Member Update & Thank You — Plus a Special Opportunity for Non-Members through Friday, February 20

Sometimes what makes the greatest difference is simply having a dedicated space to reflect, clarify, and explore next steps. I’m offering that space to you.

I’m writing to express my sincere gratitude to our members — and to extend an opportunity to other providers who are working hard to deliver results that conventional systems don’t.

Contents

1. For Members

2. My Values

3. My Conundrum

4. For Non-Members

5. Opportunity for Non-Members — until Feb 20th

6. Provider Resources & Support

7. Recent Newsletters

8. The Wellness Professional’s Trusted Hub: Premium Tools from $12/month

For Members

For those of you who have been with us — some for more than a decade — it has been an honor working with you, and Jane and I look forward to a decade more. Your commitment to thoughtful, meaningful service inspires us, and it genuinely warms our hearts to help lighten your load.

In a recent newsletter, I shared that membership now includes additional support and new opportunities for meaningful community connection. It’s exciting to see our behind-the-scenes plans for a major step forward in our evolution as a community beginning to take shape.

Here are a few details:

• I sent you an email inviting you to schedule an optional 50-minute call with me — a dedicated space to reflect on your service work and explore supportive considerations for stepping into your next level of service. If you didn’t get the email, let me know.

• I’m excited to soon be able to share some powerful new community-building tools that are just around the corner. I’d be happy to tell you more about them during our call, or you can stay tuned for additional details.

• We’ll also introduce Phase 1 of these new tools at our next Health Explorations Collective gathering in March. All are welcome. More details forthcoming. Save the date: Tuesday, March 10th at 9:15am PST.

My Values

One of my most precious moments, 2021.

I support relationships and solutions that:

1. Lead with compassion and relationship, not transaction and automation.

2. Are created intentionally as decentralized, conscious communities.

3. Rely on evidence-based and holistic discernment rather than rigid systems, policies, or constrained narratives.

4. Center on the individual, not on institutions or abstractions.

5. Foster genuine human connection, refusing barriers that separate or dehumanize.

6. Honor shared accountability, trusting ourselves and one another instead of deferring responsibility to systems.

My Conundrum

When I launched the site in 2012, it was not as a business but as a legacy project. By 2014, however, it had grown into something vibrant and full of untapped potential. I decided to explore whether it could support me devoting myself to it full-time — and it worked.

From that point forward, membership revenue covered our business and technical expenses, and profits were reinvested into the site — enhancing technical capability and scalability, and a constant expansion of member content and resources.

For years, it was a balanced and rewarding model.

Then came the post-2020 fallout and the economic pressures became too great for many teachers and trainers who faced mounting challenges. Ultimately, a significant number stepped away altogether. Around 2024, membership declined to a level that remains encouraging but isn’t economically sustainable. Whereas we used to have 300 to 500 members at any one time, now it’s just under 100 — and that’s not enough to pay the bills.

So I have to find ways to expand participation in a way that everyone contributes at a level that feels comfortable — and together, we’re all getting what we need to continue sustainably.

We are living through a unique moment of change — a metaphorical storm that is both unsettling and full of possibility. If you feel called to serve during this time, I invite you to join, rejoin, or schedule a conversation with me about how we can support you in stepping into your next level of service.

For Non-Members

People come to you because they need real help — and you deliver results that conventional systems don’t. Working at the forefront of wellness requires a fundamentally different approach than operating within outdated institutional models. You don’t “fix” people. You empower them. And true empowerment requires the sharing of knowledge — knowledge that is accurate, relevant, practical, and inspiring.

I specialize in keeping my finger on the pulse of research that can inform, guide, and elevate your work — so you don’t have to spend hours chasing scattered information through a maze of establishment-curated noise.

The internet dramatically expanded access to information beginning in the mid-1990s. But by the mid-2010s, information overload had become a serious problem. Since the early 2020s, we’ve entered a full-scale crisis of trust and discernment. Today, every professional must find ways to use technology that serves their work — rather than distracts, misleads, or overwhelms.

As a full-time researcher for decades, I’ve developed an intimate understanding of the internet’s strengths and weaknesses. I’ve continuously refined how we use search engines, academic databases, AI, and digital tools — maximizing their advantages while minimizing their limitations.

For example, I use AI only as a support tool within research that is always human-led. I’ve found that AI often overlooks foundational, high-quality sources that I’ve trusted since the 1990s. When prompted with insight, it can help me find valuable leads and (in some cases) suppressed sources. But for the real-world issues we care about, it’s never sufficient on its own — and I’ve identified errors more than once. That’s why I verify claims, trace information back to original sources, and carefully cross-check the evidence. I do the meticulous, time-consuming legwork so you can focus on solving real-world problems.

Whenever possible, I encourage you to verify the material yourself. When you do, you’ll see that you’re working with someone you can trust — and with resources that will not only save you time but be of practical, real-world value.

Professionals need information in context — with nuance, detail, and real-world applicability. They need resources that are flexible, well-organized, and accessible in the moment without wasting time.

That’s what we provide.

We’ve built our platform from the ground up to function as a structured portal — connecting you to invaluable, well-sourced research without artificial limits. You remain the director. We don’t reduce complex subjects to a single perspective or narrow set of references. Instead, we make high-quality sources easier to access and evaluate.

In short: we help you gain clarity without cutting you off from depth.

Opportunity for Non-Members — until Feb 20th

Through February 20th, I’m opening my calendar for you to schedule a complimentary 50-minute Zoom call with me. The session itself can take place at a later date — but the opportunity to reserve your spot is available only through February 20th.

I invite you to take advantage of this opportunity to connect with a like-minded colleague and have a thoughtful conversation about your service work — the opportunities you see ahead, the challenges you’re navigating, and the support you may need. Sometimes what makes the greatest difference is simply having a dedicated space to reflect, clarify, and explore next steps. I’m offering that space to you.

Schedule your call here.

Sincerely,

Shelly Thorn

Recent Newsletters

• Newsletter Archive

The Wellness Professional’s Trusted Hub: Premium Tools from $12/month

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Packages & Pricing

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