Author, Teacher, Coach, Healer

Hi, I’m Laura Purnell, Ph.D., ACHT, also known as the Educational Alchemist.

My book: I Ate My Vanishing Twin! Trauma, Spirituality, and Hunger: Making Peace with Foodhas been released!

In my new book, I explore the impact of traumatic events in my life, such as the passing of my twin, on my limiting beliefs and behaviors, and my experiences of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and challenges with disordered eating.

Writing from both my head and heart, I examine the impact of trauma on the body, our biological needs for safety and connection, and our soul’s yearning for self-realization.

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“There’s a diet riot going on in my head.  It’s got to stop!”

My hope is that the story of my Hero’s Journey will resonate with others who are tired of carrying the weight of a “diet riot” in their head. I’m a teacher at heart. My purpose is to stimulate curiosity and compassion in others as they explore their baffling obsession with food, dieting, and body image. I imagine supporting people on their healing journeys and celebrating with them as they live authentic, healthy, joyful, purposeful lives, having made peace with food and hunger.

Coming Soon!

Courses, Coaching, Community

Join my email list and stay tuned!

 Why work with me? Perhaps you want to:

  • Maintain physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing

  • Learn how to manage your energy

  • Be more responsive and less emotionally reactive

  • Experience hypnotherapy, breathwork, Reiki, coaching

  • Engage in meaningful ways with others in a class

  • Make peace with food, hunger, eating, and body image

  • Enhance your mental clarity

  • Develop coherence between your heart, brain, and nervous system

LEARN ABOUT MY SERVICES

Book Reviews:

“Healing around food requires much more than dieting advice or behavioral control. The startling image on the book cover is purposeful: it suggests that the author is exploring symbolic, psychological, and prenatal roots of selfhood, scarcity, guilt, longing, and survival, rather than dieting advice or behavioral control.”

“The spiritual layer is important because it broadens the frame from pathology to purpose. Many books on eating disorders focus on management. Purnell appears to ask a deeper question: What is the suffering trying to reveal?”

“Purnell frames recovery as a journey toward self-realization, not only symptom management. That gives the book a broad personal-growth dimension. A good read for anyone that has struggled with limiting behaviors that impact physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing!

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HEARTFELT SENTIMENTS

  • “I recognize my role in the Drama Triangle and this awareness will help me improve my relationships at work and at home.”

    Corporate Employee, Newbury, Ohio

  • “This woman walks and teaches in advocacy and hope. She is a turbine with a power-point presentation and real-life stories, unhesitatingly facing race relations, cultural-blindness, white privilege/fragility, inequitable outcomes, and our responsibility for developing cultural competence and taking action in a complex and waking world.”

    Doctoral student in Transpersonal Psychology

  • “You have been an awesome mentor! I so look forward to working with you, learning from you and with you. I honestly do not believe I have ever visited school buildings with someone who was as respected and appreciated by staff as you are. “

    Colleague

  • “The meditation techniques you taught us have really decreased my migraines and allowed me to better respond to stress. Thank you for sharing sacred timeless strategies with us. I look forward to seeing you soon. I appreciate your holistic support during my first year in a new district and new state.”

    Principal, Cleveland, Ohio

  • “I appreciated and benefited from the Heart-Centered experience the most of all the leadership sessions. I was completely surprised to witness the healing that took place within such a small amount of time.”

    Assistant Principal, Cleveland, Ohio

  • "Laura is a lively, intelligent presenter who brings her sense of humor, purpose and vulnerability to each session. Her presentations are consistently rated by participants as focused, relevant, and transformational."

    Office Manager, Peters' Group

Let’s Talk! Your First Consultation is Free.

Contact me: laura@educationalalchemist.com.