For Jessica Parrotte, the path to becoming a certified hypnotherapist and Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner began decades before she ever stepped foot into a SWIHA classroom.
As a young teenager, Jessica witnessed the impact hypnotherapy had on a friend’s mother, who used the modality to lose weight and quit smoking. The experience stayed with her. Years later, she even wrote a college thesis on hypnotherapy—yet after graduation, the subject remained on the back burner for many years.
Eventually, life brought Jessica back to the modality she had never truly forgotten.
Today, Jessica is a SWIHA graduate, has completed the advanced Hypnotherapy portion of the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program, and earned her certification with the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association (IMDHA). She is also building her holistic healing business, Here & Now Healing, while continuing to explore how hypnotherapy, holistic coaching, energy work, and other complementary practices can help people create meaningful change.
Jessica’s return to hypnotherapy came from a desire to better understand how to connect with and support the people in her life.
That realization led her to pursue higher education in hypnotherapy. After completing the advanced Hypnotherapy program, she discovered that she wanted to take her education even further.
The Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program offered Jessica an opportunity to expand her qualifications while exploring additional tools and approaches that could complement her work.
For Jessica, hypnotherapy is more than a professional modality. She sees it as a deeply empowering approach that can help individuals connect with themselves on an internal level.
“Hypnotherapy is an amazing modality with unlimited potential,” she explained, describing it as empowering, therapeutic, and beneficial for mental and emotional wellness.
One of Jessica’s defining realizations during her SWIHA journey was recognizing that hypnotherapy provided a natural way to bring together skills and abilities she already possessed.
She had previously explored Reiki, intuitive readings, crystals, handmade jewelry, and other spiritual and creative practices. While she never felt comfortable charging for Reiki, she discovered that she could incorporate it—with client consent—as a complementary practice within her holistic coaching and hypnotherapy work.
Her SWIHA education also introduced her to additional tools and techniques, helping her create a more professional foundation for the work she wanted to offer.
“I had previously built a small business with my handmade jewelry, crystals, and readings,” Jessica shared. “School has helped me become more professional, merge my new LLC with my existing business, and refine my vision and dreams for the future.”
That evolution has become an important part of Jessica’s journey: leaving her past experiences behind and bringing them together with her new education and professional qualifications.
Jessica describes her experience at SWIHA as both challenging and rewarding.
The Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program challenged her to look inward while also giving her tools to navigate obstacles, plan for the future, and work through moments of uncertainty. For Jessica, the educational experience became about more than completing coursework. It became an opportunity for personal growth and reflection.
She found that some of the inner struggles and conflicts that surfaced during her education could become opportunities to learn new ways of coping, strategizing, and moving forward. Rather than seeing obstacles as reasons to stop, Jessica learned to view them as part of the larger journey toward success and wholeness.
Jessica’s entrepreneurial story began in 2017 with a love for crystals.
She created her business, Future For Freedom, after becoming fascinated with digging for crystals. What began with handmade jewelry and ethically sourced crystals and minerals eventually expanded to include Oracle, tarot, and rune readings.
Today, that entrepreneurial vision is evolving once again.
Jessica has established her LLC, Here & Now Healing, with Future For Freedom continuing as more of an umbrella company. She is currently preparing to open a business bank account and build the next phase of her professional practice.
Rather than immediately committing to a brick-and-mortar location, Jessica has decided to experiment with in-person group sessions and online services while she continues to strategize, network, and connect with other professionals in holistic and healing arts fields.
Her services will include one-on-one sessions as well as a variety of hypnotherapy offerings, including past life regression, age regression, hypnotic dreamwork, group hypnotherapy, and Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT).
Her website is also in the process of being officially launched.
Throughout her education, several instructors and courses stood out to Jessica.
She specifically credits Linda Bennett, Sherry Gilbert, and Gisele Marasca as impactful teachers during her SWIHA experience.
Among her favorite and most influential courses was Fears, Phobias, & Addictions, which she says changed her perspective significantly. She also enjoyed Hypnotic Dreamwork / Dreams & Metaphors, describing it as an exciting and creative area of hypnotherapy. Past Life Regression was another deeply meaningful experience, while Script Writing helped Jessica rebuild confidence in an ability she had been neglecting: writing.
She remembers Gisele Marasca as particularly encouraging, patient, and supportive of her individual interests and abilities.
“Gisele helped with writing as well as professionalism too,” Jessica shared. “She was so patient with my questions. She also encouraged my individualism, passions, and abilities.”
When asked what she considers the greatest lessons she learned at SWIHA, Jessica points to three qualities: perseverance, resilience, and tenacity.
She also emphasizes dedication and consistency.
For Jessica, building a meaningful career isn't necessarily about having every step figured out from the beginning. It is about continuing to refine your passion and taking the next step from wherever you are.
“Refining your passion can be a valuable, long process, and that's OK,” she shared.
Her philosophy can be summed up in a simple yet powerful reminder:
Start where you are.
Jessica believes that the present moment is where meaningful change begins. That philosophy is reflected in the name of her healing practice, Here & Now Healing.
“Here & Now is when and where we can choose to heal,” she says.
Jessica’s experience has also given her a thoughtful perspective to share with those considering their own SWIHA journey.
Her advice? Give yourself the foundation you need to succeed.
Before beginning a program, she recommends making sure you are in a stable enough emotional, mental, professional, and personal space to dedicate the necessary time and energy to your education. SWIHA programs require commitment and consistent effort, and life can inevitably bring unexpected challenges along the way. Jessica encourages students not to overwhelm themselves by trying to do everything at once. Taking things class by class can be a valuable strategy, especially in the beginning.
“It’s better to take class by class until you get to the halfway point than it is to overwhelm, overexert yourself and not arrive there,” she advises.
Her message is ultimately one of patience and perseverance: prepare yourself for the journey, establish a strong foundation, and trust that progress happens one step at a time.
Jessica’s journey is still unfolding.
Alongside building Here & Now Healing, she has a passion project called Healers Helping Healers, which reflects another important part of her vision: creating connection and support within the healing arts community.
From crystals and handmade jewelry to intuitive readings, hypnotherapy, holistic coaching, and entrepreneurship, Jessica’s professional journey has taken many turns. Her SWIHA education has helped her bring those experiences together into a clearer vision for the future.
Her story is a reminder that sometimes the path to your calling isn't a straight line. A passion you discover as a teenager may return decades later. A creative hobby can become the beginning of a business. And the skills you've collected throughout your life can become the foundation for an entirely new chapter. For Jessica, that chapter is rooted in healing, empowerment, and the belief that transformation can begin right where we are.
Interested in exploring your own path in holistic healing? SWIHA’s Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program can help you build knowledge and skills across a range of complementary healing modalities while developing a foundation for your own professional journey.
Explore your possibilities and discover where your path can lead at SWIHA.