Life & Work with Britt Handler of Wilmington, NC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Britt Handler

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My journey to where I am today with Wild Feminine Collective truly began in 2017. Although I had been exploring holistic well-being for many years leading to that, that year specifically opened so many doors for me and took my passion for well-being to an entire different level. That was the year I began to unlock my personal inner work—which set the tone for how I lead and hold space for others today. At the time, I had turned to acupuncture to address persistent hip pain. What I didn’t expect was to uncover the deeper cause: this physical discomfort was a manifestation of unprocessed grief from the loss of my father when I was a young child. For 20 years, I had buried that grief so deeply that I didn’t even believe it existed anymore. Yet there it was—loud, clear, and crying for my attention.

Even after this realization, I hesitated to confront the depth of my pain—it felt scary to go there, which I know many people can relate to. I truly believe life has a way of guiding us when we’re ready and so shortly after, in the months that followed, life brought me a series of awakening experiences, including a traumatic brain injury that forced me to slow down and sit with the dark, repressed parts of myself. I was finally faced with the truths of my unstable upbringing with a single mother, the grief of losing my father, as well as my childhood sexual abuse. These wounds, buried for so long, began to rise to the surface, bringing with them a hyper awareness of the grief, shame, feelings of abandonment, and low self-worth that were associated. I began to see that the weight of all of these wounds had made me entirely disconnected for most of my life up until this point.

I sought support within my holistic community and became deeply curious about my process of healing and self-discovery. I noticed that as I worked to integrate these wounded parts of myself, my external world started to shift and align in beautiful ways. My background in dance became a tool for emotional processing, leading me to study body-based practices. I additionally leaned on journaling and writing to further support me in going deeper. And furthermore, I began to discover tools to help me feel more connected to my innate wisdom and power, melting away what felt like chronic stuck-ness and burnout.

To my younger self’s surprise—the one who had hidden her pain to feel safe—the more I allowed myself to develop a compassionate intimacy with my pain, the more whole I felt. I discovered that giving my experiences a voice made me feel lighter, more connected, and more empowered.

This journey led me to become a devoted student of my own self-evolution process. I found immense value in reflecting on and learning from my experiences, and it became my mission to share those learnings with others—mainly women. I believe our challenges hold profound wisdom when we allow them to teach us. Today, I help women see their experiences as their greatest teachers and support them in discovering the power and nuance of self-acceptance.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey has definitely come with its challenges, and I believe that’s true for most meaningful journeys. Before stepping onto my healing path, I had made drinking, drugs, and using casual sexual encounters my way to disconnect from my feelings and escape the deeper wounds I didn’t yet understand or know how to face. Once I began my inner process, it became clear that my self-harming behaviors, unhealthy relationship dynamics, and deep disconnection from my power were perpetuations of the dynamics and traumas from my upbringing. This realization was humbling and painful, and it also opened the door for true transformation.

As I committed to my self-evolution I fully quit drinking and doing drugs. I also made the conscious choice to embrace celibacy as part of my healing journey, allowing me to heal from sexual traumas and redefine my relationship with my sacred energy. During this incredibly sobering and raw time, I began to see how many of my relationships were unhealthy or misaligned with the real me underneath all of my addictive behaviors and masks I had been wearing. It was also during this time that I started to uncover the deeper truths within my family dynamics. This was incredibly painful because it forced me to confront how the patterns and wounds from my childhood were still playing out in my adult life. Although this was difficult, seeing these truths was necessary for me to start breaking those cycles and creating new, healthier ways of relating.

Those early years of my healing journey felt overwhelming. A lot was falling away all at once, I was facing all of these harsh truths I had been denying to my core—it was pretty ugly. It often felt like I was fighting to break free from my old life in order to secure my truest truth and sovereignty. I’ve come to understand that this is not unique to me—it’s part of the process when you’re choosing to evolve. Self-evolution requires stepping into the unknown and leaving behind the familiar, especially when it is unhealthy for you. It’s a constant life/death/rebirth cycle. It’s one of the hardest yet most rewarding parts of the process, and it’s given me the strength and clarity to create a life that feels nourishing, empowered, and connected to my true self.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Wild Feminine Collective is rooted in working with women through the process of healing and transformation—creating a safe space for them to break free from what no longer serve them , as well as helping them get out of chronic stress states, disconnection to their innate power.

With a deep reverence for the natural intelligence of the body and spirit, my approach integrates neural, emotional, and body-based practices to help women connect with her emotions in a healthy way, remember their power, and create a life of harmony, sovereignty, self-compassion and unshakable self-worth.

What I’m most proud of is witnessing the profound shifts in the women I work with—seeing them move from feeling emotionally overwhelmed, stuck, disconnected from their power, to becoming more emotionally resourced and empowered at their core. Their increased self-awareness and ability to hold themselves with compassion and reverence is incredibly inspiring. It’s a privilege to watch them step into their truest expression and fully receive their desires.

What sets me apart is the combination of my personal experience and my approach to the inner journey. Having navigated my own unique trauma, grief, burnout, and disconnection myself, I’m deeply devoted to my own ongoing evolution—I consider it my life’s work. This allows me to be more than just a guide—I’m also a companion, walking hand in hand with the women I support and truly understanding the depth, nuance, and paradox of the process.

Rather than viewing healing as a destination, my focus is on expanding our capacity to feel good in the present moment. It’s about approaching healing not as a goal to check off, but as an ongoing journey of learning to hold ourselves with gentleness and compassion through the inner work that naturally arises in everyday life. It’s a delicate balance: acknowledging and tending to the truth of our experiences and wounding as they surface, while simultaneously expanding our capacity to access joy and connection right now. I also believe that by taking aligned action toward our desires, we can feel truly alive, empowered, and at peace—all while honoring our evolving selves.

In my own journey, I got stuck in the “healing loophole” for far too long, which only kept me more trapped. I became addicted to the cycles of shame and “not-enoughness” that were propelling my “need to heal.” I know this “healing loophole” is not unique to me. Often, these self-shaming mechanisms provided a sense of safety at one time—and they can hold us back, perpetually leave us feeling more stuck and unwell if we stay anchored in them.

I work with women 1:1 and always have space for new clients. If you feel drawn to this work, I invite you to book a discovery call with me—I’d love to connect. Over the past year, I’ve also expanded into immersive community healing, teaching workshops and classes focused on the wisdom of the body and emotions as well as nervous system restoration. I believe much of our emotional overwhelm, stress, and wounding stems from relational dynamics, which makes it incredibly powerful to do this work within safe, supportive community spaces, rather than solely relying on 1:1 work to create meaningful shifts.

I plan to continue hosting more workshops locally, and I’m thrilled to be leading a retreat, Uncage YourSelf, in June 2025 in Mexico! If this work resonates with you, we would love to have you join us at our retreat.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wildfemininecollective.com