For Dr. Marina Capella, the founder of Healing Arts Pediatrics, modern medicine was always a personal calling. "I went into medicine because I really felt this calling to give back to my community by becoming a physician," she shares. Navigating the corporate model of medicine left a critical gap in her ability to treat the whole person. "My vision of becoming a physician was to give people a holistic approach and give bodies some degree of spirituality," she explains, recalling how the emotional, generational, connecting, and spiritual aspects of health were often lacking in standard clinical training.
Driven by an intense calling to practice medicine differently, Dr. Capella took an entrepreneurial leap of faith in late 2021 to establish Healing Arts Pediatrics. Moving away from conventional insurance billing, the practice utilizes a membership-based Direct Primary Care (DPC) model. Instead of dealing with the restrictions and timelines of corporate settings, a standard monthly fee directly covers provider care, giving families unprecedented access. To mirror this philosophy, the practice operates out of a beautifully restored historic home on Holladay Drive. "I want them to feel at home," says Dr. Capella. "That way it can translate to the children that they can feel at home and safe and unrushed."
At the core of the clinic is an expansive definition of wellness. "Healing Arts for me evokes the idea that healing is not monolithic," Dr. Capella notes. "Healing is not just about diagnostic tests, prescriptions, or even the physical body, but also embracing modern medicine with traditional and old ways of care that have existed." This holistic paradigm shifts the dynamic, transforming parents into active co-healers. By weaving together evidence-based treatments with traditional modalities such as homeopathy, herbalism, bodywork, and clinical hypnosis, the clinic uncovers solutions where standard quick-prescription care might stall.
This approach has yielded remarkable breakthroughs. Dr. Capella recalls an eight-year-old patient suffering from a rare autoimmune condition who faced years of heavy infusions. By identifying underlying variables and pairing talk therapy and body work alongside her medical care, the young girl completely left all infusions in less than a year. In another case, Dr. Capella used clinical hypnosis to empower a young asthma patient. By teaching her to harness her imagination in a positive direction through a mental "protection bubble" and dedicated breathing techniques, the child learned to conquer the anxiety that exacerbated her physical immune flares, successfully preventing hospitalizations.
Dr. Capella notes that connection to nature and animals is foundational to a child's long-term health blueprint. From equine therapy to Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) in the home, animals provide comfort to children with sensory processing or emotional challenges. "Evolutionarily, nature should always be part of someone's health plan," Dr. Capella emphasizes, advising families to step outside and touch grass. "Energetically, we're all constantly absorbing energy around us, and if we don't do anything to ground ourselves... we tend to accumulate all the stress, worry, and tension that can lead to other issues around us, such as our health."
"My vision of becoming a physician was to give people a holistic approach and give bodies some degree of spirituality..."