We recently connected with Drs. Nicole and Rachel Wong-Homer and have shared our conversation below.
Drs. Nicole and Rachel, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
In a world of endless possibilities, how do you know when you’ve found your purpose? When we started our journey in 2018 that eventually led to us opening Sprout Family Chiropractic, we didn’t know what our purpose in life was yet, but we knew that our 9-5 corporate jobs weren’t it. While we weren’t unhappy in our careers there was a persistent nagging feeling that there had to be more to life. There was a void that wasn’t being fulfilled; a desire to make a bigger impact in our community. It was with that sense of desire for something more that we flipped our world upside down and committed to 3.5 more years of school, left our home in San Diego and moved to the Bay Area to pursue our Doctor of Chiropractic degrees.
Throughout our time in graduate school, our entire outlook on life changed. Our health paradigms shifted, our vision of what the world could be expanded and our dreams for the impact we could make on our community grew. In school, we were introduced to a wide variety of chiropractic techniques that were all different in their theory and their execution in practice. We found ourselves at a crossroads when we fell in love with a technique for its theory and clinical application, however taking a patient through the specific protocol did not invigorate us or bring us joy. As we worked with more and more patients it became clear that we were called to serve a very specific population and the technique we had fallen in love with was not best suited for this population.
In order to stay true to our pursuit of passion and purpose, we shifted our clinical focus to working with the pediatric and pregnant populations. Both of us have always enjoyed working with the littlest of little ones and it became glaringly evident that this was the population we were called to serve. Suddenly, that nagging feeling of there being more to life entirely dissolved. We dove straight into postgraduate training and certifications in pediatrics and pregnancy and continue to be lifelong learners so we can offer the best care for our patients. Within pediatrics we have specialized in neurologically-focused care. The joy that comes with helping a child and their family through some of the most difficult health challenges is how we know we are doing what we were called to do in life. Even though we weren’t entirely sure what our purpose was when we took the first step to changing our lives, it was that dedication to discover our purpose that made the path clear in the end.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Sprout Family Chiropractic specializes in neurologically focused chiropractic care for kids, pregnancy and families. Every single aspect of the care we provide is focused on the nervous system, and promoting what’s called neuroplasticity. Now that’s a really big, nerdy word – but it simply means ensuring that the body’s most important system is able to rest, relax, heal, grow and adapt. Those five things are absolutely essential to everyone, from a tiny infant who’s supposed to be asleep more than awake to kids and parents who need every bit of rest, recharging and resilience we can get in this crazy world.
While there are several things that set our office apart, the first thing you’d probably notice when walking into our office is that it truly is a place for families, especially kids. Everything in our office was designed around the idea of making it a safe space for kids to 100% be themselves. From our open concept community-centric layout to the toys all over the office, we’re proud that it’s a place our littlest patients can’t wait to come to and never want to leave.
In addition to providing a first class patient experience our office strives to also provide a top class clinical experience. We utilize modern technology that allows us to objectively measure how a patient’s body is handling the different stresses of life. From there we create individualized and custom care plans based on a patient’s exam results, their health goals and neuro scans. You will always be treated like family in our office and our goal is to provide the very best care at every visit.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, the three most impactful qualities we worked to maintain were openness, reflection/re-evaluation and resilience. Most small business owners would probably agree that they definitely didn’t know it all before starting their business. By maintaining an attitude of openness we were able to adapt to all the curveballs thrown our way. Being okay with not knowing it all and being open to learning and changing along the way has been a big part of the success we’ve been able to achieve. Roll with the punches, as they say.
A quality that naturally piggybacks that of openness is reflection and re-evaluation. As we continue to discover the best way we can contribute to our community we have found that reflecting and re-evaluating the steps we’ve taken to get us where we are is essential to help us determine where we’re going. What we’ve found during our times of reflection is “what got you here won’t get you there” and therefore re-evaluation is a necessary component of continual growth.
Finally, perhaps the most important quality we’ve maintained throughout our journey is resilience. Nothing is for certain in life except for change. We have definitely found that to be true in starting a small business. We have learned to plan to have our plans change. Whatever your journey looks like, if you can maintain resiliency, you will reach your desired destination.
What we’ve found is that all of these qualities are made easier when you have a supportive community around you to lean on. Pursuing your dreams is much easier and much more fun with a team!
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Alchemist is perhaps the most life changing book we’ve ever read. So much so that we find ourselves reading it several times a year. It reminds us it is never too late to make big changes in your life and pursue your purpose. While there are countless nuggets of wisdom in this book, we have picked out a few of our favorites to share. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” This quote reminds us that the universe is on our side in our pursuits. If we hit a roadblock, we know we can find a way around it. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” This pearl of wisdom is a great reminder that what we do and what we emulate has a massive impact on our reality and on the lives of those around us. It is a great reminder to always be working to become a better version of ourselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sproutfamilychiropractic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sproutfamilychiropractic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sproutfamilychiropracticsd
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sproutfamilychiropractic
