As an RN, Barbara attended the University of North Carolina and worked as Nurse Manager of the Duke Medical Center Cardiac Care Unit. She graduated with High Honors from Clayton College of Natural Health with a graduate degree in Holistic Wellness and currently is founding director of Haelen Health, an Integrative Healthcare collaborative in Roanoke, Virginia. Somehow along the way, Barbara raised three children and ran an organic family farm outside of Boston, Massachusetts for over 20 years.

Barbara has always felt there is more to being human than maintaining parts of a machine and delved into searching for ways to pull things together into a meaningful gestalt.  How do we connect from the basic to the divine - our bodies, our psyche, our homes, our gardens, our cities, our spirit? In the course of this search, she has explored many paths, spiritual and alternative philosophies, and found HBB to be the most compelling and enriching. She achieved certification in 2012.

She is currently in private practice and serves as adjuct faculty at ECPI University, Roanoke VA. She was named Teacher of the Year 2014 by the Virignia Association of Career Colleges.