How Healthcare Works, LLC

My name is Jeanette Harrison, and I am the owner and CEO of How Healthcare Works, LLC. For years, I have worked in healthcare, education, consulting, and writing while building a business focused on helping people better understand healthcare systems, burnout prevention, and practical approaches to improving health and well-being. Six years ago, I restarted my life in Idaho with approximately $2,400 and my dog after leaving. Since then, I have rebuilt my life through full-time work, consulting, writing, and entrepreneurship. Along the way, I started a business, published books, launched educational resources, and continued investing in work that helps others navigate complex healthcare challenges. Today, I am working to move from survival mode into a period of focused growth. To do that, I am launching a small capital campaign to raise working capital for How Healthcare Works. The purpose of this campaign is simple: to create 3-6 months of financial runway while I reset, strengthen ope...

by Jeanette R. Harrison, MPH  Part of life is making mistakes. One of my biggest mistakes has been believing people cared about me when they didn't. I have spent years giving people the benefit of the doubt, believing they would eventually treat me with kindness, honesty, and respect. Instead, I found myself repeatedly dealing with manipulation, lies, control, and blame. When I objected to how I was treated, I was often told that I was the problem. When I spoke up, I was accused of blaming others. When I questioned what was happening around me, I was told I was "way off base." I've been very open about not wanting my sister in my life. I'm tired of the narrative that every mention of my family in any way is somehow an attack on my family. The other day, someone complained because I said I wasn't allowed to wear sweatpants to school. It was one of my mom's rules because she thought sweatpants looked sloppy. That isn't a bad thing. It's just a story....

By Jeanette R. Harrison I haven't written since I moved into my new apartment. That's right. I was especially blessed to find a new apartment, and it is so nice to have a beautiful home to live in. At the same time, it has been stressful. The day I moved in, I received a different bill than I expected. Since then, I have felt like I don't have enough money. You know what has happened since that day? I didn't get paid the amount I was supposed to, a client couldn't pay for a course through my portal, and a bill was unexpectedly paid out of my account. Last night, I literally lay in bed crying because I was afraid I was going to lose my newly won apartment after everything I went through to get here. Living in a hotel was not fun, and every day I prayed to God that I would find a new place to live. Now, I am praying that I can keep my apartment. I really do love it. Today, I walked around thanking God and the Universe for this apartment. I talked about how much I love...

by Jeanette R. Harrison Today’s gratitude practice is about wishing happiness for three people. Honestly, this feels especially difficult right now because I am currently living in a hotel, and if I am being honest, I do not feel like many people genuinely care about my happiness, my well-being, or my emotional safety right now. In many ways, I do not feel like people have cared about those things for the past six years. What I feel instead is that people expect me to perform happiness for them while keeping me emotionally at arm’s length. They want me to be positive, resilient, grateful, productive, inspiring, and emotionally self-sufficient so they do not have to feel uncomfortable about what I am going through. They want me to overcome everything quietly while simultaneously making me feel like I am too much if I openly admit that I am struggling. Photo is AI Generated  The three people I picked for today’s exercise are X, Y, and Z. One of the things I keep realizing lately is h...

 by Jeanette R. Harrison, MPH Living in a Hotel and Feeling Completely Alone I am currently “living” in a hotel. It is not anywhere nice. It is something I can barely afford. Having to live in a hotel during a holiday week is an expensive endeavor. Why am I living in a hotel? Because I cannot find a place to live. I have been looking for an apartment for over 30 days, and because of my income right now, while I have been working on rebuilding my credit score, I cannot rent an apartment because I do not make three or four times the rent. Or, I do not have two or three times the deposit plus the first month’s rent. Photo is AI generatd  I have one person here actively “helping” me. This woman has three kids, and she and her family live in an apartment. Someone had to cosign for her apartment, too. That is the name of the game lately here in Boise. Even for a room for rent, there were 10 applicants. The room was priced at almost $1,000 a month. That is over half a mortgage paymen...

  by Jeanette R. Harrison Reclaiming Your Narrative: My Conversation with Implement AI Every podcast has its own "vibe," and my recent time on the podcast with Ian Gatzke for Implement AI was a powerful reminder of how far I’ve come. Ian has a knack for digging into the "systems" behind personal growth, and he created a space where we could talk openly about the messy, honest process of rebuilding a life from the ground up. Ian is deeply interested in how we navigate seasons of instability and the practical tools we use to regain our footing. He is an insightful host who isn't afraid to go deep into topics like identity, resilience, and the science of moving forward. The Conversation: Beyond the Struggle Story When Ian invited me to discuss my journey and my work, we moved quickly past the surface-level bio. We explored the internal shifts that happen when everything you know is suddenly stripped away. Our conversation covered: The Identity Crisis of Instability...

by Jeanette R. Harrison I’m up at 2:00 am because my body hurts.  I have felt like no one cared for a long time. I felt like that when I was screaming for help while I was being abused, and I literally had to fight someone off to keep them from hurting me. I felt it when I lay in bed last year with pneumonia, feeling like I was going to die, and then walking 5 miles to the bus stop. I felt it this week when an abusive person called me and told me that if I was struggling financially to live in a shelter or call Women's and Children's services. They said they offered me a ride, but I refused. Yes, I did. Because I was already walking that day and was only a few blocks from home. So, according to them, I deserved to walk five miles to and from the bus stop every day because I refused a ride that one day. How dare I think I deserved anything different? Thanks to my therapist, I've recognized those comments for what they are. Emotional abuse. But to me, it's just more of t...