About Me

Yep. I get it. It's kind of like alphabet soup. So let me quickly explain. I'm a family nurse practitioner (FNP) with a doctorate degree (DNP), as well as a certified health coach (CHC).

I'm also an Oola life coach and a reiki master (energy healer). I have worked in emergency medicine, urgent care, and telehealth settings, helping patients of all ages as an NP and registered nurse for over 20 years.

I am passionate about engaging and empowering patients to have more control over their health and wellness but also emphasizes overall life balance. 

I am also the program director of a DNP program and an assistant professor teaching quality improvement methodology to improve the healthcare system.

I enjoy reading, traveling, and spending time with my family and friends.

My Story

Severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, weakness, acid reflux, mood swings, stress, skin breakouts, and a host of other symptoms. These are all symptoms that I dealt with for over 15 years of my life. I went to traditional practitioners, who initially dismissed my symptoms as a stomach virus, until I decided to go straight to where I thought was the answer. I was immediately diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (CD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and peptic ulcer disease (PUD). CD is an autoimmune disease that affects the GI tract anywhere from the mouth to anus. They didn’t know if it was hereditary or not, but they did know that there was very little they could do to prevent my body from attacking my intestines. 

I was placed on medication after medication, in hopes that it would relieve my symptoms and hopefully send my CD into remission. Unfortunately, nothing ever really worked, but it did cause me to feel a lot of anxiety. Food was the enemy. I was constantly told “your labs look good; they’re fine” but they really weren’t and I didn’t know better at the time. Finally, my symptoms progressed until I had to have bowel surgery. Every two years, they kept cutting out pieces of my intestine. I also had two bowel perforations in the midst of this. 

I was tired of having surgery, of not feeling well. I was also tired of no one listening to me and my concerns. I made the decision to take control of my health and to start healing myself with food. That’s where my wellness journey began. 

It seems like I spent most of my adult life fighting hard – to “pretend” like I wasn’t having GI symptoms when I went places like restaurants, out with friends, or any place outside of “home.”

It was me constantly putting in effort (and failing) at decreasing my stress level, eating, being a good mom, daughter, sister, or friend, etc. 

To those looking at me from the outside, I was ROCKING IT! I completed two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree, and a doctoral degree. None of those things reflected what was going on inside, and in retrospect, I was worsening my internal struggles. Yes, they said stress might worsen my symptoms, but like everything else, there was no certainty. 

Once I decided to take back my life, I knew I was NOT going back to healthcare providers who would not listen to me. After all, who knows your body better than you? I was tired of being treated by the MRI, CT scan, or labs. My nagging symptoms that were impacting my life needed a solution!  

As you can tell, I completely understand your pain, your frustrations, and I understand YOU.

if it’s possible for me, it’s definitely possible for you. I don’t want anyone else to feel the way I felt.

My solution was to slowly delve into the world of functional medicine. Functional medicine or functional wellness/health (terms all used interchangeably) involves finding the root causes of dis-ease and not just putting a bandaid on the problem. I learned so much from this; more than I ever learned in my conventional medicine nurse practitioner schooling. I learned which questions to ask clients, which labs to draw, how to interpret the labs in a different way, and understand the biochemical pathways involved in imbalances. After all, dis-ease is merely a bunch of imbalances.

Armed with all this knowledge, I started healing myself!!!

What I didn’t know was that my body really wanted to and had the power to heal myself. My quality of life improved almost instantaneously with a few small fixes that no one had told me before. I was starting to feel like ME again!!

Years later, I'm still feeling amazing. I continue to lead a healthy lifestyle and my autoimmune disease is still in remission!

In my own practice, I'm able to provide you with the same tools I used, but with a lot more structure! I want you to truly start THRIVING again so you can have your dream life. 

- No more loneliness

- No more missed social events

- No more worrying about how close the nearest bathroom is

- No more worrying about eating.

Through our partnership, you can overcome all that plus more -- it's all dependent upon what you want! I'm so happy you want to change your life and claim wellness -- whatever that means for you!

Thank you for being here.

YAY!!! I can't wait to receive your brief application to learn more about your health problems and goals. Shortly after, you will receive a link so we can jump on a call together for you to give me more insight and I can tell you about my process and how it can be incorporated into your life!