Hidden Gems: Meet Brittany Smith of BSI Wellness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Smith

Hi Brittany, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been a registered nurse in the valley for over a decade and have specialized in leadership, mentorship, emergency, surgery, and aesthetics. All of these experiences have given me a deep perspective and understanding around the complexities that are involved to care for human life. I see how many people are looking for healing beyond what the healthcare system can provide. Myself, for example, am a proud mother to four beautifully vibrant children. As one can imagine, this is a demanding role. I have professional understanding, but am still human and become overwhelmed at times. I hit a wall in 2020, and saw myself drowning. I knew something had to change for the sake of my happiness, my family, and all the people I love and serve. That is when I decided to fight back. I became my own patient to fight back against stress and burnout. I decided to open a holistic practice, BSI Wellness to share knowledge, resources, and inspire the general public to take back the authority to heal themselves. Modern western medicine teaches to direct our healthcare based on the providers recommendations. However, rarely do the healthcare providers have the time to get to the root cause of the ailments or incorporate how lifestyle affects these symptoms. After performing assessments on thousands of people, it became obvious that there is always more to the picture than what is initially presented. Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. I want to see people take preventative measures that encompass wellbeing of the mind, body, and spirit so they can access more joyful, high quality lives.. By “Being.Super.Intentional.” about how we take care of ourselves, we can build resilience, live longer, and better. This is how BSI Wellness was born.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When people see my smile, laughter, and optimism, they often assume I have not experienced any hardship. This is far from the truth. I am a black woman from Chicago, Illinois and grew up with a single mother and have cultivated an exceptional work ethic out of desperation for a better life. I started pursuing further education immediately out of high school, and have not stopped since. While working full time, I graduated from GCU with a bachelor’s degree, and continued to get certified as a holistic nurse coach all while being a committed family woman. My husband and I have married since 2009, and now have four thriving children together. The struggle comes from managing time in a way that satisfies my own happiness, and providing a nurturing environment for my family while also pursuing professional goals. For those who say they do not have time to take care of themselves, I like to share hope that it is possible with the right kind of support.
Furthermore, aside from persevering through odds that were not in my favor, I have had people who doubted me. They underestimated me, tried to sabotage my success and criticized my vision. I came to the realization that the impact that I am to have in this world is not for others to understand. The lesson I learned was to work quietly and allow the work to speak for itself so that others find understanding when they see the product of what you have accomplished.
One of the reasons I am very adamant about empowering people to take back the authority to be their own healers is because this is what I have had to do for myself. For two of my pregnancies, I had complications and when I reached out to the professionals for assistance, I was not heard, but was overlooked, and neglected. This caused me to be in situations where I had to self-deliver two of my children. That’s right! My second child was born in the car on the way to the hospital. I had been to the hospital the day prior and they told me no signs of labor and to go home. The next day, the baby came out prematurely weighing barely 3 pounds. For the third child, I was put on bedrest and close observation for the pregnancy, but when my water broke and I got to the hospital, I told them that I had a history of rapid deliveries, but there was no urgency from the healthcare workers. Again, when I told them the baby was coming, no one responded. The nurse held an attitude with her back towards me, so I stood up off of the side of the hospital bed, reached down, and grabbed the baby myself. By the time the doctor came running down the hall, I was already breastfeeding. I share this story with you to demonstrate the inner strength we all have when we least expect it. The broken healthcare system we have is unreliable. This is why we must learn to be our own healers. For most, when they hear this story they are shocked that someone would need to unexpectedly deliver their own child twice. For my survival, and my baby’s chance at survival, I did what had to be done. This story continues to the fourth child, when again I had to be on bedrest for 6 months. With already 3 children in the house, bedrest was almost an impossible assignment. However, I refused to be a victim of my situation and allow depression and anxiety to take over while I was incapacitated. I decided to use this time to build a business. I researched, developed, created programs to help other regular people tap into their inner strength to persevere also. I can not talk about my struggles in life and what it took to create BSI Wellness without talking about my children. BSI Wellness was created at the same time I was on bedrest growing the baby boy in my womb. After all that I have been through and seen, I know there is a great potential in all of us to not only do, but outdo the impossible.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about BSI Wellness?
BSI Wellness is a partner in the community that offers holistic resources to advocate for individuals, private groups, and corporate teams. The philosophy is to look at the whole human experience, analyze risk factors, and implement preventative measures to counteract the effects of potential dysfunction. We look to the latest research advances in longevity and anti-aging to support functioning of the body systems (cardiovascular, neurologic, musculoskeletal, etc..) and then our process takes it a step further to incorporate psychosocial optimization. When we talk about optimizing the holistic quality of life, that means improving satisfaction physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

We have a Workplace Wellness program that offers workshops for corporate teams to learn skills of team building, communication, and effective leadership for improving quality and performance. For private groups, we facilitate events, retreats, speaking events, and group discussions that address specialty topics related to the demographic need. One of the most proud initiatives, founded by B. Smith is the Resilience Tour. The Resilience Tour collaborates with other holistic providers to provide practical skills to cultivate concepts of mental, emotional, physical, and social resilience. Also, there are coaching packages for individuals who are wanting more personalized support to elevate the quality of well being and be proactive about extending lifespan. BSI Wellness offers the experience of having a private nurse on your healthcare team while also providing the innovative philosophies and strategies of a board certified holistic coach.

What’s next?
For the immediate future, BSI Wellness will continue to partner with individuals and organizations that want to elevate and support the community. One of the upcoming events with Ethereal24 involves breathwork, social dancing, and holistic coaching in a picnic style fashion at the park. This is an initiative to bring healthy activities and entertainment to the community. The Resilience Tour is expanding and actively welcoming holistic professionals who want to make a bigger impact. In addition, BSI Wellness continues to participate in advancing research in Longevity and Anti-aging. Looking into the next year, some exciting and upcoming developments include BSI participation at conferences in Switzerland and Japan to further develop holistic contributions to the sciences.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://bsiwellness.com/
• Instagram: nurse_brittt