A note from the founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Joshua Rosenthal: As the founder and primary teacher of the world�s largest nutrition school, I get to meet and teach truly amazing individuals. I am proud to introduce you to Caitlin Padgett, an inspiring example of what�s possible with an IIN education and courage!

Tell us about your life before IIN.
Looking back, it is hard for me to place exactly where I became a person that �drank too much.�
My 20s were fast paced, challenging and for the most part, exciting. I certainly wouldn�t have described myself as someone with a drinking problem. Yet at the end of my 20s I found myself getting a divorce from someone who looked in my eyes and said, �Caitlin, when you drink you disappear.�

And where did IIN come in?
I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I felt a calling deep inside of me that there was a different path to follow, one that was based in true healing rather than bandaids.

I wish that I could say my drinking habits changed then and there, but they didn�t. After another wild night out, I woke up trying to piece together the night before. I was absolutely sick - not only from the hangover, but because I was so over repeating the same pattern. I was already three months into my health coach training program.

And then what happened?

On September 19th, 2013 I vowed I would never be drunk again, and I haven�t been. I also vowed to dig deep, confront long-held pain and trauma, and with the support of IIN, rise above.

I finally decided to dedicate myself full time to healing, learning and growing. I hired my own coach, also an IIN grad, and with her support, the peer coaches and all of the teachers of IIN who I consider to be my mentors, in March 2014 I launched my program to support women who wish to redefine their relationship to alcohol, their bodies and their lives.

And how did your IIN experience transform your life?
I now have a life worth remembering every second of. A life I am excited to live.
Instead of wasting money on cocktails and hazy hungover days- I spend money on delicious, nourishing food and wake up with energy, clarity and enthusiasm. Instead of numbing out stress, anxiety or accumulative shame, I feel and I deal, and I know that I can handle whatever comes my way. And instead of feeling stuck in a job that wasn�t fulfilling - I have created a life for myself that combines my personal experience, passions, skills and talents.

Thanks to IIN, I have stepped fully into myself and created the life of my dreams.

Connect with Caitlin