Jill Schramm/MDN Board members of The Difference–A Holistic Approach and red-coated Minot Area Chamber EDC ambassadors cut the ribbon on the organization’s headquarters in southwest Minot Wednesday. From left are Kathleen Cunningham, Dena Filler, Robbie Keelan, executive director Shelly Bohl, Keli Rosselli-Sullivan, Anna Schraeder, Lexie Kroeger and Phyllis Burckhard.

A nonprofit organization in Minot is gaining traction in its mission to set individuals hurting from trauma on a path toward healing.

The Difference–A Holistic Approach launched about three years ago and now has headquarters at 2201 15th St. SW.

“We’re a local nonprofit that educates and informs on the benefits of holistic healing and how it can improve the quality of your life,” founder and executive director Shelly Bohl said. “We are here to make a difference — one at a time.”

The DIFAHA provides clients with a list of local energy healing practitioners who provide services and are paid through The DIFAHA. Clients receive three, free sessions.

“It starts them on that journey. It starts them to recognize the healing that’s possible for them without the use of drugs,” Bohl said.

Sessions are noninvasive, involving just a light, non-intrusive placing of the therapist’s hands on the client. The DIFAHA board is working on a plan for a sliding fee scale based on income for clients who want additional sessions.

Bohl added energy healing doesn’t take the place of traditional medicine for those who need those services but it complements that medicine. Energy healing includes a range of modalities, such as Reiki, acupuncture/acupressure, reflexology and other holistic methods that address the body’s energy fields.

The DIFAHA clients include people who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, post-traumatic stress or were crime victims or are grieving a death.

The effects of trauma can be long lasting, Bohl said.

“It stays with us mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. And until we’re able to recognize it, acknowledge it and have it released from our energy, it’s affecting us,” she said.

Bohl is a licensed spiritual healer with certificates in different modalities. She trained and began providing free sessions after her own experience with trauma and healing.

Her trauma was like having fallen into a deep, dark hole and not knowing how to get out, she said. Desperate, she acted on someone’s suggestion she consider energy healing. Her positive experience led her to want to learn more.

“The more you learn, the more you want to help people,” she said.

Working with the Domestic Violence Crisis Center, she also saw the impact trauma was having on victims there.

“So it became my dream to develop a nonprofit to bring that healing to all who suffered those traumas. My board members are past DVCC people. We all recognize that trauma and know what a difference we can make in lives. We’re dedicated to this work,” Bohl said.

Board members are Dena Filler, a past DVCC director, and Kathleen Cunningham, Anna Schrader, Dena Filler, Lexie Kroeger and Linda Arnason, who also bring experience in working with trauma and domestic violence victims.

“I was in the field of domestic violence for years and years before I ever knew about energy healing,” Filler said. “I think of all the people that could have benefited if we only had knowledge in the services available at that time.”

Filler added people often are reluctant to seek therapy because they believe they will have to recount their experiences, and they aren’t comfortable doing so. With energy healing, they do not have to share their stories, she said.

All client information also is kept confidential.

The DIFAHA started about three years ago in Bohl’s home.

The organization moved to its current location about the time COVID-19 arrived in 2020. Despite the bump in the road from COVID-19 restrictions, and the obstacle of being a new organization with a concept generally unfamiliar in this part of the state, The DIFAHA’s client numbers have been growing.

“We’ve had more clients this year than we have had in the past two,” Bohl said, noting much of it has come from word of mouth. “The greatest thing about energy healing is the peace, the calm, that comes over you. If you experience that energy healing and peace in your life, you’re going to tell all your family and friends.”

The DIFAHA also has had booths at health and veterans events and has participated in the post-traumatic stress disorder awareness walk. Law enforcement has brochures to share with crime victims who might benefit.

Bohl said energy healing is for everyone, including children, who are welcome with a parent’s signed permission.

“We are seeing some amazing results for people that have been suffering for many, many, many years. We go through something in our life and people say, ‘Well, just get over it.’ So what do we do with it? We just stuff it, thinking we are getting rid of it. But it’s always with us and it always affects us. It’s affecting every decision we make,” Bohl said. “We’re stuffing until we’re so full of sadness and fear and anxiety that I don’t know how people can function. And to be able to release them from that, it’s awesome.”

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Poker run to raise money

The Difference-A Holistic Approach is hosting a fund-raising poker run Sept. 18.

The run begins with registration at 11 a.m. at the Section 8 Bar in Upham and travels to Cork’n Bottle in Kramer, Drinks in Mohall, The Naked Moose in Loraine and Grano Lakeside Lounge in Grano.

Registration is $10 per rider, with kickstands up at noon. Participants must be 21 or older. The event is open to motorcycles, cars, trucks and buses. The winner will be announced at 6 p.m. at Section 8.

A raffle with multiple prizes also is being held. Prizes will be drawn Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.

For more information, visit thedifaha.org or contact 263-5518 or thedifaha@gmail.com.