In April 2017 I took a leap of faith. I quit my job. One day, as I was walking into the building where I had worked off and on for 17 years, I looked up at the clear blue sky and I got the message. It was time for a change. I vowed to give more energy and focus to pursuing my wish to be a practicing aromatherapist. Now, some of my friends and work mates may have thought that I had lost my mind, but those who know me best and matter the most, didn’t blink. And so, I gave my notice to my astonished supervisor and in the first week of May I began laying the ground work for Blue Skye Wellness, LLC.

I think my story isn’t all that unique. Many currently practicing aromatherapists started off with a simple question. How can essential oils help me? It really all started when my daughter and I decided to purge our homes of harsh household cleaners and toxic personal care products. Many of the do it yourself recipes that we were finding called for essential oils. I had some old bottles hanging around and as we were deciding that we should probably buy some new ones, we received an invitation from a friend to join her for a get together to learn about essential oils. How convenient. She had recently signed up with an essential oil company and was excited to share information about what essential oils can do.

We were so enamored with the array of oils and the different uses for them that we bought a starter kit and diffuser that night. We jumped right into creating products to use. My daughter was really drawn to the creative side of formulating products like scented soaps and skin care products using essential oils. We were continually researching the different characteristics and uses of the various essential oils that were available. As with any of my new interests, I started reading as much as I could regarding the health promoting properties of essential oils and how we could incorporate them into daily use. My library was growing and increasingly I found myself asking more complex questions and receiving conflicting answers. In researching the use of specific oils for our purposes I realized that much of the information contained on social media platforms was lacking in the area of safe practices. What was most astounding to me was the realization that the essential oil company that we first started with was promoting the therapeutic properties of essential oils while creating distance from the discipline that has essential oils at its heart, Aromatherapy.

Meanwhile, back at work I was seeing patients that I believed could be helped with Aromatherapy. I started looking for an Aromatherapy certification course that I could learn from at my own pace in order to have the education and knowledge to use essential oils with the mostly geriatric population that I worked with. I chose Heart of Herbs Herbal School for their online presence and Demetria Clark’s philosophy about Aromatherapy certification. The director of the program where I worked was supportive of my interest in learning more about the use of Aromatherapy with our patients and he approved the use of professional development funds to pay for my course. Later, he again approved funds to cover another course on the clinical applications of essential oils. Thus the foundation of my Aromatherapy education was begun. And now, after committing myself to many late nights and hundreds of hours of studying I can proudly proclaim that I am a clinical Aromatherapist.

I have discovered a new vocation and am driven to share the knowledge that I have gained regarding the tenets of Aromatherapy and the use of aromatic essential oils for their therapeutic properties. Safety and good standard practice are at the cornerstone of what I strive to share with people. I am developing a series of classes designed to teach people how to safely incorporate essential oils into their health and wellness routines. I meet with people to consult with them regarding their choices for essential oils to support their own options for healing and I am working out the details of how to effectively provide Aromatherapy services to the geriatric population that I now work with on a part time basis. Each week and every day I do something to move my practice forward. Back in April I took a leap of faith and despite panicky moments of self-doubt, I believe it was the right thing for me to do.