, advancing this collective joy, advancing medical students, all the things, and also doing Nurse Coaching with some clients. So as a Nurse Coach, we can have a super vibrant life, very purposeful life, doing what we love.

Nicole Vienneau  43:07

So good. Just connecting it back to the business side of things, you don’t have to sit in front of a zoom camera and be a Coach in that way. And same with my own business and my own entrepreneurial thoughts is like, I have multiple buckets of ways to receive revenue. I don’t have to just do one thing, and that’s what I’m hearing from you as well. It’s like there are multiple ways that we can fulfill the way that we need to make money, right?

Lisa Bell Henson  43:41

Multiple streams of income, you know, has really…. Well, and, you know, and then we haven’t really been valued to have an open mind, like Nurses are programmed to think certain ways, to take doctor’s orders, and so I have found that, you know, I had to become open minded for survival, and my face down moment came when, at age 50. 

I had a son with chronic health issues, and I had a marriage that was failing, and I realized I ended up in a therapist’s office and she said, You are codependent. And I’m like, I know I’ve heard of that before, but I can’t remember what that means. And she assigned me, you know, books that would change my life, because I realized that my programming had really been faulty, and because of that, I made some really, really bad decisions that really cost me a marriage. 

One of my therapists told me, you need to get within your four square walls, your own four square walls. You need to figure out what your programming is. And I was so grateful that, because of my pursuit within direct selling, I had some really great mentors and books. And they say, you know, without meeting new people and without reading the right books, you’ll be the same person five years from now that you are today. 

And though I hated going through the pain, I wouldn’t trade the learning, because it’s allowed me to become a different person, a different and a better person, to literally empower myself to become my best self without anybody else saying it’s good or bad or it’s good for them. 

And instead of really being able to tune myself to other people’s voices, to learn how to tune myself to what God has really programmed in me, and that shift really is what helped me ultimately become an integrative Nurse Coach, and which is part of becoming that healthier self. 

My own lived experience of going through the questions and all the things that we’ve done to become a Nurse Coach, and then the lived experience of going through all the questions that we have in Whole Health, which is very similar, a lot of overlap. Ultimately, you know, it’s just, it’s been a very empowering journey that I feel like again, you know, we bring as many people with us as we can. 

And I’m grateful for that, because a lot of the learning through, you know, through challenge, within direct selling, in that business model, has taught me that a no doesn’t necessarily mean a no. And you know, a lot of us, when we were like, you know, graduates from INCA, and we go out there and we’re trying to find our way in the world, and no can sometimes make you just, you know, shut you down. 

And I learned that a no just means not now and redirect and that, you know, you have to go by, what you are programmed for. And you know, kind of like what we are teaching now the med students. In the center of the whole health wheel is this thing called purpose, your soul. It’s what you were programmed to do.

 And we’re teaching them what ikigai is, the Japanese word for that, you know, and so when you think about the intersection of what you love, you know what the world needs, what you’re good at, and what you can be paid for, yeah, I think in the center of that is integrative Nurse Coaches. We’re like, yes, in our own way, the world needs a lot more of us.

Nicole Vienneau  47:23

Yes, oh, it’s so true, right? And I love that, that little caveat. In our own way, there’s no one way to do this, yeah, yeah, no one way to be a Nurse Coach, and no one way to show up in the world. Yes. Okay, so in our last few minutes, I wish we could talk for hours and hours, because I’m having so much fun just listening. I love to ask the question, what is on your heart that you would like to share with our listeners?

Lisa Bell Henson  47:54

Oh, my goodness, that we need each other, and I think that we get really busy with our own lives. And, you know, with social media, there’s kind of a tendency to feel hollow, and what we share, you know, with people, and what I’ve discovered with this whole health community is just the deep satisfaction and just locking arms with like minded people. 

And there’s no more like minded people than Nurses, but we get busy. And, you know, I was taught the value early by mentors of networking, and it’s one of the reasons I really appreciate you, Nicole, early on, I reached out to you, and you told me what mic to get for some of my group, you know, classes, and that was really important for me, because I’ve struggled to get my own voice, just as a person in the world, and that mic has been awesome because I have my voice when I have my mic. 

But I do think we need to prioritize our own community, and know that even though maybe you know, we’ve chosen a little different way of of showing up in the world, that we truly, truly need our community. And with INCA, you know, Nurses, holistic Nurses, we think differently than the traditional Nurse. 

And I think, you know, we have very aligned values, and so because of that, I’m like, I would hope that people would just reach out and that we could, you know, create communities with each other. Maybe it’s not every week, maybe it’s once a month, but I think that people can be very inspired. 

When I had my face down moment, I created a group called Flourish, and it was for ladies only, understanding the rewards in healing and your highest self. And that was kind of what Flourish stood for, but it was really centered around the fact that nobody does this alone, and that our story can be really what unlocks somebody else’s prison that they’re living in. 

And so the ability to connect with other people is 100% a great thing, and to help all of us flourish as a profession, individually and collectively, that we, we definitely need each other. And we need more podcast hosts like you, Nicole, who reach out and go, Hey, would you be willing? You know, it’s just, you’ve been such an amazing connector, and for that, I’m very grateful.

Nicole Vienneau  50:36

Thank you. Thank you. I received that. Thank you so much. Thank you. And you’re so right in the sense of, we cannot do any of this alone. One, it’s pretty boring to work on your own. Plus, it’s really easy to be distracted on your own and not really move in the direction you want to go when you know you share your voice with someone else, and they can affirm that, or help you move in a different direction, or just align with what you’re discussing. 

And it just helps so much to be able to have that, the voice you know, the voice of Nurse Coaches, is different than a Nurse, and we need all of them. We need all the voices, absolutely, but it is different. And so when we can, you know, I feel like some people feel nervous to reach out to someone they see as inspiring, like they would be bothering or something like that. 

And it’s not that. There is some courage that has to come to be able to reach out, yes, but don’t think twice about reaching out to someone who you see as inspiring, because it will only be helpful.

Lisa Bell Henson  51:52

And that’s, I think, one of the benefits of having been in the direct selling industry and learning how to create a team. Like I was just thinking about Marsha Smith, who I met through INCA, and she’s one of my partners in the wellness space and the nutraceuticals that we work with. And I just adore… I adore her. 

She lives in Buffalo, New York, so it took me two years to actually meet her in person, but we work together all the time, and we collaborate and I’m a better person because she’s in my life. And so I love the platform that allows me to bring other like minded people on. 

And I feel like it’s more of a mastermind than it really is, you know, one person leading another, that’s really been one of the blessings and one of the blessings of finding the right direct selling platform is that it can be a wonderful experience blending with like minded people.

Nicole Vienneau  52:50

Yeah. Oh, I love that. I do have to ask, what is your favorite line dance?

Lisa Bell Henson  52:56

OMG, Nicole, like… 

Nicole Vienneau  53:01

Where’d that come from? 

Lisa Bell Henson  53:02

How long do you have? You know, we laugh so hard, you know, obviously Cupid Shuffle is the most common. We teach that in our beginner class. But what we love to do is we teach the moves and then we do it to a different song. So we speed it up. We call that neuroplasticity, because how fast can your connections work? 

Wobble is a ton of fun, you know, also, Boots on the Ground right now is a lot of fun. You know, we just, we have fans that we… it’s so fun. We were teasing about like getting a bus and going on a tour, because so fun. I can’t imagine who’d ever want to see us perform, but…

Nicole Vienneau  53:46

Oh, it’d be great. I’d show up. I’d be right in the front row.

Lisa Bell Henson  53:50

Right in the front row. Line Dancing is so much fun. And to kind of throw in, we call it cardio line dance because we do, you know more than that. We break them all down and really, to make sure nobody can fail on it. You know, we teach it and teach it and teach it and teach it, and then, you know, just different songs and slow it down and speed it up. And so anyway, thank you for asking, but I’ve never met a line dance I didn’t like. How about that?

Nicole Vienneau  54:15

One of my dreams is, and I’m putting it out here into the world. One of my dreams is to teach people Thriller, you know, the Michael Jackson Thriller, yeah, and to, like, especially as a, you know, a senior teaching, teaching seniors or active older, aging adults, right? And then dress up like zombies and do that like, just be like a flash mob.

Lisa Bell Henson  54:45

I want to come because we actually did that for Halloween. We didn’t dress up. No, we didn’t take it quite that far, but we did our version of Thriller. 

Nicole Vienneau  54:54

Oh so good!

Lisa Bell Henson  54:55

So much fun. I’ll have to send you the video. 

Nicole Vienneau  54:58

Oh, I would love that. Thank you!

Lisa Bell Henson  54:59

I’ll go find it.

Nicole Vienneau  55:01

Yeah, and then I’ll put in a link on the show notes. 

Lisa Bell Henson  55:04

There you go. No judgment, right?

Nicole Vienneau  55:07

Oh my gosh. Oh, this has been such a fun conversation. Lisa, how can people find you if they’re feeling nudged to reach out?

Lisa Bell Henson  55:15

Yeah, I would love lisabellhenson.com, is my website, and lisabellrn@gmail.com is my email address. So reach out. I would love to hear from like minded Nurses, and I’ve learned so much from my colleagues. 

One of my highlights of INCA was just the group work we did, I look so forward to Julene and some of the wonderful people that we did in our …we did, you know one on ones, and we did, you know two on ones, and it was just a beautiful way of small groups. So thank you so much for just creating the opportunity for all of us, Nicole, and I can’t believe five seasons and you’re still going strong. Look at you, man.

Nicole Vienneau  56:07

We have many, many more Nurse Coaches to interview, and we’ve been having so much fun doing it. And thank you to all our listeners for being here with us today, and to you, Lisa, for sharing just this little snippet of your story. Very inspiring story.

Lisa Bell Henson  56:25

Thank you so much, Nicole, appreciate you.