User:Poorclares/Emily Isaacson

Emily Isaacson
Emily Elizabeth Isaacson (born December 11, 1975) is a Canadian postmodern poet, nutritionist and international humanitarian. One of the scientists who discovered and named the "essential polysaccharide" in natural medicine, she was best known for the development of the International Mental Health Code, and her work in establishing a holistic mental health alongside the late Dr. Abram Hoffer, father of orthomolecular medicine. The Emily Isaacson Institute was founded in 2005 to preserve her legacy and lifework.

Early Dedication
Emily Isaacson was born in Windsor, Canada to a Presbyterian minister, and is both German (on the paternal side) and Scottish (on the maternal side), with a Scottish Coat of Arms. Emily was the second eldest of five children. As it was a devoutly spiritual household, she was christened in the Presbyterian church, continued the habit of churchgoing throughout her growing up and adult years, and was later hailed a mystic after the order of St. Clare of Assisi. A prolific and dedicated poet, she penned over 800 poems for her greatest work, which contained her selected poems in three volumes, The Fleur-de-lis, published by Tate Publishing.

Childhood Years
Emily Isaacson spent her early childhood in Windsor, Ontario where her father built the brick community Presbyterian church in Forest Glade. She began French Immersion at age two, and was taught by nuns at a French Catholic School, St. Therese. At age six, her family moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where they lived near the university. Emily was taught private piano and ballet lessons, and finished her Royal Conservatory piano and theory up to Grade 10. Her music teacher from age ten onwards encouraged her the most in the pursuit of music, and was a respected concert pianist. Emily would ride her bicycle to music lessons each week, along the sea road, to her instructor’s house, where she braved the grand piano.

Emily was in French Immersion until high school, which influenced her later French poetry, and upon graduation from Pacific High School won the French award. She called "Beautiful" by her many friends, the best of which was the young and wealthy Miss Sylvia Hordyk. A few years later, she was a bridesmaid at Sylvia’s wedding in her marriage to a young minister, Kevin Seibel.

Education
Emily Isaacson worked for a year at the newly opened in-patient treatment program of Montreux Clinic, located in a mansion in downtown Victoria. Her work there with eating disorder patients under director Peggy Claude-Pierre inspired her to pursue a degree in nutrition. She left home at eighteen to travel to the mainland of the Fraser Valley and continued her education at Trinity Western University for three years, taking biology, psychology, music and French. Emily also studied English literature and creative writing, doing a directed study in writing with a professor she respected and admired, Lynn Szabo. Szabo continued to be an influence on Isaacson throughout her writing life, fine-tuning her writer’s voice, and offering her encouragement without much editorial criticism.

Isaacson then continued her studies at Bastyr University of natural medicine in Seattle, Washington. Her independent research while in this university course led her to later integrate new data on carbohydrate into a dietary program that became the basis for her teachings to aboriginal people groups and international humanitarian organization. Emily finished her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition in 1999. She then obtained a Master's degree in counselling, and Ph.D. in applied health studies from Bryson University in 2009.

Adult Years
Emily Isaacson became a holistic nutritionist upon graduation from Bastyr and began working as an nutritional counselor with eating disorder patients in Edmonds, Washington. Her success in curing clients was so apparent that she was offered a promotion, but due to her health, decided to move back to her native country of Canada. Her parents, by this time, has also moved to the mainland and bought a country home in the district of Mission, in the mountains of British Columbia.

Emily married in 2001, in Deroche B.C., in a meadow ceremony with many of her family and friends present. She wore a hand-embroidered dress of cream muslin, purchased from a dress shop in Victoria for seven-hundred dollars. Emily lived in Maple Ridge for three years, but maintained a very reclusive lifestyle while continuing her writing. The couple then separated for three years and she moved back to her family’s home in Mission, until she divorced in 2007.

Life Work
Emily Isaacson resumed her work as an independent nutritionist, opening her own office and created ‘The Rainbow Program’ originally to treat children with ADD. This non-numerical nutrition program for depression, ADD, and the prevention of eating disorders, incorporated her findings on the essential glyco-nutrients for cellular communication and the foods containing these fibers for immune function. Isaacson used this for teaching workshops at the local food bank, counseling in her private practice, and influencing students at the local high school to better nutrition by her eating disorder prevention initiative.

Isaacson's scientific accomplishment led her to the development of a food system that referred to the essential component of soluble fiber for cellular communication. She as an international nutritionist, now working in conjunction with the UN organization Four Worlds International, named the molecule the “essential polysaccharide”, prior to this the eight polysaccharides for immune regulation and function could not be proven necessary for human consumption. Found in foods such as beans, gums, oat bran, rice bran, and sea vegetables, these polysaccharide regulate immune function, preventing auto-immune disorders. Emily created a reseach centre online as the basis for teaching other nutritionists, dieticians, and naturopaths about this important scientific discovery. What she had originally refered to as ‘The Institute of Christian Medicine’, later became ‘The Emily Isaacson Institute’ in 2005, with its primary focus being Holistic Vision Canada, and the treatment of women's issues with natural progesterone using state of the art testing.

At Holistic Vision Canada, an early board of directors was formed, with later world-renowned psychiatrist Dr. Abram Hoffer, the father of orthomolecular medicine, joining the board as part of the formation of a holistic mental health for First Nations in Canada. Although still on the board at his death in May 2009, his partner Francis Fuller took over his practice, and Holistic Vision continued. Under the direction of Emily Isaacson at 34, who pioneered the establishment of an International Mental Health Code, they founded the non-profit organization CODE MEDICI International for international holistic psychiatry.

Writing Life
Emily Isaacson continued her work of almost full-time writing poetry for three years from 2005-2008, with several forays into self-publishing. She procured one illustrated children’s book, ‘Little Bird’s Song’, which was a success locally with counselors at TWU, First Nations workers, and orphanages overseas. Emily served on the board of directors of the Mission Arts Council from 2007-2010, as well as The Waterhouse Foundation, which under her direction led to the inclusion of director Michael Krahn and secretary Carolyn Good, for the purpose of furthering the development of youth via the arts. As part of her ongoing correspondence with the Royal Monarchy, many of her poems, over 600 pages worth, had been sent to Prince William over a period of three years, in the form of several bound and published books, including The Oracle, and The Black Swan. He encouraged her work, and praised her lavishly.

Although at the debut of her writing career she wrote for W.W. Norton with the desire to compile a curriculum of poetry that would improve the entrance scores of First Nations upon entering university, she switched to Tate Publishing after aquiring a literary agent in New York. The editor of the Norton, upon receipt of her initial manuscript, wrote Emily saying, "I admire your deliberate style and language, and am impressed by your ambition."

Skylarks and Daffodils
Known as the Poet of St. Clare during her lifetime, Emily Isaacson began writing poetry at age ten, and was first published at age thirteen for her poem, “The Wild Madonna” in Unicorns Be. Her stylistic and idealistic work distinguished her poetry and prose as both unsentimental and forthright, an unequivocal commentary on human nature. Although, her self-described style was “skylarks and daffodils,” her postmodern voice addressed both human suffering and a transcendent victorious outcome. Her early poetry would be evidenced in The Fleur-de-lis, in the “Oracle of the Stone”, compiled works from age thirteen through her university years, inspired by various books and magazines. Her later style was culturally rich and described the literary landscape, while distinctly of European descent in both her proud characterizations and honest romanticism of royalty, in the realm of both passion and politics.

The Convent
Emily Isaacson lived not far from the Poor Clare Monastery as an adult, and was a frequent visitor of not only the convent, but the Mission graveyard outside its gates, and the cathedral of nearby Westminster Abbey whose seminary housed the monks of St. Benedict. Although Emily tried on more than one occasion to enter the convent confines, her freedom was never compromised in this way, and she continued her writing as a member of the evangelical church. The sisters of the Poor Clare convent were among those that had read her writings almost in their entirety before their eventual publication. Their impression of her as a sacred individual whose work contained a prophesy of unprecedented magnitude was reflected in their notes to her, "May your mesage of poetry reach all..."

Analogue Photographer
Emily Isaacson joined the Professional Photographers of British Columbia (PPABC)in 2009 with yearly Voetelle Gallery exhibits, modelled after Gaudi, of her unique analogue fine art captures of the local countryside. From 2004, she had shown great aptitude for this art form following a car accident from which she never fully recovered. In 2009 she exhibited her work at Arts Alive, and again in 2010 at the Mission Art Gallery. Her photograph, “Rushing Water” sold by silent auction for 200 dollars, and had the quality of a painting. Her design project The Lion and the Unicorn Tapestry Series online was created to display her talent and the various websites owned by The Emily Isaacson Institute to visitors. Before long, there were over 45,000 visits to her sites, establishing her as a desired mythic presence, both prolific and distinctly Canadian poet.