Susanna Merlo's innovative health coaching practice embodies mindfulness for behavior change, self-compassion and personal growth. This work is done through establishing sustainable & healthy nutrition, balance of mind/body/spirit, a search for authentic purpose, through gratitude, self-awareness and somatic practices.
Susanna recently won her personal battle with breast cancer after learning she carries the BRCA1 genetic mutation. It has been a year fully dedicated to treatment and healing. Susanna is back stronger and more resilient than ever and now ready to work with clients, hoping to extend her services and resources to those who are navigating the tough journey of a breast cancer diagnosis.
Passionate and inquisitive since childhood, Susanna began her journey back in Italy. Born and raised in Torino, she expressed curiosity and eagerness to learn about other cultures and languages at a young age.
Her U.S. chapter began in 2006 when she moved to San Francisco to pursue a bachelor’s degree in International Relations at San Francisco State University. This was a path characterized by deep growth, bonding relationships, spiritual search, and ultimately a need to give back to the community. During this time, Susanna developed fluency in Spanish and learned how to run a small business. New awareness was brought to invest in self-care and a meaningful search for authenticity, balance and purpose. In this deep inward process, Susanna discovered a real passion for holistic health, which brings balance to the whole individual: mind, body and spirit.
Susanna earned her Master’s degree in Integrative Health at the California Institute of Integral Studies in May 2017. This event also opened the road to begin deep psycho-spiritual work around the world with Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes, international teachers and founders of the Chestnut-Paes Enneagram Academy. This serendipitous collaboration came as a blessing, in a time of deep personal need for healing after the premature loss of her mother. In the following two years, Susanna helped organize and participated in numerous Enneagram retreats. She also curated relations with students, both locally and internationally. This was a pivotal experience that marked her life mission to help others focus on personal growth and take charge of their health and life. By witnessing the deeply layered processes of grief and human suffering both on a personal and collective level, new awareness informed her coaching practice, which gained a central focus on the importance of nurturing the Inner Child and practicing radical self-love.
Her commitment to helping others in the pursuit of a balanced & healthy lifestyle is reflected by her community-based work as integrative health coach at Open Source Wellness, a fast-growing organization in the Bay Area that brings wellness programs to the underserved communities, as well as her previous work with patients at the Tom Waddell urban clinic, and by her internship at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (Community Wellness Program). Susanna has an active role as a multi-lingual health advocate (English/Spanish/Italian), navigating each member with empathy, joy and compassion on their healing journey. This professional and educational path has taught Susanna to resource within the Self, in a search for authenticity, to bring peace of mind and healing in a time of imminent need, worldwide.
Susanna is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.
Little Susanna with her Mom Daria in Italy.
