Grief Has No Time Limit and Support Should Reflect That – An Interview with Sally Stevenson
Sally Stevenson, founder of Angelic Heart Academy of Holistic Healing, began exploring spirituality after becoming a mother, alongside a career in dentistry spanning three decades. She went on to develop Ijna Healing and Anya Healing, while losing both parents within three months shaped her understanding of grief and the support people need.
In this exclusive interview, she discusses how her clinical background informs her teaching, the importance of compassion in practitioner training, and where she believes holistic practices can fit alongside modern medicine.
Sally Stevenson, Healing Practitioner, Teacher & Founder
Your career began in dentistry before leading you to found Angelic Heart Academy, so what inspired that unexpected shift?
My journey towards holistic healing started after the birth of my first child. During my pregnancy, as my sensitivity grew, my spiritual gifts developed. I went through what can only be described as a spiritual awakening, and I began to realise that we are so much more than physical beings. It was a profound experience. One that changed my view of the world. Society rarely covers the energetic changes that women go through when they become mothers, yet focuses on the physical transformation and, more recently, the emotional changes they experience.
Being the inquisitive person that I am, I wanted to unpack my experience and learn more about the spiritual aspects of ourselves. I started to learn about the chakra system and our aura, then went on to connect to healing modalities and study for a diploma in crystal healing.
How has your clinical understanding of anatomy and physiology influenced the healing methods you teach today?
Once I connected to healing, I noticed the energy chakras and their connection to key areas of our body. I started to observe a correlation between a person’s medical history and the areas that required attention. Emotional and mental health, lifestyle and hereditary factors are always considered, but an understanding developed within me, and I started to ask questions.
Could there be something else within the person’s energy that was also a contributing factor? Could their painful experiences remain in their energy field and cause a physical symptom? These questions were enough for me to take a deep dive into energy healing and connect the dots.
What inspired you to create Ijna Healing and Anya Healing instead of teaching an existing modality?
All healing modalities that are currently used bring so much to those who receive the healing. They transform people’s lives in a beautiful way, but after working with healing energies for some time, I started to unlock my own healing abilities.
It became very clear to me that I was working with different frequencies, higher than I had been used to, and it took a long time to ground myself. I had to become a bit of a hermit to integrate this, and since 2019, I have added to and expanded the Angelic Heart Academy of Holistic Healing syllabus across six levels.
I was inspired to create new modalities because I feel the world we live in is changing at such a pace that it is sometimes hard to keep up. Holistic healing has now become a necessary part of our evolution to bring balance to our mind, body and soul. As we progress and awaken to our potential, an acceptance of healing is taking place within people. An understanding that we can positively change our lives with holistic healing working alongside modern medicine.
You often say that spirit and science belong together, so where do you see the strongest connection between those two worlds?
After spending the last 30 years in dentistry, working closely with patients, I find that having a medical background strengthens my healing practice. Human instinct is to turn to medicine to solve our health issues. However, there are times when people have exhausted all medical options. I believe holistic healing should be used not as a last resort but in unison with modern medicine.
During the courses that I teach, we discuss the correlations between the chakra system and the human body. We also discuss the central nervous system and how to cope in modern life. At the later stages of the syllabus, we go a layer deeper, and I incorporate human biology and the study of cells. At the final level of the syllabus, we look at the most divine science of all, astrology.
As holistic healing becomes more widely accepted, what changes would you still like to see in how practitioners are trained and supported?
I believe that one day holistic practitioners will be recognised and rewarded worldwide for the work that they do, working alongside medical professionals in all medical settings, such as general practitioner (GP) surgeries, hospitals and hospices, and becoming an integral part of the medical profession. Holistic healing is available in some hospitals and hospices, but this is very rare and limited, with most holistic practitioners volunteering their time. Sadly, this often means that holistic practitioners are limited in how much time they can dedicate to healing and often work in other occupations alongside it.
Holistic healing has come a long way. Over the last ten years, I have noticed a difference, thanks to organisations such as the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine (IPHM), which supports practitioners worldwide, giving encouragement, advice and a platform to expand and share their knowledge and expertise.
During my courses, we discuss how we can break the stigma surrounding energy healing and how our own personal conduct really does determine the outcome. As the practitioner progresses through the course, we discuss client care at each stage and how we can best support people through healing.
For someone exploring energy healing for the first time, what is the biggest misconception that can prevent meaningful progress?
I think the misconception is that people will expect immediate results. This is not how healing works. Sometimes people do feel instant relief, but in a lot of cases, healing takes time, just as it would if you were to have an operation and were recovering physically. After a healing session, the process can involve weeks of processing and releasing emotions that some have carried for a lifetime. I feel that because it requires patience, people tend to give up and think it isn’t working.
The change within that person’s energy field can be felt by the practitioner almost instantly, but for the recipient, it is an integration that happens over time. We are living in a society where people want instant results, but everyone is different, and healing can take longer for some. I feel that is something to bear in mind when exploring energy healing.
What qualities do you believe are most important for someone who wants to build a professional healing practice that truly serves others?
There are many qualities that one can possess to become an energy healer, such as a desire to help others, trustworthiness, compassion and empathy. You never know what a person has been through in their life, and it is so important to approach them without judgement, with understanding and the ability to hold space for someone to be open and vulnerable.
Often, you will come across very vulnerable individuals who have exhausted all other options. You become their last hope, and it can feel like a heavy responsibility, one that a healer must be ready for. A good listener can provide great comfort to those in need, as sometimes people just want to be seen and heard.
Having a desire to expand your expertise will give you the motivation to succeed and is important for continuing professional development as new information and techniques become available to us. You do not need to have a medical background for holistic healing. However, I find that those who are already established within the medical profession tend to be naturally drawn to expanding their expertise, and many hold holistic healing qualifications alongside medical qualifications.
At Angelic Heart Academy of Holistic Healing, we ensure that those who embark on our courses are taught the skills required not only to learn holistic healing but also to become competent holistic healers in business. We also ensure that they have a supportive network.
Losing both of your parents within three months profoundly shaped your journey, so how has that experience changed the way you guide people through healing and grief?
When you experience grief, it changes you, and I now view life through a very different lens. I can see beyond the surface level and have become experienced enough to know there are many layers of emotions that people feel and go through. You realise grief is different for everyone, and a mutual respect for and understanding of another’s pain develops.
I have learnt to be patient and recognise that there is no time limit with grief. I have sat with emotions myself that I never thought I would find relief from. However, it was also in the pain that I felt my connection to a higher power grow stronger. Throughout all of it, I never felt alone, and my faith in spirituality gave me the strength to keep going. The pain remains and does not dissipate. However, holistic healing allows you to find relief and comfort. It is through my healing work that pain became purpose.
If readers could take away one lesson from your journey, what would you hope stays with them the longest?
The lesson I would like readers to take away is that holistic healing is available to all, and it can and will see you through some of the darkest times of life. There is light amongst the chaos, and once connected, you will rise above it all.
I have learnt along the way that life doesn’t come with a rule book, and the cycles of life, the good and the bad, teach us profoundly. Our experiences are our own, and our healing journey is unique to us. With time, we emerge stronger than ever before. Having an established wellbeing routine and learning healing techniques to help ourselves and our loved ones will be a necessity that changes lives over the coming years.
We are expanding our consciousness at a rapid rate, and with technology, I do not think for a second that this will slow down any time soon. With our constantly changing world, we will need to rely upon people who share our outlook to help us along the way. Not everyone will understand, but some will, and those are your people. Those people often feel ‘heaven-sent’.
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