Become a Rooted Function Holistic Practitioner
This is your opportunity to become a Certified Rooted Function Holistic Practitioner, a trauma-informed, assessment driven, culturally rooted certification that bridges the gap between movement, somatic healing, spirituality and clinical healing.
Rooted Function Theory™ is my original psychology of patterns and frequency. It was created to honor the ways Black and Brown communities have survived and adapted, often carrying coping skills that were praised as “strength” but, in reality, kept us stuck in survival mode.
This one-of-a-kind certification gives you the tools to help clients and communities move through the stages of Surviving → High Functioning → Integrating → Liberated Living.
Rooted Function
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Rooted Function 〰️
What’s Missing for Many Black and Brown people in therapy settings:
Although Rooted Function Theory can be used for any race or nationality, the stories of BIPOC people really are unique and multi-layered.
Many of the characteristics we celebrate as “Black culture” specifically are really coping mechanisms that grew out of survival. These mechanisms often get woven into our identity until they show up as strong character traits.
On the surface, they look positive. People say, “She’s fearless, strong, independent, takes risks, can handle anything.” But those qualities often come from fear and constant survival, not from safety or choice. Take the “strong, independent Black woman” for example, they say things like isn’t just naturally unshakable?
But could it be, that she’s someone who’s been boxing in the ring her whole life and doesn’t know how to step out.
To the outside world, it looks like resilience. But in our relationships, in intimacy, in softer spaces, those traits can become harmful. They make trust harder, because so many of us were raised by mothers who had to overcompensate, teaching us toughness, pushing us into sports, preparing us to fight, to protect ourselves at all costs. What looks like confidence or fearlessness was often forged in chaos: surviving our households, our schools, our parents, our siblings, and society itself.
We didn’t develop these traits in healthy way, we developed them in survival mode. And when you grow up like that, you don’t get the option to be “soft.” You had to be sharp, strong, and unbreakable, because anything less could get you trampled.
So, when you start calling these things what they are, maladaptive coping mechanisms (or false frequencies), it reframes everything. These are not just neutral strengths; they’re rooted in fear, loss, and generational survival. They look admirable to others, but for us, they often cost connection, softness, and peace.
That’s the beauty of Rooted Function Theory—it helps us name what was never named. It helps us see that what looks like culture is sometimes just survival, and naming it opens the door to healing beyond survival.
The Rooted Function Healing Framework
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Reveals Stage of Functioning
Through the Rooted Function Theory Assessment, we will identify whether a client is in Surviving, High-Functioning, Integrating, or Liberated stages — clarifying the intensity of how they may be functioning.
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Breaks Down Core Frequency & Intensity
Each stage has a “core frequency” (fear, shame, disconnection, regulation, etc.) that drives patterns of thought, behavior, and energy. The theory helps clients see the underlying emotional or energetic root they’re operating from.
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Exposes Root Patterns
It shows the root cause behind surface behaviors, such as unmet needs, trauma responses, or generational conditioning — making sense of why the same cycles repeat.
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Maps Root-to-Response Pathways
It breaks down how external triggers (like obligations, family, betrayal, or pressure) move through the internal system → create emotion → and then shape behavior (avoidance, overgiving, shutting down, etc.).
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Reveals Blocks to Liberation
It highlights where someone is stuck — whether in fear, dysregulation, people-pleasing, or avoidance — so that the healing plan can directly target what keeps them from moving toward liberated living.
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Guides Practical Healing Rituals
It translates the root findings into rituals, tools, and practices (e.g., movement, journaling, herbal remedies, relational boundaries) that align with the client’s stage and personal healing preferences to help them shift toward wholeness.
From Survival to Liberation Living
Rooted Function Theory™ (RFT) is a heart–soul–spirit framework that guides people from
Surviving → High-Functioning → Integrating → Liberated Living
Unlike most theories that separate spirituality, movement, somatic work, mental health, and practical tools, RFT unites them all.
At its foundation are two original psychologies I’ve spent 7+ years creating:
The Rooted Psychology of Patterns™ →
the backbone of RFT, mapping survival strategies, behavior loops, and cultural coping mechanisms. This reveals why people function as they do and how to shift those patterns.
Frequency Psychology™ →
the energetic and emotional component of RFT, showing how alignment, embodiment, and vibrational states move us into liberated living.
Together, these psychologies form the spirit of Rooted Function Theory™. These frameworks were born from lived experience, deep practice, and years of personal refinement.
RFT honors cultural and generational survival strategies; especially for BIPOC communities who have been mislabeled as “angry” or “too much” when in truth, their intensity is resilience. This work helps us reclaim emotional integrity, restore alignment, and come back home to ourselves, without judgement and shame for how we have coped to survive.
Self-Love Frequencies: A Foundational Healing Framework
The Self-Love Frequencies™ Healing Book and Framework is an integral pillar of Rooted Function Theory™, serving as both a personal guide for clients and a foundational tool for practitioners training in the Rooted Function Certification™.
Self-Love Frequencies was developed by I’sha Gaines, M.Ed., LPC — this framework helps individuals and communities recognize the “frequencies” that shape their emotional, relational, and spiritual wellbeing. Through guided reflections, assessment tools, and actionable healing practices, the Self-Love Frequencies™ provide a structured path from survival and over-functioning toward integration, self-trust, and liberated living.
For practitioners enrolled in the Rooted Function Certification™, the Self-Love Frequencies™ become a core modality:
They teach how to identify Aligned, Missing, False & Destructive Frequencies within the client’s narrative.
They anchor the use of the Rooted Function Assessment Tools and the Root-to-Response™ Healing Plan.
They empower clinicians and holistic leaders to guide clients through evidence-informed, culturally relevant, and spiritually grounded processes.
By centering the Self-Love Frequencies™, practitioners not only gain a practical healing tool — they also learn to embody and model liberation-centered care in their own practice.
Rooted Function Function Theory Certification
Join the 2-Day Intensive (Nov8-9th)
11a to 3p | Location TBD
Register by October 15th to secure your place
Who is this certification for?
Isha Gaines, M.E.d, LPC
Rooted Function Theory
Self Love Frequencies.
The Rooted Psychology of Pattens
Frequency Psychology
Therapists
The therapist who feels boxed in by clinical checklists and craves embodied tools that reach the soul.
Coaches
The coach who weaves spirituality into sessions but longs for structure and language to make it accessible and powerful.
Clairvoyants, intuitives, or healers
The clairvoyant, intuitive, or healer who wants to make their practice more mainstream without losing its sacred essence.
Circle facilitators & Educators
Circle facilitators who want to design and lead Root Healing Circles with ethical scope, safety, and structure.
Practitioners
Practitioners who believe we are spirit first and want a framework that honors body, mind, and spirit together.
BIPOC Practitioners
Black and Brown practitioners who are ready to reclaim emotional integrity and reframe “too much” as resilience, not pathology.
Couples practitioners
Seeking a clear pathway for embodied relationship repair (scripts, boundaries, repair rituals).
Self-Study
Anyone who wants to guide clients — or themselves — from survival → liberated living.
Why Join the Founding Cohort?
Cant join in Nov? Tell us when…
Everyone who joins the Founding Cohort will not only learn and certify, but also have the rare opportunity to help shape the future of Rooted Function Theory™. This is more than a program, it is the building of a movement. Your feedback, voice, and lived experience will directly inform how the framework grows, ensuring it reflects the realities of healing, liberation, and cultural care across diverse communities.
Our vision is for Rooted Function Theory™ to be accepted nationwide and worldwide as a trusted model of integrative wellness and transformation. That kind of reach requires the collective strength of a community of practitioners who believe in building something bigger than themselves. As a founding member, you become part of the legacy and the history of this work.
And because we believe in community support a portion of every tuition will go toward book scholarships for BIPOC students pursuing college, trade school, or training programs. Your investment in certification is also an investment in the future of another healer, leader, or practitioner, extending the impact of your choice far beyond your own journey.
$800
Normally $1200
It all begins with an idea, a vision to help others heal, grow, or transform. Maybe it’s launching a wellness business, turning a passion into a purposeful practice, or sharing a creative gift the world needs.
Becoming a certified Rooted Function practitioner gives you the framework, tools, and confidence to step into your role as a leader in wellness. You’ll gain credibility, community, and a proven path to share your story with impact.
This certification isn’t just a milestone, it’s a launchpad to build offerings that serve your community and create something lasting that reflects both your expertise and your passion.
This plan is perfect for:
Active therapists, holistic and healing practitioners, clinicians seeking CE credits through BHEC, and those pursuing Board Certification with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP)
$1200
4 Payments
The Practitioner Plus Plan is designed for graduates who are ready to take their certification to the next level. Along with your foundational training, you’ll receive 4 one-on-one business coaching sessions tailored to your unique vision. These sessions will help you:
Clarify your brand and business model
Build strategies for marketing, client attraction, and retention
Develop sustainable systems that support your growth
Gain accountability and expert feedback as you launch or expand
This plan is perfect if you want not only to get certified, but also to turn your certification into a thriving business with guidance every step of the way. You can also get CE credits through BHEC and Board Certification with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP)
Learn Root Healing Circles
The 4-Stage RFT Pathway
Surviving → High-Functioning → Integrating → Liberated Living
Core RFT Tools:
Real-time Reactivity Tools: WAIT, RESET, SPEAK, SPACE and EMBODY, Frequency Mapping & Re-Alignment Healing Plans
Root-To-Response Healing Plans
Identify survival patterns & the intensity of functions to create personalized tools for alignment.
Root Healing Circles
How to design, market, and facilitate circles with safety and cultural grounding
AI Integration
Practical ways to save time with session prep, notes, and integration tools
Certification Pathways
Apply for AADP board certification (Holistic Health Practitioner); CE credits for clinicians in Texas under the BHEC
Root Healing Circles are a signature practice within Rooted Function Theory, designed to bring assessment-driven healing into a communal space. Practitioners learn to design, market, and facilitate circles that are trauma-informed, culturally grounded, and rooted in generational wisdom. Unlike typical group sessions, these circles integrate the Root-to-Response framework so participants can name survival patterns, release trapped emotions, and move toward alignment in community. This unique offering sets Rooted Function Theory apart, creating healing spaces that bridge spirituality and clinical practice while honoring the lived realities of BIPOC communities.
HISTORY OF ROOT HEALING CIRCLES
I have been facilitating Circle time since 2014, when I first began studying CBT and how our perceptions shape our reality. As a high school teacher with over a decade of classroom experience, I introduced morning circles to help students process feelings, set goals, and share what was on their minds. What started as simple check-ins soon became a transformative practice—students looked forward to Circle time, brought in their own subjects, and built deeper trust and connection within the classroom. The impact was undeniable: circles created space for authentic voices and collective growth.
That same spirit lives on in the Root Healing Circles I facilitate today. Root Circles are a direct evolution of those early classroom practices, now grounded in Rooted Function Theory™, Frequency Psychology, and the Rooted Psychology of Patterns. Just as students once found belonging and healing in the act of gathering, Root Healing Circles give communities a structured yet open space to process emotions, release trapped energy in the body, and witness each other’s stories without judgment. What began in a classroom as a tool for connection has grown into a foundational element of an entire healing framework—one that honors the power of collective presence to restore balance and liberation.
BENEFIT OF ROOTED CIRCLES
Assessment-Driven → Instead of just “sharing,” circles are grounded in the Root-to-Response™ framework, so participants actually map their stage of functioning and track progress.
Culturally Rooted → They center the lived experiences of Black and Brown communities, honoring ancestry, story, and collective resilience. This is something missing in most mainstream modalities.
Bridging Clinical + Spiritual → Circles weave together trauma-informed care, somatic release, and spiritual practices (breathwork, mindfulness, ritual) without dismissing either side.
Scalable for Practitioners → It’s not just a tool for healing, but also a professional offering practitioners can design, market, and facilitate. This can help to expand practitioner impact and income.
Learn Two Healing Psychologies
As an autoethnopsychologist, my gift is transforming lived experiences into structured frameworks for healing. Over the past seven years, I have developed Rooted Function Theory™, anchored in two original psychologies: the Rooted Psychology of Patterns and Frequency Psychology. Both emerged from lived experience that I translated into systems and tools for healing.
Rooted Function Theory™ is designed as a clinically sound, trauma-informed, and assessment-based framework, offering practitioners and clients measurable ways to move from surviving into liberated living.
The Rooted Psychology of Patterns
Maybe you’ve noticed it too: relationships, conflicts, or even your own moods seem to move in cycles. They flare, then quiet down. A pattern repeats, but without a clear name or timeline, it feels unpredictable and overwhelming.
The truth is, patterns carry information. When you learn to track not just the big ruptures but also the subtle shifts like tone, distancing, repeated phrases, and body cues, a rhythm starts to emerge. And with rhythm comes clarity.
That clarity doesn’t excuse harm. But it does give you language for what’s happening, and it helps your nervous system prepare, regulate, and choose differently.
This is the foundation of what I call the Rooted Psychology of Patterns, a way to decode how survival strategies show up in relationships, families, and even within yourself.
Through this framework you’ll learn to ask:
What is the pattern? When it starts, how it moves, who it involves.
What is it trying to achieve? Safety, closeness, control, freedom.
What’s the intensity of the pattern?
Which frequency is false? Which is missing?
What small, repeatable medicine such as boundary, breath, movement, or stillness moves it toward alignment.
Out of these questions grows a practice: the Root-to-Response™ Method, which traces behavior to its root, honors its original survival purpose, regulates the body, and then re-routes the response into something aligned and life-giving.
What started as simple pattern-tracking has become a healing framework that now supports clients, couples, and practitioners. It offers compassionate precision: the tools to protect yourself, honor your truth, and choose a new path forward.
Frequency Psychology
Have you ever noticed how your body tells the truth long before your mind is ready to? A heart that races after an unclear conversation. A tight back that refuses to relax when you’re carrying more than your share. Shoulders rising, breath shortening, stomach twisting when words stay stuck inside.
Unexpressed emotion doesn’t vanish. It sets up shop in the body. It holds tension, quickens the breath, or weighs down the spine until we return to complete the cycle. Just as we are designed to sweat, exhale, and release, we are also designed to metabolize emotions.
Through the practice of Frequency Psychology, you’ll learn to recognize these sequences: Trigger → Sensation → Urge → Behavior → Impact
You’ll notice what helps: writing the thoughts down, moving your body, breathing deeply, or pausing before reacting. And you’ll notice what makes it worse: silencing yourself, saying “I’m fine” when you’re not, staying in the gray, or over-explaining until you lose your center.
In this framework, intensity of emotion take on new meaning:
Survival energy feels heavy, urgent, and reactive.
High-Functioning energy looks like “walking on eggshells.”
Integrating energy creates room to reconnect and rebuild.
Liberated energy expands into creativity, voice, and transformation.
When Sound is missing, you may find yourself silenced in the gray.
When Resistance is missing, your body aches under weak boundaries.
When Stillness is missing, reactivity clouds your wisdom.
When Movement is missing, emotions are trapped in the hips.
Frequency Psychology, shows how energy, emotion, and behavior vibrate through us — and how to guide them back into flow. This is not about chasing positivity or avoiding hard truths. It is about metabolism: letting what is true move through voice, breath, and body so it does not have to take root as pain, inflammation, or stagnation.
In this lens, symptoms become signals, patterns become maps, and healing becomes accessible.
How the Psychologies Work Together:
culturally responsive care that protects nervous systems, strengthens relationships, and delivers measurable progress you can feel and track.
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Rooted Psychology of Patterns
Rooted Psychology of Patterns reveals when & why cycles repeat, helping to map triggers, timing, scripts, and generational connection → language for change.
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Frequency Psychology
Frequency Psychology helps read energetic states and decode how those cycles live in the body → prescribing “medicine” via Self-Love Frequencies™ → insight becomes embodied repair.
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Certified Rooted Function Practitioner
Together inside the Certified Rooted Function Holistic Practitioner pathway, they form a clear protocol: Assessment → Patterns → Frequency → Healing Plans
Recent Client Reviews
For the past six months, I’ve been incorporating
Rooted Function Theory with clients.
The results are measurable and profound:
March 2025: Client entered at ~6/6, high survival stage (anxiety, poor sleep, no boundaries).
April–May: Practiced boundaries, rage release, and womb healing herbs → dropped to 4.5/6.
June-July: Direct communication improved, though marital boundaries still a struggle → 4.0/6.
Aug–Sep: Shifted to 1–8 scale → stabilized at 4/8 (Integrating Stage). Sleep and anxiety improved, boundaries held firm.
Learning Materials
SELF-LOVE FREQUENCIES
Self-Love Frequencies™ is a trauma-informed, culturally rooted workbook that helps you identify how you’re actually functioning, then gives you practical tools to shift from survival to alignment. Through eight core frequencies, simple assessments, and daily micro-practices, you’ll learn to map your emotional landscape, name what’s missing, and grow the medicine that brings you back to yourself.
Make an impact today
Support our mission by contributing a donation to a book scholarship.
Rooted Function FAQ
1. Is the Rooted Function™ Certification accredited?
Yes. The certification program is recognized by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP), a national board that acknowledges educational excellence in holistic and integrative wellness programs. Graduates who complete the certification are eligible to apply for Board Certification through the AADP.
2. Will I be able to diagnose clients as a Practitioner or Clinician?
No. The Rooted Function™ Certification does not authorize graduates to diagnose or treat medical or mental health conditions.
Practitioners are trained to use Rooted Function Theory™ as a coaching and wellness framework—to support emotional regulation, relational awareness, and holistic healing.
Clinicians (licensed therapists, counselors, and social workers) can integrate Rooted Function Theory™ into their clinical treatment plans, using it as a trauma-informed and assessment-based methodology, not a diagnostic system.
3. Is there a cost associated with applying for Board Certification?
Yes. The application for AADP Board Certification requires a separate fee paid directly to the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. You can learn more about their current process and fees at www.aadp.net.
4. What is the Practicum and how do I earn my certificate?
A practicum is required to complete the Rooted Function™ Certification.
You will conduct three real sessions with an individual from the Institute’s community or your own network.
You may offer your practicum sessions as free or paid services.
Each client must complete at least one Rooted Function™ Assessment, a Healing Plan, a follow-up session, and a coaching call.
Certification is awarded once progress and competency are demonstrated through at least one client testimonial and review by the Institute supervisor.
Certifications will be mailed to an address on file
Certification Intensive Participants will receive a certificate of completion
Upon completion, graduates receive:
A high-quality printed certificate, and
An optional Rooted Function™ commemorative statue or crystal award, symbolizing the practitioner’s embodiment of excellence and commitment to liberation-focused healing.
5. Can the certification be used in schools or educational settings?
Yes. Rooted Function Theory™—anchored in the Psychology of Patterns™ and Frequency Psychology™—can be used by educators and school wellness teams to help interpret and support student behavior.
This framework assists in understanding the intensity, triggers, and functions of behaviors in classrooms, SEL spaces, and counseling rooms. Educators can use these tools to build educationally sound, trauma-informed healing plans that enhance behavioral and emotional support for students.
6. Who created the Rooted Function™ Theory?
Rooted Function Theory™ was created by I’sha Gaines, M.Ed., LPC, a licensed professional counselor and holistic practitioner. She serves as the supervising professional for the practicum process, ensuring ethical, trauma-informed, and clinically sound application throughout certification.
7. What’s the purpose of the practicum within the Institute’s mission?
The practicum also serves as a community giveback pipeline, allowing trainees to provide accessible healing sessions within the HoneyBeNatural Institute community, especially for Black and Brown individuals and families. This aligns with the Institute’s mission to make liberation-centered healing both ethical and accessible.
8. Will the HoneyBeNatural Institute help me find my first client?
Yes. Practitioners who complete certification are marketed as Certified Rooted Function™ Holistic Practitioners through the HoneyBeNatural Institute’s community platforms. The Institute actively assists in connecting new practitioners with potential clients and speaking opportunities as part of their professional launch.
However, ethical alignment is mandatory.
Practitioners who are found not to abide by the Rooted Function™ Code of Ethics will be:
Temporarily removed from Institute marketing efforts.
Strongly encouraged to complete one-on-one coaching or mentorship to address alignment issues.
If repeated attempts to support the practitioner are unsuccessful, they will be permanently removed from affiliation with the HoneyBeNatural Institute and the Rooted Function™ Certification program.
This ensures that all certified practitioners embody the integrity, compassion, and cultural awareness required to serve clients within the Rooted Function™ community.
9. Will the price of the course change?
Yes. The standard course price for 2025 is $1,200.
The certification may periodically go on sale or be offered at a discounted rate during enrollment campaigns.
As more practitioners successfully complete the program and the Institute continues to expand, the course price will gradually increase to reflect the industry standard for accredited holistic certification programs.
10. Can I use the Rooted Function™ Certification with other coaching certifications?
Yes. Rooted Function Theory™ integrates seamlessly with other coaching and holistic healing certifications. It is designed to complement existing modalities, whether you specialize in life coaching, relationship coaching, trauma-informed practices, or wellness facilitation.
Rooted Function Theory™ functions beautifully as either a primary or supplemental approach to holistic behavioral care—enhancing your ability to create trauma-informed, culturally aware, and results-driven healing plans that address the full spectrum of human experience.
11. What is the HoneyBeNatural Standard of Excellence?
At HoneyBeNatural Institute, excellence is the standard.
Under the leadership of I’sha Gaines, M.Ed., LPC, every practitioner is trained to demonstrate mastery in:
Rooted Function Psychology™ and its clinical applications
Culturally aware and trauma-informed care
Quality healing plan design addressing relational, spiritual, physical, and mental dimensions of wellness
The goal is for every graduate to feel confident, competent, and capable of using Rooted Function™ to create transformation and sustainable liberation in the lives of their clients and communities.
12. What’s the difference between Practitioner and Clinician tracks?
The Practitioner Track is ideal for coaches, healers, wellness facilitators, educators, and holistic professionals using Rooted Function™ tools in non-clinical settings.
The Clinician Track is for licensed therapists or social workers who want to integrate Rooted Function™ into their clinical practice while maintaining ethical boundaries and professional scope.
13. How long does certification take to complete?
The certification can typically be completed in 8–12 weeks, depending on your pace and the completion of practicum requirements. Self-paced study and live mentorship options are available.
14. What kind of support is provided during certification?
Students receive access to:
Live group mentorship calls
Downloadable assessments and templates
Community support and discussion groups
1:1 integration support (optional)
Access to continuing education and Rooted Function™ courses