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About

Meet Dena

modern medicine woman

Meet Dena Bradford, a dynamic woman who navigates her dual roles as a healthcare executive and a modern medicine woman.

 

After a life-changing brain aneurysm, and a long road of recovery, & exploration of many healing modalities - Dena was initiated into the Andean healing tradition. 

Dena learned along the way -- that we all need a bit of woo-woo and a bit of science to find true healing. 

She is on a mission to be an ally in your empowerment.

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King Protea
King Protea
King Protea

I Believe

  • I Believe in meeting you for who you are and where you are in life right now. Without judgement. 

  • ​I Believe all healing requires a bit of science, and a bit of faith.  We are mind/body beings, and whatever feeds your spirit - you need more of.

  • ​I believe in you.  

Let's Talk Lifestyle Changes (how I got here)

The Wound Makes the Medicine...

I worked for many years as a healthcare executive prior to finding a new normal with more balance in life after surviving a ruptured brain aneurysm at 35. 

Where stress and climbing the ladder were once my priorities, this thunderclap headache - my lightning strike - forced me to examine who I was. ​A moment of death as my 12- year old sat near me, in the back of an ambulance.

Met at the ER door by a priest with a bible and a prayer.

Guilt because I had quick access to the best of medicine, while another mom of four — who came in at the same time I did with the same issue —never left the hospital.  ​Why was I given a second chance, and she wasn’t?

​​

My initial recovery took months, and in that time — I had nothing but time.  

Time to reflect on the life I lived and the person I was before the aneurysm. 

The closer I looked, the less I liked. 

I had become successful by career standards but felt dead inside. I was lost, spiraling through a messy divorce. Mistrustful of everyone, including myself.

 

I had no idea who I was.

 

I had no idea who I wanted to be. 

I began to resent a career I had initially entered to help people — but as time passed — found myself only chasing more and more position, stress and money for the industrial healthcare systems. 

I told myself I was running from the traumas of a youth filled with abuse and poverty, after all — who wants to be in that place forever? Wouldn’t anyone run from that? If I just hit that next goal...

I was completely dissociated.

I needed a change. 

After my aneurysm -- I noticed in times of stress, I would lose words. 

The more I tried to find the words, the more distant they became.  I thought I could find a way to manage stress and keep the grind (and my 6 figure salary), but I found something better along the way.

What began as a search across the globe for ways to decrease stress, has morphed into navigating traumas, living in the moment, and helping others rediscover who they really are. 

Not because I found my own perfection, but because I’ve learned that in programming the life we want — it’s a daily decision. It is the hero's journey, and it is an Epic task.

We never heal from trauma, we learn to navigate and integrate. 

I switched careers along the way. I felt the ethical need to align my indigenous and core shamanic teachings with modern psychology.  This approach ensures I have a wider range of tools, and training needed to facilitate results. 

Over the past 15 years, I’ve blessed to work with and learn from many mainstream and traditional healers from across the world. 

I am completing a second graduate degree in Clinical Psychotherapy and hold CBT coaching certification. I am also a recognized full Mesa Carrier in the ancestral healing tradition of the Andes.

I’ve studied under some of the most celebrated holistic leaders in the industry.  My client base is varied and ranges from stay-at-home moms to veterans, healthcare workers and physicians, celebrities and corporate clients.

When I’m not here, you’ll find me on the plains of my native Oklahoma, running medical practices, chasing behind my kiddos and pets or jumping into some new opportunity for growth. 

Always striving for balance. 
 

Meditating in Mountains
Meditating in Nature
Meditating in Nature
Meditating in Nature

My Teachers & Trainings

Energy Medicine Carrier - 15 Years+ in practice

​​Enrolled Member, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

  • Christina Allen - Austin Shamanic Center, Andean Cosmology & Energy Medicine  

  • Joan Parsi Wilcox - Author/Andean Medicine Carrier, Andean Cosmology & Energy Medicine 

  • Pixie Lighthorse - Author - Earth Medicine School 

  • Linda Hines, LPC - Shamanic Energy Medicine  

  • Multiple Courses & Workshops facilitated by: Magalay Quispe Singona, MariaElena Auccacusi Auccapuma, Sandra Ingerman, Freddy Puma Quispe, Itzhak Beery, Alberto Villodo, Betsy Bergstrom, Sarah Mclean & many more…

​FORMAL EDUCATIONAL PATH

​​

  • Master’s Degree (in progress) - Clinical Mental Health Counseling - Mid America Christian University

  • Master’s Degree in Health & Human Services Administration - University of Oklahoma (2 Years)

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration - Concordia Christian University (2 Years)

MILITARY VETERAN 

  • US Army

Sunlit Curtain and Rug
Shamanism is the oldest form of communicating and healing. It probably resides in all of us.

Amy Hardie

Let’s Work Together

Get in touch so we can start working together.

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Disclaimer:

This Web Site, its Materials and Content (including any information provided by users) is not intended to replace or substitute for any professional financial, medical, psychological, legal, or other advice. These services are complementary in nature and do not replace primary medical, psychological or psychiatric care. It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult your professional healthcare providers before beginning any new treatment. If you have specific concerns or a situation in which you require professional or medical advice, you should consult with an appropriately trained and qualified specialist. Those under 21 years of age should not use this site except with adult supervision.  Dena Bradford, denabokc.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any consequence resulting directly or indirectly from any action or inaction you take based on the information found on or material linked to on this site or on sessions.

© 2024 by Dena Bradford, MA

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