With over 15 years of leadership in the healthcare and wellness industry in the Pacific Northwest, Michelle Phillips strives to put the “we” back in wellness. Acknowledging that we can’t heal alone; we heal best together and in community. They have held post on almost every rung in the healthcare industry’s ladder. Michelle has launched an oncology clinic for UW Medicine as well as spent a few years training as a hospital chaplain many years ago. They are currently seeking licensure as a clinical mental health counsellor for the State of Washington at Seattle University and is a grounded servant leader on campus and in the community.
While serving as chaplain, Michelle discovered the connection between reflective praxis also called mindfulness, spiritual and emotional connection and physical and mental health. Michelle has facilitated focus groups, conflict resolution and staff development for students, interns and clinicians using therapeutic expressive arts, earth medicine and humour. Michelle’s passion and clinical interest is supporting wellness for all helping professionals, building a thriving practice around self-love and care first, burnout and compassion fatigue prevention, moving through vicarious trauma and supporting highly-sensitive people in the workplace and academic settings. Michelle is particularly interested in combining narrative therapy or storying and expressive arts to create transformational community healing rituals and retreats. Michelle respectfully requests they pronoun and possessives in reverence and linkage to their unnamed ancestors of unknown lineages, languages and genders.