TLC Connection: Healing the mind, body and spirit

March 26--CEDAR FALLS -- After a physical assault while attending college in 2013 left her son with severe injuries, Laurie Creery, a human resources director, quit her job to help him heal.

"He suffered tremendous trauma which included physical injuries, depression and anxiety; he's now diagnosed with PTSD," she said.

The physical wounds healed, but the burden of psychological trauma would take more than what the doctors could prescribe.

"I saw him become lethargic, so I started doing research to try to help my own child."

Creery spent the next two years researching alternative healing methods and earning certifications to be able to use them on her son as well as teach him to use on himself. With the help of a "life coach" and other mentors, Creery began to see positive results in her son and herself.

"Two years into it, he said, 'Mom, you really need to open a business and help other people like me,'" and within three weeks, she did.

"This is my dream," she said. "I told my son that he helped me find myself at age 49. Not only did it work for him, but I'm now living my purpose and my passion."

She is now a reiki master, meaning she can certify others in reiki, an advanced theta healer, trained with Young Living essential oils and a certified meditation guide, life coach and laughter yoga instructor.

In June 2015, she opened TLC Connection. While many think TLC refers to "tender loving care," it also references her and her husband's names, Troy and Laurie Creery.

Located in the lower level of 604 Clay St., TLC Connection offers a variety of classes in life coaching, spiritual guidance, holistic health and aromatherapy.

"It can really change someone's life, but you have to want to do it, and not everybody is committed to making that change."

Inside TLC Connection, The Lotus Boutique offers books and journals and other tools for navigating a personal wellness journey. Lotus was named after the lotus flower, which "grows up through the mud, and emerges on the surface of the water, and is so beautiful, but it really signifies that many times people are stuck in the mud and can still rise above it," Creery said.

The lotus flower can be used to remove some pollutants from water and in some cultures, the unfolding lotus petals suggest an expansion of the soul.

Creery said her son's life has "totally turned around."

To spread awareness of holistic intervention to more people her son's age, TLC Connection offers a grant to cover eight to 16 college students for a one-year program of her services. Each program is tailored to the individual's needs and can involve a variety of the classes. She also volunteers at the House of Hope in Waterloo, which provides a support system and housing for homeless single mothers.

Many of her clients are between the ages of 18-29, but women and men ages 40-65, "who are just really trying to find their passion in life and live their true purpose" also utilize TLC Connection.

"It's a mixed group, and I love it because not only do they learn from me, but I learn from them," she said. "Everybody has something they're going through, and so many times people get consumed with the issues in their life that they forget to see the good, and there's so much good."

___

(c)2018 Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (Waterloo, Iowa)

Visit Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (Waterloo, Iowa) at www.wcfcourier.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.