Featured NESH Alumna: Shawna Phillips MSN, CHom, FNP-C
Shawna Phillips MSN, Chom, FNP-C
Longmont, Colorado
NESH Alumni Practitioner Directory Listing
When I was graduating from high school, I wanted to become a doctor. I had been caretaking my father for many years, who had Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and a head injury from World War II. Being a doctor would build on my natural desire to advocate for people, and it was a way to build leadership for things I had learned as a child. But that was not to be. Congress passed the act that allowed women to attend military academies just as I was heading into my senior year of high school. My father was convinced that a career in the military was the best life path for anyone. I ended up as a cadet in the first class of women at the US Air Force Academy. Always labeled as “crunchy granola,” it was far from a fit. Instead, I took a circuitous route to Wellesley College and graduated with a degree in Physics. I then spent 17 years as a Program and Product Manager in Silicon Valley, working for and with such greats as Eric Schmidt (Google), the geniuses who brought you Photoshop, and finally helping to lay the foundation for bringing Adobe Systems’ graphics products to the cloud.
Fast forward to 2004. I left the Silicon Valley lifestyle, and travelled for a year through the entirety of Mexico in a van with my husband and two big dogs. The trip gave us a renewed sense that we needed to be the change. Having left the bubble of Silicon Valley, I had been wrestling with the unshakable belief that the body can heal itself if given the right stimulus. My experience with medicine to date had been really one of pushing the body to suppress its normal functions. I enrolled in a 2-year homeopathy course in Boulder, Colorado, and found my purpose in life. Bringing all the systematic and scientific thinking that I had practiced and learned to date, I searched for a method that would really provide a clear way to prescribe homeopathy reliably and elegantly. That is when I found Paul, Amy, and NESH. I have been practicing homeopathy and Bowenwork for 14 years in Boulder and the Colorado Front Range.
I have always been a bridge between worlds. I am of Japanese and Irish/English parents, I come from a diverse background, and I hope to always integrate the best of all of these worlds. I knew that integrating homeopathy with the best of medicine, bridging that gap between medical thinking and homeopathic thinking (Paul would say between the Ebers and Smith Papyrus) would be the most powerful thing I could do for my patients. I became a Family Nurse Practitioner, and have just been licensed as an FNP with an MSN in Nursing from the University of Colorado. My patients have always come to me with really difficult chronic conditions, so my hope is to become their homeopathic primary care Nurse Practitioner.
When the world is experienced as connected, suddenly it creates a fabulous, interwoven web that nurtures us, within which we can thrive. My expression of that is through homeopathy, of course, but also through sustainable gardening. The interplay of building and nurturing soil, growing vegetables, connecting to the seasons, then putting that which is produced back into the soil connects me to the earth that sustains us deeply. I started a CSA this year that I hope to expand so I can share my curated heirloom veggies.
Hiking in the Rocky Mountains near the Continental Divide at ~12,500 feet with beloved dogs and lovely relatives.
Hiking in the Rocky Mountains also connects me to the seasons, the wonder of the world, and the joy of my dogs running free. There’s a miracle of alpine abundance, where from deep hibernation alpine plants burst forth with enthusiasm to throw off winter’s embrace and plunge headfirst into blooming before the snow’s return, which is all too soon. Yet the deep hibernation nurtures another burst of abundance the next year.
I embrace variety in my life: I’m a foodie, I have studied karate, I spent 20 years in competitive swimming, I’ve run half-marathons, I have 24 free-range chickens, I love to build things with wood and weld metal, I am a serial house remodeler, and I’m developing an heirloom apple, plum, and pear orchard.
From NESH: When we first met Shawna at our 2005-2007 Portland, OR Course, we knew we had a brilliant person, who brought a unique and relevant background to the study of homeopathy. We have enjoyed seeing her over the years at both our east and west coast clinical classes, and this year she is taking advantage of an opportunity to repeat the 2 year course with our first time ever “Virtual” Amherst 2020-2022 Course option. We have applauded her desire for continued learning (within homeopathy and beyond) and her perseverance in seeking additional credentialing. We are beyond thrilled at Shawna’s accomplishments and to have her as a trusted colleague in another part of the country!
Professional Highlights:
• 2006-present: Classical Homeopath and Bowenwork practitioner at my private practice Vitalizm in Boulder/Longmont, CO
• 2020: SIG 30 Board of Directors, Colorado Society of Advanced Practice Nurses
• 2019 – 2020: MSN Nursing from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and licensed Family Nurse Practitioner
• 2014-2019: various RN positions including: ICU, Telemetry, Neuro, and post-acute care Home health at Cheyenne WY VA Medical Center, St Anthony’s North Health Campus, SCL Home Health
• December 2013: BSN Nursing from University of Northern Colorado
• 2006-2009: Staff Homeopath at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy in Boulder, CO
• 1983-2001: Program and Product Manager in Silicon Valley, working for Adobe Systems, Palm Computing, and Sun Microsystems
• 1981-1983: Physics Teacher in Pebble Beach, CA
• 1981: Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Wellesley College Wellesley, MA
• 1976-1978: Member of the first class of women at USAFA
Shawna is our December 2020 Featured Alumna. Return to NESH Alumni Spotlight page to learn about other distinguished NESH alumni.