Energy, Intuition, and Healing: How Alicia Sweezer Changes Lives

In this episode of Local Legends with Jess, host Jessica Benevento sits down with Alicia Sweezer, founder of Who Knew Healing, for a thought-provoking conversation that challenges conventional ideas about healing, intuition, and human potential.

Alicia shares her unexpected journey from wildlife biologist working with endangered species to intuitive healer, and how her path evolved into helping people and animals connect, heal, and find clarity.

She breaks down her work in a refreshingly clear way, blending intuitive life coaching, energy clearing, mediumship, and animal communication to help clients gain clarity, release emotional blocks, and reconnect with their path. Alicia also explains how energy influences decision-making, relationships, and overall well-being—and why learning to trust your intuition can be a powerful turning point.

You’ll also hear how she works with animals, communicating with both living and passed pets to support behavior, trauma recovery, and even guide their owners through personal challenges. Her approach often uncovers deeper emotional patterns, creating transformation for both people and their animals.

Whether you’re curious, skeptical, or already exploring personal growth, this episode offers a fascinating look at the unseen forces that may be shaping your life—and how to start tuning into them.

Alicia Sweezer 

623-670-2192 www.whoknewhealing.com                                   

Hours: M-F 9am-6pm (MST)

These are the local legends shaping our communities.
Real stories, real talk, and powerful conversations.
Local Legends with Jess — where Arizona’s stories connect.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Local Legends with Jess, the Arizona Edition. I'm Jessica Benevento, your mortgage matchmaker, opening doors with ease and bringing you the stories behind Arizona's most inspiring people. From best-selling authors and elite athletes to business badasses making moves across the valley. These are the local legends shaping our communities. Get the inside scoop, real talk, and powerful conversations you won't hear anywhere else. Local Legends with Jess, where Arizona's stories connect. Okay, so welcome. Welcome to Local Legends with me, Jess. And this is the Arizona edition, and I have such an amazing guest today. Thank you for saying yes to me. Oh, how can I ever say no to you? Okay. Alicia, what's your company's name? Who knew healing. That's right. That's right. Who knew healing? And I'm gonna go right into it. Let's do it. Okay. And it's funny, yesterday, um, I was at this broker's open and talking about podcasts. I said I have podcasts and filming tomorrow. And they're like, oh, what are your, you know, what are your questions? What do you, how do you prepare? And I'm like, I don't prepare. I don't want it to be like question number one. Like I just, that's not authentically me. Um, but then I got in my head last night, I'm like, oh shit, dude, should I be preparing more? But so anyway, so I I I did a chat GBT. I'm like, I'm talking to Alicia today, and um I feel like I need prepared questions. So there's a couple questions. I may go there, but I'm still gonna just do what I normally do, just flow. Okay. Because that's what you and I do. I know, that's what we do. There's really no game plan, it just kind of happens. Yeah. Okay. So I've been glazing you, as my son would call it. Um, because I'm obsessed with you. Uh everybody needs someone obsessed with them. Yes. Yes, exactly. So I'm your I'm your number one cheerleader, I think.

unknown 1:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

So I was introduced to you from our dear friend Paulina. And she had said to me, Have you ever gotten your energy cleared? I'm like, I don't even know what that means. Um, so I said no. And she goes, Well, you need it, and you need to talk to my girl, Lisha. So I I've been to you a few times. You've changed my life. No, you really have. And in many ways. There's gonna be no crying. Okay, no crying. In many ways. Um, but I I just need you to explain exactly what it is you do. Because I don't even know how to explain to you to people. I'm like, if you just uh need to call her, you need to hop on a Zoom and just it it it just happens. Yes. Whatever the heck you do, it just happens. So can you explain? And then I want to get into how you got to where you are right now, but can you explain what you do? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Um, so it's multi-passionate because I have multiple sides to the business, right? So I have a people side and an animal side. So former wildlife biologist who also is an animal communicator and medium. So I have a whole client list of dogs and cats and horses and lizards and fish and everything you could possibly think of that help people with medical decisions, end of life, my animals or my whole world, um, training, you know, abuse recovery, trauma recovery for animals, like rescues, that sort of thing. So that half is we we work together with the relationship to change the animal and the pet parent's life. Then I have my pupil side with my fabulous, magical clients. And um I do also multiple things there. But the truth is, is I help people get clarity on their life purpose and their path and really gain the self-trust to know what they want to create is possible. And so I have intuitive guidance sessions, I have an intuitive mentoring program, which is very dear to my heart for anyone who wants to learn to develop their unique, you know, psychic gifts, because everybody has it. Everybody has intuition. And in the sessions we have, we go from everywhere of talking about your relationships. You know, there's life coaching that's in there, there's spiritual coaching. We do energy clearing. If you picked up any attachments or other people's energies, because that when you pick stuff up, it affects your decision making, it affects your personality, it affects the your family members. And so if we can keep that part clean as we move through this world, particularly with the way the reality is now, and people that are empathic, it can really, really make a dramatic change in your life. And so when you're in session, we go wherever it's meant, but there's life coaching, there's energy clearing, there's mediumship if you want to talk to someone who has passed. Um, and I hear people say all the time, they're like, I thought I was just coming to ask about a job. And I'm like, no, no, no. We go deep. We're gonna be like, is this the job? Why do you want this job? What happened when you were three? Let's fix your marriage. And and it's always funny where animals, like, well, I have it's always dogs. It's so funny. They'll act sick to get the people there. And then it turns into like a marriage counseling session. What? Yep. I've had that happen a couple of times. But the dog's like, you need to fix them. And so the dog will like stop eating, they'll come and I'll be like, So, do we want to talk about the argument that happened two days ago? And they're like so animals can help us in so many ways.

unknown 5:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Okay. So now I I mean, I want to dive deep into all of what you just said, because again, it's it's the most fascinating I've ever been a part of, and I'm like honored to be in your world. Um, but how the hell did you get into this? Like you just rattled off. So, like, where did this even come from? Were you a little girl? Like, I'm gonna do that. Like, where?

SPEAKER_01 5:39

I was not so I always knew that I wanted to be a wildlife biologist, like as a kid. I was really good with animals. I knew that's what I wanted to do. Um, and I was very fortunate to be able to do that and have an amazing career, all endangered species, all the things I wanted to do. Like at a zoo. Like, where did you I worked for Fish and Wildlife Service, I worked for Arizona Game of Fish, I worked at the Phoenix Zoo. I interned at the Cincinnati Zoo where I rode elephants every day. It's like the best summer of my life. Um and but I also didn't know that I talked to animals because you're born that way. I just thought I was really good with them. I actually thought all wildlife biologists talk to animals. I thought it was like a thing because that's what science feels like to me. Right. Right. You always hear me use the term analytical empath. I'm super analytical, but super sensitive feeling. And we're like a special category in the psychic world. And I was in my 30s out in the field one day with a bunch of dudes, right? Because it was a male-dominated field. And I was like, you guys don't talk to the birds that we're banding. Like, we're all and they were like, and I was like, I'm gonna go stand by the truck. Like I literally was like, hmm. But I thought it was a wildlife biologist thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Um like I'm picturing Dr. Dool a little shit. Like, are we talking like there's a parrot on you and you're like, hello? And he's like, hi. Like that's we're really having conversations.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

My my the way it works for my animal communication, I talk to them just like you and I are talking right now. And they talk back. Yes. Whether they're in body or in spirit. See, I love this shit. I'm a medium, so I can talk to ones that have transitioned. And I remember I was at the aquarium, the one that's by like the butterfly thing over here. Yeah. And there was a parrot, and I walked by and I instantly started to cry. And the friend I was, I was like, oh my gosh, we have been together before. Like we had had past lives. The bird is showing me stack. Oh my gosh. This and this was years ago before I even like really, really not like, oh, it's wild. So yeah, like, you know, I go to people's, even my friends' houses. Like I have uh a friend and her dog Roxy is up, even before I get there, she's like, You need to bring me steak treats. You need to bring and so I show up with all this stuff and she's like, Why? And she yelled, I was like, because Roxy wants them. Yeah. And she tells me which ones to buy when I'm in the store. Like I'm literally at the shelf. And she's like, no, no. Yeah. And I'm like, all right, these ones. And so, yeah, they don't have to be around me. They don't. That's the psychic part, right? That's the intuitive.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Is Joe Burrow my doodle right now is talking?

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Well, we can't, like, you know, he hangs around. He does. And he loves your son. And yeah. So it's not about made sense. It's not about it. I love what it's about. We need more time. I know. Um, but then the other part, you know, I uh years ago had another traumatic brain injury. Um, because I've had five. And so this last one is what do you mean by that? What's like had like smashed in the head, run over, hit with a baseball bat when I was a kid. Um, this last one was an amusement park ride that was like four Gs. And it was a cumulative effect. My body was like, we are done. Right. Um, and that changed the course of my life. I couldn't be a biologist anymore, which was my dream. Like, you know, it's who I am. Um, I was super sick for many years and, you know, just trying to learn to walk normal again and not slur my speech and finding, you know, now today, because of the football, like they have a name for it, right? It's post-concussive syndrome. But back then they didn't.

unknown 9:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

And uh, so I couldn't do any of that. And so I went into how can I start to heal myself? Because the doctors didn't know what to do. And it opened up this whole journey of finding things that aren't traditional, knowing that my body does not fit in any medical textbook. It works the opposite most of the time. And I'm not the only one. There are many of us out there like that. So the universe just guided me down a path of we're gonna start to serve in a different way. Never did I think I would open my own business. I mean, I had to teach myself how to do all that stuff. You know, taught myself how to write the blog, how to do the podcast, how to do I'm I, you know, create my own website and um and developed all of my gifts along the way, or remembered them actually is more accurate. It's one of the things like we have them, but you actually develop, you get new ones all the time, um, which is why I'm so passionate for like intuitive mentoring, because everybody has it and they're like, this is what's happening. And one of the things that makes me the craziest is if you don't know what your specific gifts are, right? You're clairs, right? So you're clairvoyant, clair audience, whether you see or you hear. So my two strongest are claircognizant and clairsentient, which are knowing and feeling, right? The analytical empath. And there are people out there who are watching videos on like clairvoyance and they feel like they're doing it wrong, but they're not actually clairvoyant, right? They're clairudiant, they hear things, they don't see things. And so I get super passionate about like you have to start there. Right. And then you could develop and cause these are our superpowers. Everyone has them. This world is hard enough. And so if you can use your superpowers to have a little bit of grace and ease and be able to love the people in your life in a different way and better, why would we not want to do that?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

So part of that mentorship is really pulling out people's superpower, like to figure out yeah, because I can tell what your players are. Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

And so, and then we know what your okay, what your specifics are, where you see, you hear, feel, whatever those are. And then we develop them from there because it's a specific set of tools for each one of those, as well as there's specific tools that get delivered for that individual person. And so that's why everyone, regardless of what you come to me for, you go home with homework.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah. Totally. Because that's that's just the way my process works. Right. So everyone's one of three of these. And well, there's a minimum of six. And then depending on who you follow, there might be eight. Okay. But it's sight, sound, um, knowing, smell, taste, and hearing.

unknown 11:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

I feel like I'm a feeler. You are definitely a feeler.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Like too much. Well, sometimes yeah, that's our clairsentience. Yes. Okay. So you bring that out of them, and then that's a mentorship. And that's a you figure out, okay, that's that's your superpower. And now let's work on that to get you to the level of whatever you want to use it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

So, like for me, right? My feeling and my knowing, that's literally how I live my life. When I wake up in the morning, I look at my to-do list and I go, what am I supposed to do first? And my feeling will go, this, this, this. Because if I do it out of order, my day goes to, you know, yeah, it goes sideways. Yeah. I've learned I just follow the energy. I follow my intuition. It's like, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is where I'm supposed to go. Am I supposed to go to an event? Yes, I'm supposed to do that. Like I check all the time.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

You'd be so upset if when I invited you, you felt like you shouldn't go.

unknown 12:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Fuck, I'm so freaked out. Well, and then we would have had a conversation of like, don't take it personally. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

You would have been on it. Okay, you would have told me.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. I you am I'm always authentically that I'd be like, this is why, Jess. Okay. I don't, you know, this it's a no. I'm bummed that because I would have been bummed about it being a no, also. Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Um, but you gotta follow your intuition. And I just had a vision of you. Have you ever walked in a room and walked right out? Like walked into like such a bad feeling or a real is it a bad feeling or is it a bad, do you hear things?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Like most of the time for me, it's a feeling. Okay. But I have literally, I used to do um like energy trades with people and things were starting to, you know, we're starting to not be a match. And I literally drove across town, got to the door. I'm standing at the door of their house and I can't go in.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

No.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yep. And I was like, okay, I this is a no. And I turned around and went back home. And yeah, it's it's and and it's one of those things that people, if they know me, they understand. But sort of outer circle or whatever, like people don't, they don't understand. It's like, no, I have to go by, because for me particularly, if I do something I'm not supposed to do, I get sick. Yeah. And my health is everything. And so, you know, after healing head injuries and all that, it's like my health is everything. So the universe is like, we're gonna put something in so that she don't miss the signs. Right. And because it'll be a feeling. And I'm like, nope, I can't, I can't do it, whether I want to or not, but I've learned to listen. And um, yeah, but I've yep, walked in, walked out. Walked out. I can picture you right out. And if the people who are with me are, you know, know they'd be like, do we need to? Because Alicia left. And then you're like, and I'm like, no, no, you're fine. It's I'm just not supposed to be here or, you know, whatever the situation is.

unknown 14:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Now everything you do is Zoom, right? I do do in person, but the rate is different. It's difficult, it's a little difficult to more, it's not, it's just more difficult to schedule because I rent a room in a place and I have to work around other people. Okay. And it's exactly the same. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

I I never thought I'd love a Zoom. Yeah. But I I'm in the comfort of my own home and I just feel like it's more personal, which is we I rather be on a Zoom in my own home than be in a in an office setting. Right. I feel yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Because it gets like kind of clinical. And people have questions of like, well, but is the energy the same? Is the tool? And it it is because energy is everywhere. Yeah. Everyone thinks that energy is woo-woo, but the truth is it's straight up science.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

This is why I didn't have my husband. He thinks, and I'm gonna look at the camera, I know this. You do your thing. Fuck looking at the camera. I'm talking. He thinks it's woo-woo. And I and I the funny thing is, he's a feeler. Like I don't, he's but he denies that he's a feeler. Totally denies it, has a lot of shit to work on. Yeah, we all know this. He's a man, they typically do. But uh I could walk into my home and it's funny because if he's in a bad mood, the home is ridden with this energy, and it's so strong. When he's in a good mood, it's it's the the the the script is flipped and the house is an amusement park. Yeah. Like that's how strong his energy is. And that's why I think it's funny how he's not he's not letting himself believe that. But I I I've been saying this for so long, and I think once I met you and we talked about energy and you made it feel more or less woo-woo to me, yeah, that shit's real. The energy, like there's just now I'm more in tune with people. I'm like, I I that's not my energy. Like people say it's not my vibe, it's not my vibe or my energy of certain people. And I can't have to stay with them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

And that doesn't we're not judging them, we're not making them wrong. We're simply not a match.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Yeah, that's all. It's just not an energy match. Yeah, right. Um, okay. Weirdest situation or weirdest vision, emotion, feeling, whatever you will. You're on a Zoom with someone, can you think of the craziest thing that happened while you're talking to someone, one of your clients?

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, and you gotta because what I consider crazy, that's just like I was like, you got a category because I'm like, listen, some of the stuff we like is normal for me, but other people are like, what the hell?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Oh do you see, I mean, I want to say, do you see dead people? I know that sounds crazy you do. Yeah, right? Like actual faces.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Uh, they come in as a feeling for me first, but then like I will see them. Um, but I'm I'm not great with like the color of their hair or whatever because I go by more of their feeling and their personality. Right. And that sort of thing, because feeling is my stronger one. Um, but yeah, people that have transitioned. There's a I do a lot of entity work, right? Where people pick up spiritual attachments. So demons, shape shifters, all of that kind of stuff. They get in our body, walk-ins. Um, those are usually the conversations that are the ones that freak people out. Right. Like we don't, but we we get them past lives, we clear that kind of stuff. I've had a client where she was literally bound in energy, like 2,000 years ago. She's Chinese. Okay. And it took us like an hour for me to unbind because she was so wrapped up that someone had done. And her whole life was different after we did that.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah. Okay. Well, I have to say, in my experience with you, with the energy healing and kind of breaking the, because I envision when you're doing it, you're literally cutting ties, like cutting, I'm wrapped up and you're cutting those ties. But the feeling was like tired, like almost just I was exhausted from whatever you pulled away from me. And it's funny because I knew I was being like strangled. I not strangled, like I'm being dramatically. Yeah, constricted. And it was just, I was consumed by just people attaching themselves. And you really, I felt like tired. And then the next day it was more clear. Yeah. And I know it's not woo-woo, like it's real.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

No, that's a biological response. Right. So when we have something that's not a match that's pushing on us, our bodies are feeling right organisms, right? Touch, smell, sight, cold, warm. Like that, that's what our bodies are. They're such an important part of this. Whether you believe in psychic or not, your body does this, it's its job. Yeah. And so when you have something that's pushing against you, it's trying to fight against. So your adrenaline is up, your cortisol is up. And so when we clear that, you then get the dump, sort of. And you get tired, right? You have that adrenaline dump. And it's like your body goes, Oh, I don't have to keep fighting. I don't have to keep producing these stress hormones. And so it goes into the tired phase. And then it usually takes 24, 48 hours. And then you are like, oh my God, I feel like myself again. I feel like my own energy. You know, that's one of the foundational pieces I teach people when they come to me for, you know, mentoring and as that kind of thing is like starting with knowing what your own energy feels like. Right. Because then you can tell when you've picked up someone else's. You can tell because I like I know what Alicia's vibration is. Right. And so when something else is, I was like, oh, that's not mine. And it doesn't take long and it's not hard. And then it's a power that you have, or you're just walking through life, particularly with you, where you work with people all the time, like you're networking and you're mortgage and buying and selling houses is like the most stressful thing in the whole world. Right, right. And so you get them, not on like they're like, I'm just so happy. You're like, you have them in these situations where it's like, yeah. And so there's a lot that you could pick up with that. So if you know, I know what Jessica feels like, you're like, nope, not mine, not mine. And you're sending it back. And you are then showing up for them in a completely different way. And their experience is different, which helps your business, which is why you're such a fabulous mortgage matchmaker. And I love what you do, my generator, right? With this energy force that she has, it allows you to be able to do that differently.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Right. Well, it's so funny because yesterday it's been so the market has been rates have been doing going up. Like they were going, they were on a small trajectory down and they were so it's exciting. And it's like that, that makes me excited because it's a win for everyone, right? But they've been going up. And I've had these long closings, meaning we're we're not a month, we're two months out. And we're just kind of waiting. Well, the market literally, I mean, look at gas prices. That's the same what that's what's going on with rates. Right. So they're up. And I had to have three conversations about locking in a rate that's much higher than I quoted two months ago. Alicia, I the fucking feeling, like consumed. Like my husband's like, you need to breathe. You need to, I'm like, I just know it's I'm not comfortable. I feel like I'm a liar. Like, you know what I mean? It's not my fault, rates are up. Like, should I have locked six just consumed? And it's really me projecting energy, like feeling all these people, how their feelings towards me is gonna be fucked up stuff. Just wacky. I need to go down.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Well, and this is it's so funny that this is coming up again because I keep asking them to deliver like the curriculum because I want to teach a class on energetic caretaking, which is what that is. We need to do it. Yes. But I don't, it comes up in sessions. It kind of and I was like, you guys got to deliver the curriculum so that I'm curriculum set it up, and here are the tools to stop doing that and so that I can teach this because it's coming up everywhere. But that's exactly what that is. Right. We go out there with little pieces of us. We're trying to take care of them and we want them to be okay. Yeah. And the truth is we've got to pull that energy back to us so that we have all of ours so we can show up in a way that is actually going to be supportive. But us people pleasers, us feelers, it gets out there and does its thing. And so I keep asking, can we please have the curriculum for the class?

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Because I need an energy, what's it called? Energetic caretaking. I need an energetic caretaking curriculum ASAP because I gotta work in an environment that I feel okay and not a freaking lunatic. Okay. You're not crazy. I know. I'm just doing it.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

And it's not even emotional projecting, because that's a whole day. So you knew you were like, something is happening. Yeah. This doesn't feel like I'm, you know, projecting my emotions, but you didn't have language for it. Right. And now you have language for it. And that can change everything, right? When we see ourselves differently, the whole world can change.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah. Oh my God. Absolutely. So funny, because I'll go back to 45 and I'll go back sometimes to 14, 15, because that's really the age I remember. And I'm like, oh my God. I wish I could go in that little girl. Not really little, but kind of like that teen, pre-teen, just a teen. And shift that mindset, like give that confidence that I finally got, you know, 30 years later. Right. Like, gosh, I wish I could go back there. It's just wild. Yeah. Okay. So who is it that like who is your ideal client? Who do you want um to attract to you? And how do we contact you? How do they get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Uh so my website is probably the best way. One, I'm super proud because I just rebuilt it. Um and it's so pretty now. And it, it uh, it's like who I am today versus, you know, 10 years ago when when I built it. Uh so Who Knew Healing, New with a K. Hold on. Where's Who Knew came from? I did not. I literally, the this is I didn't pick it. I was at a friend's house. Okay. Um, I was making a meetup. That's sort of like where I was like making the business public. And I walked out of her house and it totally like Newton in the Apple thing, because I stepped out from underneath the awning. Right. And it was like something hit me in the head. Like I looked because I was like, did something, and all I heard was who knew healing. Stop. And I was like, seriously. And then I asked why. And they said, oh, because who knew the science girl could also be woo-woo. Love that. Who knew that you could combine these things? Yeah. And I was like, fine. I knew enough that you just do the things. Don't, you know, it's just easier if you do the things. Yep. Um and so ideal client, because I do, you know, it's a multi-passionate thing, but underneath it all foundationally, is whether you're coming for your animal or you're coming for you, is someone who knows there's something that is not working for me right now. I don't know what it is. I'm having that princess in the pee moment, right? You remember that old Disney one book where it was like 30 blankets and there was a pea underneath, and you were a true princess if you could feel the pee. Okay. So it's like, even if it's that deep down there where you're like, I want something to change. Yeah. Those are my people. Okay. You don't have to have words for it. Right. You just have to know, like, there's something that needs to change, and I don't know what it is, and we'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

And that's exactly what I'll cry. You're the best so much for being.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

I'm so happy you came here. I've so thank you for having me. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

You are the best, and I appreciate you. So I'll leave your link and all that fun stuff. And they just contact you. Can we schedule now online?

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Yes. So my my my schedule is now public. You go to the website, you click it, and you pay while you're doing it, and you're all set up and done. You're a Zoom.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

So anyone, not even not just Arizona, anyone. I do global. Yay, I love that. All right. Alicia, you're the best. You are a local legend, and I love you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Thank you.