Counselor, blind for half a decade, is guided by her instincts in starting holistic health center in Catasauqua
HOLISTIC AWAKENINGS
Jenna Galligani has a vision about her entry into the healing business.
She initially can't describe it, unlike a CEO who hashes out a corporate plan for employees or shareholders. But for the 37-year-old Galligani — who has been visually impaired most of her life and became totally blind six years ago — intuition guides her as a licensed professional counselor and owner of Holistic Awakenings LLC.
Several months ago, she opened a facility in Catasauqua that's more of a wellness and holistic center than a counselor's office, with a hardwood great room full of large windows where she plans to hold events, yoga sessions and more.
Outside the bright room, a panorama unfolds of grass, trees, a creek bed — a haven for wildlife, perhaps — and a pastoral setting with rustic, well-kept homes on the horizon. Galligani, who also offers Reiki empowerment coaching and therapy, sublets office space to other holistic practitioners.
“That's why I decided I would have more of a center versus just an office,” Galligani said one recent morning, a travel-style mug of tea next to her. “So I could bring in people and have more of a community of healers connected to this space, so that people can find ways to work through and transform their lives.”
Her goal is to help people struggling under the weight of mental illness to transform themselves through various holistic treatments.
Galligani has faced her own extraordinary life journey. She gets around through help from family and friends and the Independent Transportation Network Lehigh Valley, a nonprofit transportation service for the visually impaired. Dori, her black Labrador, is faithfully nearby as her service dog.
Galligani contracted juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in her left knee when she was 3 years old. The disease later flared in her eyes, and she eventually lost nearly all her sight. Her vision deteriorated over the years until 2012, when she became totally blind. But she never let the disability stop her.
She taught martial arts and selfdefense to visually impaired children while a student at Notre Dame High School Green Pond in Bethlehem Township. As an undergraduate at Kutztown University, Galligani was a member of the school's equestrian team, and took first place in an intercollegiate horse show in Maryland. The horse she rode was a notoriously difficult one.
“I have a stubborn personality,” she said. “I don't give up.”
She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in clinical and counseling psychology, and became a counselor working at three area employers, most recently working with adults and children at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg. But even while working for other employers, Galligani kept a small practice beginning nearly 10 years ago.
In November 2017, she began her practice full time, first in Bethlehem, before moving during the summer to a
rear office at a Lehigh Valley Health Network family medical practice at 840 Walnut St. in Catasauqua.
Starting a business is rough enough; to carry a disability like blindness can seem like a double whammy. An estimated 1,500 people with visual impairments in Pennsylvania own incorporated businesses, according to Cornell University’s Institute on Employment and Disability, citing data from 2016 Census Bureau American Community Survey. The number grows to 6,600 when accounting for those whose business is not incorporated.
And it’s growing nationally, according to Cornell and the National Federation of the Blind. Spokesman Chris Danielsen said disabled people either launch establishments or operate vending businesses on government property, thanks to the federal Randolph Shepherd Act, in place since 1936.
“There’s such a presumption [to many] that, ‘It’s wow, shocking,’ about someone with a disability who is owning a business, but we’re trying to do our own thing,” said Amy Beck, executive director with the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living.
People without disabilities see differences in those who experience blindness or other health impairments, according to Beck. But for the disabled, “It’s really about the commonality,” she said.
Galligani admitted she had little in the way of a business plan, but in some ways, that’s by design and instinct.
“An important aspect of my business is to be fluid in my plan so that I can easily adjust my products and services to fit the needs of my clients,” she said. “So although I do have a plan for the next six months or more, I am excited to stay flexible and creative as I work with women who are transforming their lives.”
She plans to hold monthly workshops for groups, and use phone or video platforms such as Zoom to be accessible to individuals.
Galligani, through the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, was scheduled to host a grand opening and networking mixer Thursday at Holistic Awakenings.
“With Jenna, blindness is secondary,” said Noreen Hunt Neidermeyer, a Forks Township business owner who met Galligani through a mutual friend and helped put her in touch with the Chamber. “Once you meet her, it’s hardly part of her being.”
Hunt Neidermeyer said Galligani shines for her tough-mindedness and calmness amid her competence.
Then there’s Galligani’s intuition.
“Something inside me said this is the right time,” Galligani said about launching Holistic Awakenings.
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