My name is Cassandra Hope, and I come from a long line of traumatized women. As I share my stories of struggle, learning and rehabilitation, you’ll learn of the gritty truths that were handed down to me from the women in my lineage. The truths that were almost guaranteed to break me – the truths I learned to transmute via humility, surrender, curiosity and tenacity.
Throughout those tenacious days I found myself not only learning to self-regulate my mind and body, I also found myself to be forming a career as a functional trauma therapist, with each training and course lending to another brick in my wheelhouse.
My earliest days were spent in the gym and on stage. As a pro fitness competitor and fitness model, I spent decades learning about building muscle, dieting for “peaking” and recovery, and how to pose, shine and walk like a champ.
Though, during that time I also developed an eating disorder, SIBO and mold toxicity. When my body stopped responding to approaches that used to work, (calorie restriction, cardio, etc.), and my painful symptoms worsened, I knew I had to go back to school and learn how to heal my own body.
I became an RHN, opened an academy that helped people recover from IBS and SIBO, got my life coaching designation and began hypnotherapy and timeline therapy coaching both with myself, and with clients.
Yet, still…all was not well.
The real change happened after I got spanked by another exposure to mold in an old home I moved into. It was just after a painful breakup that triggered a deep and visceral trauma response. My brain and gut were under attack, literally, and I ended up with PMDD, Autonomic Nervous System Dysregulation, an autoimmune diagnosis, and ultimately had a nervous breakdown.
Without addressing somatic releasing, my body and brain were full. My tolerance for any stress was non-existent and as my birth mother would say everyone was on my last nerve. Literally.
I checked myself into CAMH, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. That brave day saved my life. I realized that compounding stress and traumas, when left untreated, will break a chick…
As it did the chicks before me…may they RIP.
By looking at the body comprehensively, and wholly, I’ve been able to clear the physical weights that were dragging me down. Things like identifying root infections and toxins and learning how to effectively clear them while causing the least amount of inflammation and further damage to my brain and body, has been huge.
Then, it was learning how to sit with the storms that are a trauma response. The anxiety, uncertainty, fear, and desire to dissociate, helped me samurai my pain into a healthy processing situation.
This was a stress chemical detox. Literally.
By checking myself into CAMH, getting trauma informed coaching and medical intervention, and learning the mind : body approaches to cleaning up the carnage post-childhood and developmental traumas, I’m able to sit here, in my new home in Costa Rica, and share my story and strategies with the world.
The name “Cassandra”, in Greek Mythology, represented a woman who was cursed by the Gods to have the power to see the future, yet no one would believe her. She watched her village of Troy be decimated, including her loved ones. A torture I’ve learned to accept in this life. Though, in this new, more trauma-informed chapter of my life, I see that I am not a cursed Greek Goddess whose life is destined for heartbreak and pain.
I see that myths aren’t reality, and what is, is what I create. I’m here, committed to sharing my truths with my village, open to holding space for those who take it and run, and releasing my attachment to those who don’t.
In a world where all isn’t well, all the time, I invite you to walk with me here, on this digital page, every 2 weeks, as we explore how to find wellness in our minds and bodies, and in ways that yield more peace, acceptance, vitality and self-empowerment.
I’m here as your trauma-informed life coach, nutritionist, poop whisperer, nervous system hacker, and I’m open to hearing your wants, needs, thoughts and successes along the way.
I can’t wait to get to know you all.
With so much love and humility,
Cassandra Hope | Functional Trauma Therapist + all is well Wellness Editor.
