“I just love connecting with people,” says Charlotte Heald. The holistic health and life coach lives in Norsewood with her husband Russell, together they own and run an organic, regenerative dairy farm. Charlotte had trained and practised as a registered nurse for several years but left the role she loved when she became a parent. While immersing herself into farm life and community work, she was suddenly halted by a decline in her health forcing her to evolve, not just her career but also her identity.
Incapacitated by a mystery illness that plagued her life Charlotte began to question; is this how it is supposed to be? Is there another way? Fortunately for Charlotte, with the support of her family, neighbours and community as well as dedicated medical experts, there was another way. The eventual diagnosis was Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, “I thought, whoa this is not my future! I was so driven to heal myself and it was at that time I learned about health coaching”.
It was that change in her own health that helped Charlotte recognise her calling as a holistic health and life coach, working predominantly with rural women to help them create sustainable lifestyles. “Often the woman is the pillar that keeps it all together and I want to help people realise there’s more to life. It requires challenging the “honourable view” of women who do it all for everyone else. They are usually women who are extremely involved in everything from their communities, to their families as well as their own careers but at the cost of their own mental and physical health”.
Living by their values, Charlotte and Russell chose to shift their farming system to once a day milking in order to improve their work/life balance. This shift tied in with them questioning food integrity and what they were doing in terms of the agricultural practices on their farm. So, they explored regenerative and biological farming theories and practices. This led them to a holistic transformation in the way they ran their farm, choosing to become a certified organic operation, which enabled them to capture a premium price for their efforts.
By prioritising her health, Charlotte has regained her quality of life as well as fulfilment in her work, living her own ‘sustainability spiral’. “The sustainability spiral involves the act of committing to something small and simple for yourself, then experiencing a positive result as a consequence. This creates
a really profound effect on your overall wellness” explains Charlotte. “My work is about honouring the individual. It involves examining where they’re at, understanding what they want to achieve in their life, business and with their health. Then creating a path forward, empowering them and celebrating all their wins along the way”.
If you would like to get in touch with Charlotte you can find her website and socials below.
