This wellness professional is looking out for No. 1
This wellness professional is looking out for No. 1
They didn’t need to draw her a picture. When Baptist/St. Vincent’s Health System in Jack sonville, FL, dissolved its wellness center in September 1998, Lynda M. Steele, MS, decided it was every woman for herself.
"I decided to go back to school to better position myself professionally," she recalls. "The organization says it believes in wellness, but the steps they have taken to that end have not been as forthcoming as I had hoped they would be."
Her current position as group leader has her writing reports for a team of individuals in charge of measurement and evaluation. Her former wellness staff has also been reassigned. "I believe they value my expertise in wellness, but they’re not quite sure where they want to go," she says.
Steele, on the other hand, knows exactly where she wants to go. She is taking three different avenues to what she believes is a bright future — with or without her current employer. She began an eight-month program in a local massage therapy school in October.
She also is studying to earn her LMHC — a master’s degree as a licensed mental health counselor. As if that weren’t enough to keep her busy, she is attending Barbara Brennan’s School of Healing, taking a four-year certification program on healing through the human energy field. "It’s similar to therapeutic touch," she explains.
Why these three simultaneous pursuits?
"I want to put all three of them together," Steele says. "The typical massage therapy client goes in and says, I hurt here,’ and the therapist tries to relieve the pain. I’ve had a lot of massage therapy myself, and I realize the emotions are held in the body. I knew I had issues that needed to be resolved — and without counseling, I would have had tight muscles again."
Her timing may have been perfect; the hospital is now looking at what it calls "Complimentary alternative medicine." Shortly after Steele began her studies, they asked her to work on a special project in this new area. "It looks like they may want to transition me out of this [area I’m in] and help them set this new system up," she says.
However, Steele is not sure where she’ll be in five years. "I have no idea how it will work out, but my feeling is I have to take care of myself. I no longer have the belief that my employer is going to take care of me," she asserts.
It’s even possible she might open up her own practice. "If it turns out they want to avail themselves of my services, great. If not, I can go out and start my own practice," she explains. "I’ve realized I will not be victim any longer; I’m going to make my own fate. Even if they said they wanted to make me director or this new center, I might say my schooling has got to come first."
[For more information, contact: Lynda Steele, Baptist/St. Vincent’s Health System, 1325 San Marco Blvd., Suite 502, Jacksonville, FL 32207. Telephone: (904) 202-5147.]
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