HOW IT BEGAN
From my own search for recovery to an approach I now share with others
The MindBody Reconnect was founded in 2018, but its story began much earlier — with my own diagnosis of ME/CFS in 1988.
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1988 – 1991
When my health changed
At the time, I was working as a health service manager and going through an extremely stressful period in my life. I became unwell following a virus and was diagnosed with ME.
I initially made a partial recovery and returned to work. But in 1991, I experienced a devastating relapse.
My health deteriorated to the point where I was unable to live anything like a normal life. I had severe symptoms affecting my whole body and remained ill for many years.
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SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS
I wasn't prepared to accept that this was the rest of my life
What I found particularly difficult was being told — by parts of the medical profession, support organisations and the media — that I might never recover.
That simply didn't make sense to me.
I couldn't accept that my only option was to learn to live with being ill. I believed there had to be an explanation for what was happening, and that if we understood the cause, we might eventually understand how to change it.
So I became determined to find out.
I saw specialists, underwent extensive investigations and tried many different approaches. I even moved from London to the Scottish Highlands, hoping that a slower pace of life and cleaner air might help.
It didn't.
Despite all the investigations, nobody had been able to explain why I was experiencing such severe symptoms.
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A TURNING POINT
Looking at the brain and body differently
Over time, I began to develop a sense that something in my brain and nervous system was not functioning in the way it should.
I remember thinking that perhaps something was effectively switched on that should be switched off — or switched off that should be switched on.
That idea stayed with me.
Then I discovered the work of Dr David Mickel and his explanation of the role of the hypothalamus in producing the symptoms of ME.
For the first time, something really resonated with me.
I completed his programme and, after 15 years of illness, I recovered.
That experience changed everything.
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2005 – 2018
From recovering to helping others
My recovery wasn't the end of the journey. It was the beginning of a new one.
In 2005, I trained in Mickel Therapy and began working with people experiencing symptoms similar to those I had lived with myself.
I continued working in the field until 2018, eventually becoming Head Practitioner and taking responsibility for supervising and training new practitioners for more than five years.
During those years, I learned an enormous amount from the people I worked with.
Every person was different. Every story was different. And although there were clear patterns, I became increasingly aware that there were also gaps in our understanding.
That made me want to learn more.
I undertook formal training in complementary medicine in Scotland and continued to explore research and ideas around the relationship between the brain, nervous system, emotions, stress and physical symptoms.
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2018
The birth of The MindBody Reconnect
By 2018, I knew I wanted to bring everything I had learned together into something new.
The MindBody Reconnect was created from that desire.
It isn't simply the result of one person's theory or one particular therapy. It has evolved through my own experience of illness and recovery, more than two decades of working with clients, professional training, research, and the lessons I have learned from the many people I have had the privilege of working with.
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CONTINUED LEARNING · 2020
The influence of Dr Gabor Maté
One of the people who had a particularly profound influence on my thinking was Dr Gabor Maté.
His book When the Body Says No was a revelation to me. His work offered another way of thinking about the relationship between our experiences, our emotional lives and our physical health.
It helped me join together some of the pieces I had been collecting through my own experience and through many years of working with clients.
In 2020, I completed Dr Maté's Compassionate Inquiry programme, further developing my understanding of trauma, stress, compassion and the mind-body relationship.
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TODAY
A continuing story
Today, I work alongside a group of practitioners who have themselves used this knowledge as part of their own recovery and have gone on to train in The MindBody Reconnect approach.
So, in many ways, the history of MBR is a continuing story.
It began with one person asking:
"Why am I ill — and is there really nothing I can do about it?"
That question has continued to drive my work ever since.
A different way of looking at symptoms
The MindBody Reconnect is for people who are interested in exploring their symptoms from a different perspective.
Rather than seeing symptoms as something to fear, fight or blame yourself for, we look at them with curiosity and compassion.
Many of the symptoms associated with conditions such as ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, IBS and other stress-related and mind-body conditions are now discussed in terms of neuroplasticity — the brain and nervous system's ability to change and adapt.
This gives us another way of understanding what may be happening in the body, and importantly, offers the possibility that things can change.
There is no blame in this approach.
Your symptoms are real. Your experience is real.
The question we ask is whether there might be another explanation for why they are happening — and whether understanding that explanation could help you move towards recovery.
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LOOKING AHEAD
The journey continues
I never set out to create a therapy.
I set out to get well.
The MindBody Reconnect grew out of that search, and it continues to evolve as our understanding of the brain, body and nervous system develops.
If you are curious about this approach and would like to explore whether it might be right for you, please take some time to look around the website.
And if you have questions, book a Discovery Call.
Sometimes, finding a different way forward begins with simply being willing to ask a different question.
Clare CaldwellFounder, The MindBody Reconnect