A Calling Born Through Loss: My Journey From Grief to Healing

A Calling Born Through Loss: My Journey From Grief to Healing

In March of 1994, when I was seven years old, my little sister was born. 

I was beyond excited. Like many older siblings, I imagined all the things we would do together. I couldn’t wait to hold her hand, teach her things, and watch her grow up. For the few nights we had her at home, I slept on the floor beneath her bassinet. I was prepared to do this for many nights to come. 

But life had a different plan. 

Shortly after bringing her home, she was diagnosed with a devastating congenital heart defect. Instead of bringing her home for good, my parents found themselves spending countless days, weeks, and months in the hospital in Iowa City. Our family quickly learned a new language—one filled with surgeries, specialists, uncertainty, and despair. 

For eight months, my sister experienced procedures, interventions, some helpful and some harmful in a hospital. 

And for eight months, I watched. 

I watched healthcare professionals care for her. I watched my parents trust strangers with the life of their child. I watched compassion, sacrifice, heartbreak, and hope all coexist in the same hallways. 

When my sister passed away at just eight months old, a piece of my childhood changed forever. 

Even as a young girl, I knew something had been planted inside of me. I was determined to care for children. 

I didn’t fully understand it then, but looking back now, I can see that God was already writing the story of my life. 

The journey that followed was not always straightforward. There were countless experiences, lessons, challenges, and opportunities that shaped me along the way. Through every season, I felt a persistent calling toward caring for children and families.

After placing myself in different environments to care for children, I was called to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. 

For years, I poured my heart into caring for patients. I studied, trained, prescribed, educated, and followed the standards I had been taught. I genuinely believed I was helping children live healthier lives. 

And in many ways, I was. 

But there was also a growing sense that something was missing. 

Even before I could fully articulate it, I found myself questioning certain aspects of modern health and wellness. When my first child was born, I gravitated toward more natural approaches. I chose low-tox products. I cloth diapered. I was fiercely committed to breastfeeding. 

Ironically, despite my determination, I was breastfeeding all wrong. 

The pain was excruciating. I pushed through because I believed it was important, but I learned firsthand that passion alone doesn’t equal understanding. Sometimes we can be deeply committed to something and still not have the full picture. 

That lesson would become a recurring theme in my life. 

Then COVID happened. 

Like so many people, the pandemic became a defining chapter in my story. What began as questions soon became a complete shift in perspective. 

COVID opened my eyes to resources, research, and conversations I had never previously explored. It challenged assumptions I didn’t even realize I was carrying. It forced me to examine healthcare, wellness, prevention, and healing through an entirely different lens. 

The deeper I looked, the harder it became to ignore what I was seeing. 

I began to recognize that much of what I had been prescribing and recommending wasn’t truly creating health. In many cases, it was simply managing symptoms. Some of it felt disconnected from genuine healing altogether.

I realize that statement can be difficult to understand. 

In fact, I know that until someone has the perspective or experiences that lead them to ask different questions, what I’m describing may not make sense at all. 

There is often a cognitive dissonance between where we currently are and what we have not yet experienced for ourselves. 

As everything I knew was being challenged, I felt alone and that I did not belong in the current system I was serving. 

So I stepped out in obedience to God’s calling on my life.

In 2022 I opened Be Well Pediatrics. 

And now, I see this struggle every day. 

Even among patients and families who find their way into our practice—families who are actively searching for alternatives and deeper answers—many are still beginning their journey of understanding. That isn’t a criticism. It is simply reality. 

Because all of us, in one way or another, have participated in systems and beliefs that we inherited, accepted, or trusted without fully understanding their long-term implications. 

I certainly did. 

And yet, growth requires humility. 

It requires the willingness to admit that we may not know everything. The truth is, this journey hasn’t only challenged me professionally. It has stretched me personally in ways I never expected. 

There have been seasons where I felt like I lost myself in the work. Seasons where the mission consumed so much of my time, energy, and attention that I found myself functioning in a silo. 

Times when I felt isolated, exhausted, and desperately alone. Then life hit me, the death of my brother during the very season I wanted to die myself. 

My husband faithfully carried so much of the weight around me. While I was growing the practice and building the business, he was often the one keeping everything else moving forward. He supported the vision, cared for our family, and created stability during seasons when I was pouring everything I had into serving others.

Many times I felt distant from him—not because of a lack of love, but because of how consumed I had become by the work. 

And one of the hardest realities to face is that I can never get those years back. 

As I look at my children now, I realize how much of their childhood unfolded while I was building something I believed God was calling me to create. There are moments, milestones, and ordinary days that passed while I was focused on the next patient, the next problem to solve, the next step in the vision. 

That realization carries both gratitude and grief. 

Gratitude for the work we have built and the families we have been able to serve. 

Grief for the moments that can never be relived. 

There were also seasons when I felt distant from God. Not because I stopped believing. Not because I questioned His faithfulness. But because life became so loud, so demanding, and so consuming that I felt disconnected from His presence. 

Yet even in those seasons, He never left. 

Looking back now, I can see His hand in every chapter—guiding, refining, teaching, and preparing me for the work He had set before me. 

I know that every chapter—the loss of my sister, my education, motherhood, professional practice, the pandemic, the heartbreaks, the loss of my brother, the never enough, patient disappointments, employee dissatisfaction, dishonesty, investing and building, and the moments of questioning—have all led me here. 

To a place where healing is not about judgment. 

A place where meeting families exactly where they are matters. A place where compassion comes before correction. 

A place where we recognize that every person is on their own journey of understanding.

Our goal is not perfection. 

Our goal is not fear. 

Our goal is not making people feel wrong for what they didn’t know before. Our goal is to help families experience healing, growth, and hope. No matter where they are starting from. 

No matter what they currently believe. 

No matter how much or how little they understand today. 

Because healing isn’t a destination reserved for a select few. It’s an invitation. 

And after all these years, I believe that invitation is exactly what God has been calling me toward since the day my little sister entered—and changed—my life forever. 

As my perspective began to shift, I quickly realized that I wasn’t alone. 

What initially felt isolating soon became one of the greatest gifts of my journey. God began placing incredible people in my path—practitioners, business owners, healers, educators, and parents who had been asking many of the same questions I was asking. People who had dedicated their lives to helping children and families thrive, often outside the traditional healthcare model I had always known. 

Coming from a conventional medical background, I had been trained to focus heavily on diagnosis, treatment, and symptom management. While those tools absolutely have their place, I began discovering a much larger conversation around healing, prevention, nutrition, environmental health, nervous system regulation, movement, gut health, and addressing root causes rather than simply managing symptoms. 

The transition from Western medicine to a more integrative approach wasn’t easy. It required humility. It required unlearning. It required listening to stories and experiences that challenged my assumptions. Most importantly, it required building relationships with people whose expertise looked very different from my own. 

What I found was extraordinary. 

I discovered a community of passionate professionals who genuinely care about helping children heal and thrive. Chiropractors, nutritionists, lactation consultants, therapists, functional medicine practitioners, movement specialists, mental health professionals, wellness providers, and so many others who each bring a unique piece to the puzzle of health. 

Some of these individuals became mentors. Some became trusted colleagues. Many became dear friends. 

They supported me during some of the loneliest seasons of my life and helped me realize that true healing often requires a team. No single practitioner has all the answers. No one person can meet every need of a child or family. But when 

gifted people come together with a shared purpose, incredible things can happen. 

Today, one of my greatest joys is helping families connect with these resources. There is something powerful about watching parents discover that they are not alone, that there are options, and that there is an entire community of people ready to support them. 

That vision is exactly why we created the Pediatric Wellness Expo. Save the date!

On July 25th, we will bring together many of these trusted professionals and businesses in one place so families can meet them face-to-face, ask questions, build relationships, and expand their resources for health and healing. 

The Pediatric Wellness Expo isn’t about promoting a single approach to healthcare. It’s about creating connections. It’s about empowering families with knowledge, introducing them to valuable resources, and helping them build a support network that allows their children to truly thrive. 

Because healing doesn’t happen in isolation. 

It happens in community. 

Isaiah 6:8

About Callie Williams Owner of Be Well Collective

Callie Williams is the owner and founder of Be Well Collective established February 2022. Callie has her Doctorate in Pediatric Nursing Practice from University of Missouri, Pediatric National Board Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner  – Primary Care, Academy of Pediatric Integrative Medicine Certificate, MAPS Fellowship student, Iowa licensed Advance Registered Nurse Practitioner.

Callie is married to Dave and they have three children – Christian (11), Grace (9), and Sebastian (6). Callie loves Jesus and keeps Him at the center of her life. She enjoys trying to golf and playing sports in general, as well as, watching her children play sports. 

She believes every child deserves care that honors their unique individuality, while empowering parents to take an active, responsible role in their child’s health. Her integrative approach combines evidence-based medicine with functional diagnostics and personalized treatment plans, alongside supportive therapies to identify needs, promote healing, and optimize lifelong wellness.

She prioritizes partnership with parents, open communication, and informed consent, ensuring families are fully empowered participants in their child’s care. I am committed to ongoing learning, clinical excellence, and collaboration with other healthcare providers, so every child receives coordinated, compassionate, and personalized care that helps them thrive.

Be Well Collective is a collective pediatric integrative wellness center offering well & unwell care, lactation consultation, functional nutrition & medicine, bioenergetic screening, and healing therapies. We empower parents to cultivate foundations of health in each child by integrating intentional care for children to grow in wellness with grace.