Meet Susan Austin-Crumpton of The Estuary

Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Austin-Crumpton

Hi Susan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

I am a Nashville native, born and raised in the Sylan Park area. Growing up with my two younger sisters, I naturally assumed the role of big sis and leader within our close-knit little group. I feel like this early experience cultivated my early leadership skills and developed my need to nurture.

Following high school, my passion for nurturing led me to pursue a counseling psychology degree from the University of Louisville. I worked for an agency serving seniors in the Louisville area and fell in love with the service industry within the realm of social work.

When my father passed away, I returned to Nashville to take over his small chemical manufacturing company, assuming the leadership and ownership roles. While I worked there for many years, I felt a calling to deepen my knowledge, study further, and find a path to fulfill my passion.

In the early ’90s, I followed my restlessness and dedicated four intensive years to studying healing science at The Barbara Brennan School of Healing Science in New York. This brought me to another phase of growth, where I spent three years studying Integrative Kabbalistic Healing with Jason Shulman’s “A Society of Souls” in New Jersey.

After my studies in New York and New Jersey were complete, my eyes were wide open to new worlds and I felt a calling to share this.  I began practicing in Nashville and building what is today known as The Estuary.  Being one of the first to bring metaphysical studies to Tennessee, I gained recognition in my school in New York.

Over the years, The Estuary has evolved into a thriving healing center, offering talk therapy, energy healing, and spiritual development. My husband, Lyndy, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, joined as the Estuary’s first Clinical Director. As clients sought assistance in their lives, I realized that many of them craved more than individual sessions could provide. This led to the creation of group classes, where individuals could delve into a deep study of themselves while learning about Energy, Chakras, and Kabbalah to enhance their life experience. This marked the birth of what we now call The School of Healing Arts.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Our biggest challenge is the one everyone has that does an adventure like this – financing. Much effort is spent on trying to finance it. And when a heart loves service, loves sitting with individuals and teaching mystical spirituality and then has to stop to go find money, the fun goes out of it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Estuary’s mission is to advocate a conscious and balanced life through self-discovery, relationships, education, and Integrated Healing, and to provide a venue for the process of healing to occur.
At the Estuary is a healing and spiritual development center and bases its work with clients on the understanding that human live in opposite worlds. One is the material, physical plane where life happens, we fall in love, develop disease, experience success and failure. The other is a spiritual world where we receive wisdom from the divine realms, find sanctuary and solace, clarify our truth, experience harmony and loving kindness. Taking all of this into account and working with clients holistically in all aspects of their existence helps to create more lasting effects and change.
The Estuary provides the venue for independent integrative therapists who have been carefully selected by Susan to practice. Estuary practitioners dedicate themselves to assisting clients with healing, personal growth and transformation by knowing themselves better and becoming more present in their everyday lives. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we are able to reach populations that might not otherwise be able to access our services.
The Estuary is also home to The School of Healing Arts, which Susan developed as an extension of her own private practice at The Estuary. The School allows clients to become students and “go deeper” than individual sessions to understand themselves better and to develop their spirituality and connection to the world beyond the physical plane.

Who else deserves credit in your story?

My long-time friend John Krenson, who served as the plant manager at the chemical company I inherited. He possessed a keen business mind and relentlessly encouraged and insisted that starting The Estuary was financially feasible. Recognizing my nature and people skills, he inspired and supported me, enabling me to begin taking classes in New York and New Jersey before bringing these transformative skills to Nashville.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theestuary.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theestuary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEstuaryNashville
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/estuary-nashville
• Other: https://theschoolofhealingarts.com