Judy’s Story I am an empath. A person I have come to call a Ben. I was born this way. I came into the world an open sponge for the world of pain around me and had no language for understanding my innate sensitivities and no support from the people around me. They simply did not know how to deal with such a sensitive, intuitive, empathic kid. Growing up was really hard for me and I almost left the planet on many occasions. I engaged in self harm for most of my teens and early adult life. Empaths tend to be highly creative and thankfully it was through art and writing that I managed to stay in my body and find ways to manifest more positive outlets for BEING ME! It was not until I became a parent to my own empathic children that I began to see the correlation and heal myself from the wounds of my own past. I learned ways to provide holistic and wholesome tools to my own sensitive children to manage life in the fast lane and navigate the societal box of our current educational and cultural system. Our system tends to diagnose our kids with any number of ABC labels, limit resources to the traditional couch model and douse them with prescription drugs so they will fit the model of our world. This is an easy fix but in the long term is not sustainable. ​ Over the years of raising my kids, I developed a power-filled toolbox to move from lack and victim consciousness to abundance and empowerment from within myself first and then affecting change around me by being the change in my own life. The result was miraculous and shifted my home and family dramatically. ​ Even though I lost my middle child Ben to suicide at eighteen years old, he experienced major shifts because of the work we did together. Ben was a highly sensitive, intuitive, empathic teen who struggled with social anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Visit www.benspeaks.org to learn more. I have been deeply psychic and intuitive from the time I was birthed into this world. Another quality of an empath. My intuition has saved my, you know what? more times than I can count. I started to develop as a spirit medium in my late twenties through the tutelage of my sister Candace, who was also extremely gifted, and trained by a highly practiced medium at the Spiritualist Church of Greater Boston in the early 80’s, Carol Ford. I taught Mediumship & Intuitive Development for many years and created a following. When I lost my boy to suicide in 2009, my mediumship and intuitive gifts came to full light through the channeling of my own son and what later became the voice of Archangel Metatron, among others. You can read more about this in my book Phoenix Rising, available here on amazon. Mediumship is one of the gifts I use to support my clients in healing work. This gift supports those who desire to, to connect to their guides, loved ones who have passed on, to clear emotional and mental blocks, heal past wounds and create greater clarity, connection to spirit and well-being. ​ SUPPORTING THE BENS THROUGH HEALING After losing my son Benjamin to suicide in 2009 and starting Ben Speaks in his name, I became passionate about supporting the whole child/whole family. Through a combination of my personal mission as a healer, teacher, artist & writer and my nonprofit as a speaker and mission to support families to access resources to provide a whole person approach to wellness, I have dedicated my life to this work. My work as an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist is born through my desire to help others, especially moms and dads who have lost a child, to navigate the grief process through a brilliant roadmap created over 30 years by the Grief Recovery Institute. I am a heart with ears and facilitator to support you through the other side of grief to greater JOY! To learn more about my grief recovery program, click here. As an Energy Medicine Healer & Coach I will take you deeper into the energy of the body, mind, and spirit to continue to unblock the inherent beliefs, emotions and behaviors that create pain, suffering and limitation and take you to the other side. I guide my clients to create a new story and move in the direction of their dreams. To learn more about healing work with Judy, click here. I am a Reiki Master and trained in multiple modalities including: ​ Advanced Grief Recovery Bars Access Consciousness Emotion Code Brain Gym Tuning Forks and more! ​ To support families, I have developed a program called The Art of Self-Healing for Families. This program provides a toolbox filled with everything you will need to create a more cohesive and grounded family unit, especially for those raising Bens’. After years raising my kids and losing my boy Ben to suicide, working with individuals and families for the past 20 years as an energy medicine healer, I have a lot of tried-and-true tools and techniques that can support the whole family. I wish I had this toolbox when I was raising my kids. It will support your family to move from survival to thrival.