Sara Burns, MSW

CRT Amen Clinic Brain Health Coach, Energy Healer, Teacher

After receiving my Master’s in Social Work, I realized how limited I was in actually helping clients heal. Due to these limitations, I decided not to pursue licensure in Social Work so that I could further incorporate body work and energy healing into my practice.

For approximately 10 years prior to receiving my Masters, I studied Reiki, energy healing, and shamanism.  I valued these modalities because they helped me address my pain, and symptoms of depression as well as anxiety.  But, along with symptom management, these modalities were the tools that served to grant me deep insight into the wounding of my early childhood that was the root cause of my physical and emotional health issues.

Growing up, I went through multiple hip surgeries.  For a period of time it seemed routine that I would have wires drilled through my knees for about six weeks that were then attached to skeletal tractions. This was followed up with getting pins placed in my hips then mummified in a body cast for 3 more months.  Needless to say, I suffered a lot of traumas as a child and missed out on many things most kids get to experience in school and other activities. But I was also very resilient.

I felt as if I was a guinea pig because each surgeries continued to disable me even more. Yet, the doctors in training continued to “try.” By the age of 14, my legs were so weak doctors wanted me to sit in a wheelchair. But I refused.

I wasn’t quiet it about it either.  I made life very difficult for my family until my parents found a doctor in Boston who was willing to help. At the age of 14, Dr. Roderick Turner performed bilateral total hip replacements on me. At the time, I was recognized as the youngest one in the United States to undergo these procedures.  Initially, these procedures were a miracle. I re-gained my ability to walk and even worked on a med-surgical unit as a nurse in my twenties. However, my hips continued to fail, and it became clear that nursing was not the best career move I made.

Prior to undergoing another hip replacement at the age of 27, I dreamt I would die during the procedure, but I didn’t.  Instead, I had a near death experience after surgery due to massive blood loss. In a sense, I did die because my life transformed significantly setting me on a completely different course of living.

I now view this near-death experience as a shamanic initiation.  I began experiencing other dimensions, “bleed throughs” in time and connections with spiritual beings that previously crossed over.  This initiation was the start of further upheavals in my life.

In the early 90’s, after an auto-accident, I underwent another hip replacement and woke from the surgery with my left leg in a state of paralysis. The hip quickly failed, then another one failed, then two more were done within a period of five years.  It was a very dark period in my life. I was very depressed. I also developed panic disorder during this time.

I began to realize that medical doctors were not going to heal me. That there was something more to this problem, then just mechanical bone issues.

This prompted me to do extensive soul searching.

I had started therapy during this time which was initiated during my divorce.  I didn’t feel good about myself because of all the surgeries.  Along with all the body issues, there was a lot of messaging in my family that I wasn’t good enough for being who I was. My choices of relationships supported these beliefs as well.  In college, I was raped and then I went on to experience domestic violence in several relationships.

It wasn’t until I trained as a social worker that I learned there was a high correlation with early childhood abuse, rape, and domestic violence.  It’s not uncommon for someone to experience all these events in life if abuse began in childhood.

In one of my sessions with the therapist, I shared with her how I had this knot right under my naval area that wouldn’t allow me to breath. I told her that  created anxiety for me. Her only response was “Hmmm” … and nothing further was mentioned. So, the knot continued to remain and the anxiety was present everyday.

Undergoing the amount of stress of all these repeated surgeries in the nineties, I asked spirit to show me the root cause of my problems. It seemed bizarre this kept happening and I had a deep sense there was more to this problem.   During these stressful times, a memory spontaneously surfaced about an incident of early childhood trauma where my hips were grabbed and dislocated.

As the memory came into my awareness, I experienced extreme physical pain. And, of course, I became intensely emotional in the months that followed. Confronting my parents about the incident, led to a distancing from my family for years. I was left feeling unsupported and invalidated. In the years to follow their story kept changing.  Early childhood medical records told a different story as well as with what I previously was told.

As painful as these memories were, something else happened that felt like a miracle.

The knot under my naval I had previously shared with my therapist dissolved. Upon realizing this release, it gave me insight into my purpose for helping others to heal. I knew that the energy healing I had been receiving contributed to this information coming into my awareness.

By acknowledging the connection of that physical tension being caused by early memories of trauma, I now understand that my inability to attach language to the trauma event had created the knot. The energy of the suppressed trauma and emotions contributed to the on-going surgeries that occurred every 3-5 years.

This vision took a few years to process because it wasn’t well received by my family. They refused any communication about my vision, which only fueled my justifiable anger.  When I returned to the therapist who had no comment about the knot and shared my vision, she literally rolled her eyes at my story. So, again, I felt invalidated and even questioned my perceptions. But the vision was clear.

As abandoned as I felt, I did eventually find a therapist who supported the belief of recovered early childhood memories.  I had to work through my anger of not being supported as well as re-group from a false narrative about my hip condition. Today, more and more therapist understand that recovered memories do happen, but in the nineties this not the case.

My healing process wasn’t easy. It didn’t happen overnight and there are still times that I will get triggered. However, my life situation is far more peaceful and joyful than it was before starting to heal.

The healing work I did on myself led me to being a healer for others. I look back on my own healing and realize that all of these experiences gave me wisdom as well as compassion for suffering-both of which I needed to develop for fulfilling my life purpose.

I completed my Bachelors in Sociology and a Master’s in Social Work.  My emphasis of studies was early childhood trauma, as well as rape and domestic violence. I interned at Center for Community Solutions, a San Diego agency that offers counseling for sexual and domestic violence as well as legal guidance, and shelter for those experiencing domestic violence.  After graduation, I became Certified in Brain Health Coaching through the Amen Clinic. I then studied with Dr. Georgia Ede, a Harvard psychiatrist who works with nutrition to address mental health conditions.  I’ve also taken online courses to hone my therapeutic skills in trauma through the NICAMB.

In 1997 I became a Reiki Master, then continued my training in shamanic healing practices with Amanda Foulger through the Foundation of Shamanic Studies  along with Sandra Ingerman, author of Soul Retrieval.  I’m listed as an approved Shamanic Practitioner on Sandra Ingerman’s website.  Along with these trainings, I avidly studied a variety of healing modalities focusing primarily on acupuncture and five-element theories.  From these trainings and research, I developed own healing techniques with emphasis on emotional healing.

Clients looking for healing support in addressing past trauma as well as depression and anxiety symptoms is my primary focus.  In addition, I have helped many clients manage distressful symptoms while successfully tapering off anti-depressants’ medications.

Regardless of where you are in healing your own trauma, or have been diagnosed with PTSD, are experiencing stressful life situations that are causing you anxiety and/or depression along with chronic pain and other health issues, please feel free to reach out to me so that we can create a plan that will lead you on the path of healing.

I’m available through email, text, or phone, to arrange a free mini-session to begin reaching your goals.