Health Coaching in Philadelphia

Hi! I’m Shannon, the IV nurse and health coach at Meeting Point Health. I was introduced to functional and regenerative medicine at Meeting Point from a bit of a different perspective than your average employee… I was a patient! I was dealing with an extremely frustrating autoimmune health condition that felt like it was taking over my life. I had exhausted all of the conventional resources offered by my doctor, tried many different diet changes on my own, and was only becoming more inflamed and developing more symptoms as time passed.

At the time I was working in a busy emergency room, at the height of the pandemic, and my condition was becoming worse, until I was given a book by a friend at work that spurred me to look to functional medicine for answers, and I found functional medicine at Meeting Point Health. After my first meeting with Mary Anne, I got so much of what I felt I was missing from other medical professionals – I left feeling heard, my opinion and intuition valued, and I received hope for true healing.

We did lots of testing, from which I learned more than I knew was possible, despite working in healthcare. Mary Anne recommended that I start an AIP diet and completely stop eating sugar immediately.

These were significant and necessary diet changes, but the process left me feeling stressed and overwhelmed. I succeeded in making the changes eventually, but I had plenty of setbacks, and often had a hard time rationalizing why I was putting myself through this experience if I wasn’t seeing any immediate benefits. I consistently lamented to Mary Anne about why she was putting me through this! She encouraged me to stay the course and to stay curious, confident that we would find the source of my chronic inflammatory symptoms.

The diet changes helped slightly, but it was clear that we were still missing something. I was getting tired and willing to do anything to find the cause, and the team at Meeting Point was right there with me. Mary Anne asked me to stay curious, and it was clear that she would not give up on me. After a bit more research, we decided to do more testing, and low and behold… MOLD.

That’s what every patient gets here at Meeting Point Health – curiosity. They will dig and ask questions if it’s not so obvious at first. We had found the source of my problem – something that is so often left undone in conventional medicine – and now we could treat it! With all of the resources at Meeting Point in the IV room, with acupuncture, cupping…etc., plus everything I had done to reduce inflammation at home, I responded immediately to treatment and was so encouraged. I had spent 8 months healing my gut, ridding it of candida, taking supplements, reducing inflammation, and reducing mental and physical stress – I even took a leave of absence from work. I was worried that the diet and lifestyle changes that I had made were for nothing, but when we started reducing the toxicity, all of that hard work fell into place. Underneath the toxicity, my body was ready and the relief was all that I dreamed it would be!

When I decided to change my career and start working with patients in the functional medicine world, I wanted to fill the need that I had in the beginning of this process. Diet and lifestyle change SUPPORT! More specifically, hand-holding support and accountability. Someone to help me stay connected to my why, my motivation, and to help me make changes slowly to prevent burnout, frustration, and overwhelm. The Mattas were more than supportive and so, I began a comprehensive health coaching and functional medicine course, and now I get to be that person for the patients at Meeting Point Health.

I work with Mary Anne and Dr. Matta to aid patients in not only implementing the recommended diet and lifestyle changes, but also to understand diagnoses, learning about treatment and support, and to take control of their own health and wellbeing. I am so excited to get to work with and support you on your journey to true healing.

-Shannon