Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Bridget Edkin-Farrar.
Hi Dr. Farrar, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am a third-generation chiropractor and the ninth chiropractor in my family. To say, I was born for this is an understatement. I grew up in my parent’s office and was being adjusted by my older siblings in the clinic when I was a toddler.
My whole life has been centered around the chiropractic principle that the body heals from the inside out and with a properly functioning nervous system your body will heal. When I finally got to chiropractic school I fell in love with the technique my parents did in their office, the Gonstead System. School flew by and I met my husband four months before graduation at a chiropractic conference.
Praying to God for clarity, he leads me back to Jacksonville Beach to open my practice. This was the city that changed my life through the Church of Eleven22. We opened in March of 2017, with my amazing sister Dawn by my side. It’s been an incredible 5 years. My husband joined us in January of 2018 and we have been running ever since. We focus on preconception, pregnancy, and pediatric chiropractic.
Our office is full of kids, and happy families. In 2021, I was voted Overall Small Business Leader of the year by the JaxChamber. It’s a beautiful life. We have had two incredible babies while we have been running this small business. Little Vincent is 3.5 and Karen is 1.5.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Opening a business is never smooth. One of our first hurdles was financing our open. No bank would give us any money to open. I ended up crowdsourcing money and opened with a credit card and 50,000 dollars. Next was having a landlord take a chance on a business that couldn’t get financing.
He asked for three months security deposit, so that left us working with even less capital. We did it! We signed our lease on March 1st and had our ribbon cutting on March 23rd. The pandemic was a hard hit too. We lost 50 % of our beloved practice members and had very few starts. We saved where we could and were blessed by the second round of the PPP loan.
We never had to let any staff go, and we still paid all our bills. Having two children while running a practice with your husband isn’t easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Both of our children were raised in our office for fifteen months. I was able to nurse them and care for them as well as our practice members.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Dr. Bridget is a third-generation chiropractor and the ninth in her family. She is overjoyed to be continuing the legacy of her family as a principled Gonstead chiropractor. She has been adjusted since she was four days old, and has never been inside of a hospital outside of birth.
What makes Sláinte Chiropractic different is that Dr. Bridget spent hundreds of hours outside of school to learn the Gonstead Technique. It is the most difficult technique to master in chiropractic but gets the absolute best results. With Gonstead Chiropractic care you can be sure you are getting the most thorough and comprehensive care possible! Dr. Bridget is also Certified in the Webster Technique, which also helps prepare your body for birthing your baby as naturally and painlessly as possible.
Dr. Bridget’s heartbeat is to help guide couples who are struggling with fertility to get healthy so they can conceive a radiantly healthy baby, as well as to help new families reduce the strain of birth and guide them through the journey of growth that healthy, well-adjusted, and happy baby! Her hope is to see all people live life to their God-given potential.
For Dr. Bridget, Chiropractic is not just a job, but a way of life as she embodies it in all that she does. Because of this passion, her talent, and amazing leadership skills, she was awarded Small Business Leader of the Year overall for the city of Jacksonville just this year. She is a dynamic speaker that loves empowering the community with a message of true health and healing that only comes from within. Often you will hear her say that God does the healing, her hands are just the tools He uses.
Dr. Bridget fell in love with the Jacksonville community when she moved here ten years ago and surrendered her life to Christ at the Church of Eleven22. There are two things that you can always count on Dr. Bridget talking about: Christ and Chiropractic.
We are known for building healthy families from the womb out. We are the only Gonstead doctors using this technology from Atlanta to Orlando. We chose the name Slainte (pronounced Slan-cha) because it means “to your health” in Gaelic. We are specifically trained in preconception, pregnancy, and pediatric care. Dr. Bridget’s biggest passion is helping those who are struggling to conceive or desire to enhance their health before conception.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
My mother was called when I was three years old by my preschool, the teacher wanted to speak with her. Apparently, while the children were napping, I took the opportunity to adjust them.
Actually moving the bones of their spine. So that was my introduction to the art of chiropractic. I have always been outgoing and an advocate for chiropractic. Chiropractic has quite the history of people calling us quack doctors and my family did not escape that.
I can remember kids in school telling me that my parents weren’t “real” doctors and advocating for my family’s beliefs.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.slaintechiropractic.com
- Instagram: @slaintechiropractic
- Facebook: facebook.com/slaintechiropractic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jmpNGqVK4s
Image Credits
Headshot photographed by Renee Parenteau Photography
