About
Genevieve Albert Mawhinney, BA, N.C., CMLDT, CNAP®, CYT
Lymphatic Health Specialist
Founder of The Lymph Initiatives & The Lymph Method
I started in the skincare industry in 2007…but it’s not until years later that I started to see the bigger picture and that things started to make real sense when it comes to health.
Lymphatic Health
My name is Genevieve Albert-Mawhinney, I am a Licensed Traditional Naturopath, Certified Bioresonance Energetics Practitioner, Certified Lymph Therapist Level 1, Corneotherapist & Triple-Certified Scar Revision Specialist with a tremendous amount of experience, expertise & skillset. Following my Bachelor’s Degree, I have completed many advanced certifications, and have accumulated over 8,000 hours of training in naturopathy, detoxification, herbalism, homeopathy, oriental medicine, bioenergetics, and of course, lymphatics. Today, I focus on the role that the lymphatic system plays in general health. I strongly believe that lymphatic health is the missing piece to achieving lasting ultimate wellness. I know, because before I started helping others with their lymphatic health, this method has helped me in a very dark time of my life, where nothing was working to help get me back to my healthy self. I now partner with women to offer highly effective lymphatic health solutions focused on the body as a whole, along with expert lifestyle advice aligned with integrity, passion and dedication. My individualized approach is pro-healing, anti-inflammatory and regenerative, so that you can achieve well-aging and longevity without extreme measures. I love to combine Traditional Eastern healing and soft tissue methods with contemporary Western healthcare technologies. Over the past two decades, I have spent a great deal of my career perfecting a multidisciplinary approach that I find is lacking in the industry, so that I can better meet your needs, aspirations and lifestyle. I am committed to moving you towards greater wellness through empowering means. I proudly stay on top of technological & ingredient advancements and innovations, so that I am always staying current with the times and offering the very best to my clients.
The Early Beginnings
After an interrupted high school teacher degree, an impromptu esthetics diploma, studying skincare and wellness at the London Wellness Academy in London, UK, several years in corporate as a national educator for well over a dozen beauty brands, and a few years teaching esthetics (phew!), I decided to open my own skincare clinic. My specialty was the connection between skin health and inner wellness, how what is going on inside eventually shows up on the outside and how to address this from a topical perspective. Especially when it comes to aging symptoms. However, I always felt like I was limited in my abilities to help my clients, because I was only doing so "topically".
Introduction to the Lymphatic System
In 2016, I saw a posting about an opportunity to win an Oncology Esthetics Foundation Training from a page I had been following for a while, Oncology Esthetics International (OTI). I submitted my application and, to my excitement, I was CHOSEN! They had received over 50 applications! I could not believe it. I was interested in this program mainly because my Mother-In-Law (that I call my second mom!) is a breast cancer survivor, and I had become super conscious about how to deliver safe services to cancer patients, during and after treatment. One of the topics covered during the program was Lymphedema, and this is where I was introduced to the lymphatic system and that my interest in the lymphatic system was first peaked. I started wondering why the lymphatic system was not considered more beyond just lymphedema, because that system is all about keeping the body clean & in good repair! At the time, I was growing a facialist business and did not think much of it, as I mainly wanted to learn the material related to oncology.
Health Journey & Lymphatic Health
I think the universe placed lymphatics on my path in 2016 because I needed to discover how powerful it can be to not only help me heal my own body and get back to my healthy self, but also to help others do the same. In 2017, I started experiencing mystery weight gain (over 60lbs), brain fog, sleep disturbances, gut problems, hormonal problems, and more. I was losing my hair, and my sanity. I was told that I just needed to "eat less processed food and move more" (despite eating healthy and going to the gym?). My bloodwork also came back "normal". I spent thousands on stool, saliva and urine tests, supplements and various therapies, to feel very little relief, let alone improvements. I lived in this state, defeated, pushing through everyday, for over 2 years. I was busy growing my business, I got married and kept traveling a lot for a part-time educator position. One day, I remembered what I had learned about the lymphatic system in 2016. I started wondering how I could start supporting my lymphatic system more. I started gravitating towards educational programs that have a strong lymph component, such as traditional naturopathy, East Asian Medicine & food energetics, botanical medicine, and detoxification. I started experimenting with drainage pathways, nervous system regulation, healing emotional trauma, and more. At the time, I was working on my lymphatic health mostly for myself, and never thought I would one day help others improve theirs, too.
The World of Lymph Drainage Therapy
In 2019, I had planned to visit my youngest sister in Montreal for her very first Mother"s Day. While planning the trip, like any other time I traveled, I looked into some trainings that I could take while I was there. Lo and behold, there was a Vodder Manual Lymph Drainage training the same week! That training was one of the most intense I had ever experienced, not just mentally but physically. On the second day of training, I woke up a little queasy, struggling to finish my smoothie. An hour into day two of the training, I started to feel really sick. The teacher even asked me if there was any chance of being pregnant! He had never seen someone having such a violent reaction to only neck drainage (that is all we had done the day before) and it dawned on me why. In my case, I had a very high toxic burden that I had just started working on a few months prior, lots of unresolved emotional trauma that I was still trying to work on, and drainage pathways that were not quite fully open. However, that night I had the best sleep I had in a long time, and woke up feeling amazing. I said to myself, this technique is pretty powerful. At the end of the training, I remember jokingly saying to my teacher that I was ready to quit everything so I could do lymph drainage all day. I was hooked. When I came back, I immediately made lymph work the main focus of my facials, and at the time, had no intention to ever stop facials. However, over the next few months as I started to see the tremendous impact lymph drainage therapy was having on my clients, I started feeling like the facials steps were taking time away from the opportunity to do more lymphatic work instead, and to support the whole body instead of just the face. Why would I want to waste ANY minute doing anything other than lymph drainage therapy on my clients? My career trajectory was forever changed.
Career Transition
When the government small business shutdowns came in 2020, I thought to myself that life is too precious to not follow my dreams and my passion for lymphatic health. I completed my traditional naturopath licence that year (I had started years prior and never finished) and decided to completely retire my facialist business. The small business shutdowns were too stressful for me, so I decided to focus on virtual consultations and remote testing, focusing on drainage pathways, detoxification, and at-home lymphatic health techniques. I was determined to help people harness the power of this system for well-aging & longevity benefits in everyday life. After all, that is my specialty! What was shocking to me is that by focusing on the areas of lymphatic health, opening drainage and unburdening the lymphatic system, most clients would get up to 60% better, without any other interventions. After I was certain that there would not be any more small business shutdowns, I re-introduced in-person lymph drainage therapy, but this time for the whole body. And that is how The Lymph Initiatives was officially born! Today, I am 100% dedicated to helping women create true radiance & vitality, naturally with my 3D lymphatic health method of drainage, detoxification, and dermal regeneration strategies. Because when the body flows properly, everything else follows magically!
A Little Bit More About Me
When I am not obsessed with studying & researching, I enjoy spending time with my cat, husband and friends, or binging on shows such as Desperate Housewives, The Office (I love the “uncomfortable” humour style), CSI:Crime Scene Investigation or Big Bang Theory (I can recite almost every line of each episode, which my husband finds humourous). I also make sure I take the time to fill my own cup with walks outside, gentle yoga, meditating, cooking and many of the very lymphatic health practices that I can’t shut up about.
Fun Facts About Me
- I need to research the origin of popular memes otherwise I don’t feel I can enjoy them fully
- When watching a movie, I cannot sit through the high tension parts. I have to pause, Google the ending and then I can enjoy the rest of the movie til the end
- My brain is most active about 30 minutes after I go to bed. So I keep a notepad on my nightstand to jot down stuff that come up. It lasts for about 15 min. and then I can go to sleep.
- I am “unoffendable” to the point where people get offended that I am not offended
- My super power is that I often inadvertently tell people what they don’t want to hear so they can see the forest for the trees. It got me in trouble more than once during my life, but I’d like to think it creates positive change in the world!
Accreditations
Degree – Bachelor of Arts, General
Diploma of Esthetics
Certficate – Skincare, Beauty and Esthetics (from the London Wellness Academy)
Certificate – Oncology Esthetics
Certificate – Nutritional Aesthetics
Certificate – Board-Certified Health Coach
Certificate – Vodder Manual Lymph Drainage
Certificate – Daoist Face & Body Mapping
Certificate – Corneotherapist
Certificate – Naturotherapist (1545 hours)
Diploma – Level 5 Detox Specialist
Diploma – Advanced Skincare and Repair Nutrition Specialist
Certificate – Principles and Practice of Natural Medicine (850 hours)
Certificate – Manual Lymphatic Drainage Science & Theory
Certificate – Yoga Teacher 200hrs
Diploma – Naturopath N.C. (2000 hours)
Certificate – Clinical Homeopathy CCH (in completion)
Degree – Doctor of Natural Medicine (Traditional Naturopathy) DNM, PhD (4000 hours – candidate)
Certificate – Integrative Manual Lymphatic Drainage