Five years ago, registered nurse Marie Storm and her husband, chiropractor Kevin Storm, opened the doors to Storm Chiropractic Clinic in Greenwood. Marie, a native southsider with a degree in nursing from Purdue University and experience garnered in a neurology unit in a St. Louis hospital, received health coaching training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Outside of the clinic, Marie is mom twice over to a toddler and a newborn. She also teaches a variety of fitness classes.
At Storm Chiropractic, Marie Storm offers health coaching, drawing on her expertise in nutrition, nursing and fitness. Here, she shares some details about her passion and profession.
What made you want to open a chiropractic clinic with your husband?
When I was in St. Louis working as a nurse, I chose to work in neurology, so I took care of patients right after they had back surgery or if they had migraines, seizures or strokes. The schedule wasn’t awesome, but I knew that’s what would prepare me best for us eventually opening our own clinic. When I saw everything that was involved with back surgery and the recovery process, I did a lot of my own research by talking to patients, asking, ‘Have you ever been to a chiropractor?’ A lot of people hadn’t, and I wondered if they did, would they maybe not have needed surgery?
People maybe didn’t know there was another option or how to pursue a more preventive route instead of jumping to surgery. It was interesting working full time as a nurse in the hospital while he was going to grad school, and comparing notes. That’s kind of how it all evolved.
How do you provide holistic care to a client when health coaching?
It’s something that’s always fascinated me, how the body works together as a whole. We don’t really want to separate all the different areas and systems because they do impact each other. I look into not only the physical, but the mental side of things as well. Stress is always a big one that we spend some time on because that impacts your health. It helps you choose what you eat. If you’re feeling down, it’s harder to eat healthy and decide you’re going to work out. I definitely take that into account.
Everybody is so individual, it’s kind of based around their goals and what they want for themselves. So I kind of let them lead the way, and then I make suggestions and hold them accountable along the way. It’s not a cookie-cutter approach because everyone is so different that everyone has their own treatment plan.
How do you motivate individuals to make lifestyle changes?
Typically, with clients, it’s not just a one-time meeting. You can talk about things, but if there’s no follow up, then you don’t really know. Did it happen? I think that it’s crucial that I do meet with people every other week for several months at a time for that accountability piece, offering advice and helping them figure out what works in their life for making their goals actually come to fruition.
What is the most satisfying part of your job?
I love being more on the preventive side of things and helping people understand how chiropractic care, acupuncture or nutrition can maybe benefit them. So many people have never tried it, or maybe they’ve heard of it once but don’t understand it. I think it’s definitely becoming more mainstream, but I think a lot of people don’t even know that’s an option, so they kind of have lost hope almost. It’s really exciting to give people hope and a solution to their problems so that they can live a better life.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I do teach fitness classes. Also, just being a mom with a toddler takes up a lot of time. That’s a huge blessing, so I’m thankful that I’m able to do that. But I feel like beyond that, with working and then being a mom and being a fitness instructor, there’s not a whole lot of extra room outside of that. Hanging out with family and friends is always good, too.
