Building ethical, culturally rooted, trauma informed, confident practitioners
About the HoneyBeNatural Institute of Liberation and Wellness
The HoneyBeNatural Institute of Liberation and Wellness is an educational institute devoted to holistic healing, practitioner development, and liberation centered wellness. The Institute exists to support individuals and practitioners in understanding human behavior, emotional regulation, and healing through function rather than pathology - the root to how you function
Grounded in cultural integrity, ancestral wisdom, and trauma informed practice, the Institute offers both self study educational resources and advanced diploma based practitioner training.
The Institute is guided by Rooted Function Theory™, an original framework developed by I’sha Gaines that integrates nervous system regulation, embodied awareness, ancestral context, and spiritual meaning to support sustainable healing across the whole person.
Our Approach
The Institute does not treat survival based behaviors as disorders to be corrected. Instead, we understand patterns as adaptive responses shaped by lived experience, environment, culture, and history. Healing is approached as a process of regulation, integration, and liberation rather than diagnosis and deficit.
Leadership
The Institute is founded and directed by I’sha Gaines, M.Ed., LPC, holistic therapist, educator, herbalist, clinical hypnotherapist, esthetician, and certified Kemetic Yoga teacher. She is currently completing doctoral level studies in functional medicine and serves as the originator and steward of Rooted Function Theory™.
Diploma Programs
Diploma of Rooted Function Holistic Healing
The Diploma of Rooted Function Holistic Healing is the Institute’s core practitioner education program. The diploma provides comprehensive training in Rooted Function Theory™, emphasizing function versus pathology, ethical assessment, healing plan design, and integration across the Physical Body, Emotional Body, Cognitive Body, Ancestral Body, and Spiritual Body.
The program combines structured instruction, applied learning, research, and practitioner development to prepare graduates to work ethically with individuals, groups, and communities using a regulation focused, non diagnostic framework.
Advanced Studies
In addition to the diploma curriculum, practitioners may pursue Advanced Studies to deepen applied focus within specific areas of practice. Advanced Studies are designed to support ethical integration of Rooted Function Theory™ and do not replace or duplicate external certifications or licensure.
Advanced Studies reflect integration and applied use of Rooted Function Theory™ within a focused area, not certification in the modality itself.
Advanced Studies Designations
Practitioners who complete approved Advanced Studies may use the following professional designations:
Certified Rooted Function Holistic Practitioner™ with Advanced Studies in:
Kemetic Yoga
Clinical Hypnotherapy
Herbalism
Functional Nutrition
Self-Love Frequencies and Nervous System Regulation
Multidisciplinary Integrative Studies
Advanced Studies designations indicate applied integration of Rooted Function Theory™ within the selected area of focus. These designations do not confer medical authority, licensure, or modality specific certification unless granted separately by an external institution.
Practice Integration and Practitioner Development
Graduates complete applied practice grounded in Rooted Function Theory™, demonstrating the ability to assess function, design ethical healing plans, and support regulation across the Physical Body, Emotional Body, Cognitive Body, Ancestral Body, and Spiritual Body.
Practice integration is demonstrated through practitioner work, research contributions, educational materials, and documented applied experiences. This phase supports practitioner readiness, ethical alignment, and confident use of the framework in real world settings.
Practitioner Authorization
Graduates of the diploma program earn the professional designation:
Certified Rooted Function Holistic Practitioner™
Practitioner authorization signifies:
• Completion of Institute education
• Alignment with Rooted Function Theory™
• Agreement to ethical standards
• Practice within the scope defined by the Institute and the HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners
Advanced Studies designations are issued as credential extensions and reflect approved integration work. Practitioner authorization and credential oversight are governed by the HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners.
Professional Standards and Governance
The HoneyBeNatural Institute of Liberation and Wellness
Educational institute and intellectual home of Rooted Function Theory™
The HoneyBeNatural Institute of Liberation and Wellness is the educational institute and intellectual home of Rooted Function Theory™. The Institute maintains authority over curriculum development, educational delivery, scholarly work, and the preservation and evolution of Rooted Function Theory™ as a holistic and integrative framework.
The Institute is responsible for:
• Curriculum design and instructional standards
• Educational programming and delivery
• Research, publications, and scholarly contributions
• Oversight of the development, integrity, and application of Rooted Function Theory™
The HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners
Governing body and issuer of diplomas
The HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners functions as the professional governing body for Rooted Function Theory™ and is the issuing authority for diplomas and practitioner credentials.
The Association is responsible for:
• Establishing and enforcing practitioner standards
• Issuing diplomas and professional credentials
• Defining and monitoring scope of practice
• Governing credential naming, usage, and public representation
• Maintaining practitioner documentation and a practitioner registry
• Providing ethical oversight and enforcement
• Protecting the integrity and intellectual property of Rooted Function Theory™
• Guiding the collective body of trained practitioners
Only practitioners credentialed through the HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners are authorized to publicly represent themselves as Certified Rooted Function Holistic Practitioners™.
External Professional Recognition
Graduates may be eligible to pursue additional professional recognition through the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP), where applicable and in accordance with that organization’s independent membership and credentialing criteria.
External recognition is optional and may support professional visibility within complementary and holistic health spaces. Such recognition does not replace, supersede, or govern credentials issued by the HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners.
The HoneyBeNatural Association of Holistic Practitioners retains sole authority over:
• Diploma issuance
• Practitioner authorization
• Credential standards
• Ethical enforcement
• Scope of practice definitions
• Oversight of Rooted Function Theory™
No external organization holds authority over Rooted Function Theory™, its curriculum, or its practitioner credentials.
Rooted Function Theory
Rooted Function Theory
Rooted Function Theory™ is the foundational framework of the HoneyBeNatural Institute of Liberation and Wellness. It is an integrative healing model that reorients psychology and wellness away from pathology and toward function, regulation, and adaptation.
Rather than asking what is wrong, Rooted Function Theory™ asks how the body, mind, and ancestral system learned to function the way they do.
Function Versus Pathology
Traditional models often pathologize coping strategies without examining the conditions that required those strategies to exist.
Rooted Function Theory™ understands many emotional, behavioral, and relational patterns as:
• Nervous system strategies
• Protective adaptations
• Learned survival responses
• Cultural and ancestral inheritances
Learn More About the Framework →
Our Partners
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Community Partners + Curriculum
Community Partners + Curriculum