Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Shelley.
Hi Heather, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story in healthcare actually began in birth work. I became a midwife first and opened Birthing Your Way, where I spent years supporting women through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum with a strong focus on compassion, autonomy, and safe, evidence-based care. Those early years shaped my entire philosophy as a provider: listen deeply, individualize care, and always put the patient first.
About twelve years later, I felt a calling to broaden my scope so I could care for families in a more comprehensive way. I went back to nursing school with the goal of becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner. Right after graduating from nursing school, I opened Vgentle Wellness & Aesthetics, where I could combine my love of science, artistry, and patient-centered care. Vgentle allowed me to support women (and men) with services that help them feel confident—inside and out—through regenerative aesthetic treatments, skin health, and body contouring.
As Vgentle grew, so did the need for full-spectrum, holistic medical care. Families wanted a place where they could get primary care, hormone support, metabolic health, aesthetics, and functional medicine all under one roof. That’s what led us to open Helix Springs Family Care, a membership-based family practice built on accessibility, affordability, and genuinely personalized care. During this time, I completed my training and became a Family Nurse Practitioner, allowing me to expand into the type of whole-person care I always envisioned.
What ties all of my practices together—Birthing Your Way, Vgentle, and Helix Springs—is the same mission: to create safe, welcoming, deeply personal healthcare spaces where people feel heard, valued, and cared for at every stage of life. I never set out to run multiple clinics; each one was created because I saw a need in our community and wanted to meet it.
Today, I’m grateful to serve families in a way that blends my midwifery roots, my love for holistic wellness, and my passion for aesthetics and family practice. And truly, this is just the beginning.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely not been smooth, but every challenge has shaped me into a stronger provider and business owner. Healthcare—whether it’s birth work, aesthetics, or family practice—comes with a unique set of pressures that most people never see behind the scenes.
In the beginning, as a midwife running Birthing Your Way, I carried the weight of being on call constantly while raising my own family. Out-of-hospital birth work demands your whole heart, your time, and your energy. Balancing that with building a business taught me discipline and resilience, but it was far from easy.
When I expanded into aesthetics and later into family practice, the challenges shifted. Opening Vgentle Wellness & Aesthetics meant learning the world of medical aesthetics, new technologies, regulations, and the art–and responsibility–of helping people feel confident in their own skin. Growing that business while still completing my nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner training required long hours and an unbelievable amount of determination.
Starting Helix Springs Family Care came with its own set of obstacles—especially creating a clinic model that is affordable, patient-centered, and sustainable. Healthcare systems aren’t designed to support small, independent practices that prioritize time with patients, holistic care, and transparent pricing. Translating that philosophy into a real clinic meant navigating financial pressure, staffing, training, and the complexity of offering multiple services under one roof.
On top of that, balancing three interconnected businesses—birth, aesthetics, and family care—has been both rewarding and challenging. Each practice has different needs, different regulations, and different patient populations, and learning how to lead all three while maintaining quality has taken constant learning and growth.
But the biggest challenge has simply been believing I could do it. Every expansion required stepping into something new, learning from mistakes, and pushing past fear. I’ve had seasons where it felt overwhelming—but I never lost sight of the purpose: creating safe, compassionate, accessible healthcare options for families in our community.
Looking back, the challenges were the foundation. They forced me to grow, innovate, and build healthcare spaces that I’m truly proud of.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Birthing your way, Vgentle, helix springs family care?
Across all of my clinics—Vgentle Wellness & Aesthetics, Helix Springs Family Care, and Birthing Your Way—our core mission is the same: to provide deeply personal, compassionate, and accessible care that helps people feel healthy, confident, and supported at every stage of life.
Vgentle Wellness & Aesthetics is where beauty, science, and wellness meet. We specialize in natural, regenerative aesthetics—treatments that enhance someone’s confidence without making them look “done” or overtreated. Our services include laser treatments, PRP, microneedling, skin-tightening, body contouring, and corrective skincare. What truly sets Vgentle apart is our philosophy: we believe in gentle, subtle, confidence-building results, delivered in a calm, supportive environment. We don’t upsell. We don’t push. We guide patients toward treatments that make sense for their goals and their long-term wellness.
Helix Springs Family Care is our membership-based family practice built for people who want real, relationship-centered healthcare. We combine primary care with hormone health, metabolic wellness, weight-loss support, preventative medicine, and functional approaches—all at transparent, affordable pricing. Our extended appointment times and personalized care plans allow us to treat the whole person, not just symptoms. Many of our patients come because they feel overlooked in traditional healthcare settings, and at Helix Springs they finally feel seen, heard, and cared for.
Although not the central focus of this article, Birthing Your Way remains a meaningful part of our identity. Our midwifery roots brought a culture of compassion, respect, autonomy, and evidence-based care that now flows through Vgentle and Helix Springs. That foundation is part of what makes our brand unique—we lead with heart, human connection, and a genuine commitment to helping families thrive.
What truly sets our brand apart is the continuity of care across all three practices. A patient can come in for primary care, hormone balancing, aesthetics, pregnancy, skin services, weight-loss support, or postpartum needs—and they’ll receive the same high level of warmth, expertise, and individualized attention. We are not a corporate clinic and not a high-volume med spa. We are a collection of community-focused, patient-centered practices designed to meet real needs in a thoughtful and accessible way.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud of the environment we’ve created: welcoming, safe, nurturing, and built around meaningful relationships. People tell us all the time that they feel at home the moment they walk through our doors. That feeling—that blend of trust, comfort, and excellence—is exactly what we work hard to create.
What I want readers to know is that our services aren’t just about healthcare or aesthetics—they’re about confidence, wellness, empowerment, and support. Whether someone comes to us for their family’s medical needs, their skin, their hormones, or their birth journey, they are met with compassion, expertise, and a team that genuinely cares about their long-term outcomes. Our goal is simple: help people feel their best in every chapter of life.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
If you don’t find the mentor you need, become your own. Take classes, invest in education, show up to workshops and conferences, ask questions, and surround yourself with people who are doing meaningful work.
Pricing:
- Births $5900
- PRP $1500
- Lasers starting at $250
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Birthingyourway.com, Vgentle.com, and helixspringsfamilycare.com
