MARY CLISTA DAHL
Author & Founder
After peeling my BipoIar Disorder label, I exposed my joy keeper, author, speaker, naturalist, Reiki Master, writing coach, mentor, emotional and mental wellness guide and lifelong serving heart self.
In 2016, after being hospitalized for a second “breakdown” and examining my 18-year entanglement in the web of the mental health system, I asked myself this question, “How is it that I, someone who is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (considered a “serious mental illness”) flourished for thirty-five years in a career guiding thousands of college students (accumulating 1400 sick leave hours in the process), retired at age 55, raised two kids, managed a household while earning my college degree and authored four books? My answer: I am not the least bit ill or disordered, I am perfectly well. That belief shift was the beginning of a transformation that began with my creating a customized treatment plan combining the power of words, love, joy, nature and human and spiritual connectedness to restore my mental and emotional wellness. Now I encourage others to drop their labels and rediscover their immense value and make them the glorious human beings they were born to be.
A self-proclaimed nature nerd, I live in a National Wildlife Federation certified wildlife habitat home in western New York that I am transforming to a retreat and resource center. “Refiring” after a thriving 35-year career as a higher education student services professional (mostly in career guidance), I am now serving others in a more custoMARY way. Preferring to pave my own path, I graduated from an innovative college, and I’m a strong supporter of holistic healing and indigenous customs and wisdom. A mostly offline girl, face to face interaction with my Earth family makes me happiest, and I love maintaining my close network of family and friends.
I am a proud Mom to two amazing biological children and many others “adopted” through love.
Quote that I live by:
“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.”