This interview will provide you an inside look at what it’s like to be a student in the IAFHH Functional Hormone Specialist Certification Program and the benefit of becoming an IC-FHS from the perspective of graduate, Felicia Enoch, RN, FAE, IC-FHS
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Interview Transcript:
Ashe Milkovic (00:00):
Hello and welcome. Thank you for being here. Can you please share with us who you are and what it is that you do, what your credentials and background is?
Felicia Enoch (00:09):
Okay. My name is Felicia Enoch. I am a registered nurse, specifically specializing in women’s health, even more specifically, the reproductive years. I’ve been a nurse for over eight years now. In the midst of my nursing career, I’ve worked and received specialization in maternal newborn health and also in breastfeeding. I’m also a fertility awareness educator, and now I am also an IAFHH certified functional hormone specialist.
Ashe Milkovic (00:41):
So what inspired you to enroll in the Functional Hormone Specialist Certification program?
Felicia Enoch (00:47):
I decided to enroll in the certification program because of the training that I was receiving as a fertility awareness educator, specifically in the method of FEMM. Very intriguing, very interesting. Loved it. But there were so many questions. FEMM only teaches natural family planning, or conception, or how to conceive. So as I was going through the program, they would say, okay, yeah, this is a hormonal, or this may be related to a hormonal imbalance and drop mic. That’s it. So everything regarding your client’s chart, if it was off or pointing to a hormonal imbalance, you would have to refer for medical management. And for me, just because of the background that I had as a nurse, it wasn’t sufficient. I wanted to know more. Why were these hormonal imbalances happening, and then what could we do as health professionals to treat it, or not to treat, but to support overall health optimization.
(01:50):
So I went on the hunt, and specifically if I can mention her name, Brittany Bair, she was one of the teachers that was grading my FEMM paperwork and answering questions in our discussion group and the knowledge that she was dropping. I’m like, who is this woman? Where does she come from? Like, how does she get this knowledge to answer this, you know, questions especially about women’s health. And I had to go and search her out. So I saw that she dropped a comment that she sees clients, so I’m like, if she sees clients, that means she has a business. So I had already come across this program before in the past, but I now connected with Brittany and she now told me that she had been a part of the first cohort for this program. And I was like, I have to dig in more and see if I can, you know, be a part of this program. So that’s literally what the reason why I joined this program.
Ashe Milkovic (02:44):
So you were a recipient of the full scholarship for the program. Do you mind sharing with us how this has, how this experience has impacted you and or your community and what you plan to do with your new IC-FSH credential?
Felicia Enoch (03:00):
Having the scholarship was like a dream come true. Currently, I’m in a season of transition, so financially that wasn’t something that I could attain this year. Maybe in the next year of the years to come, but it’s something that I really, really wanted to do and having that scholarship close a gap for me, and it’s been the bridge that I needed to take myself almost like from being lost in outer space over to like, clarity. So this program did that for me. One thing that I would love to do and that I’ve seen thus far, like in the social media world of women’s health, you don’t see a lot of women of color. And for me that’s been a concern, especially in hormonal health or those who refer to themselves as hormonal health experts.
(03:52):
It’s typically European maybe some Asians, but I’ve haven’t come across many African American women doing that. So that is something that I would like to offer to the community of color for them to see a face that looks like them, for them to identify and for them to see the importance as a woman and a woman of color taking care of your health and especially the impact of so many symptoms and things that we may attribute to our daily lifestyle. Not knowing that the underlying issue is a hormonal balance. So my desire is to almost be like the poster face and that’s a sort of way for my community in that area.
Ashe Milkovic (04:37):
I love it. I love it. It’s so important. I’m so glad that you’re gonna be able to fill that niche and touch so many lives who need it the most. What would you say to somebody who may be on the fence about working with us and learning from me and from our team within the program?
Felicia Enoch (04:54):
I would say that if they were to make up their mind and to sign up, they definitely would not be disappointed. One thing that I love about this program is a mentorship aspect. As a nurse, when it comes to us practicing, it’s always good to have nurses to refer back to, especially early in your career where you don’t feel confident. And when you’re getting into a new role where you’re diving deeper into let’s say the field of hormone health, you do not want to be lost. You don’t want to have your clients spend unnecessary money, take necessary supplements if they don’t have to. So the key piece that I love about this program is a mentorship aspect. It’s just not like, here, take your certificate. Bye. See you later, is like, here’s your certificate and let’s keep, let’s keep meeting once a month.
(05:44):
Let’s get on a, on an educational call monthly so you can grow as a hormonal specialist and just not, you know, leave you there. So for me, that is like a big thing. For any person that decides to sign up for this program to know that you’re being part of the change, you’re being part of the positive solution that we need for women in our healthcare system. So signing up is going to, it’s gonna be one extra person that women will have the opportunity to come to, to exit the system or at least to have better overall health.
