comprehensive wellness services

 We provide in-person or virtual mental health coaching for those with a myriad of psychological and emotional experiences. Different than psychotherapy, coaching is solution-focused and goal-oriented. While we may briefly explore the origins of emotional and physical experience, coaching is more solution-based, and forward-focused.   Some broad areas we support:

• Life Transitions & Self-Growth
• Mood Imbalances: Anxiety, Panic, Depression, and Dysthymia
• Relationship Concerns/Growth of Self and Others
• Disordered Eating Behaviors: Build a Healthier Relationship with Food/Nourishment
• Career Development & Joy Expansion
• Motivation, Creativity & Inspiration
• Stress Attendance 
• Adoption Experience
• Multi/Bi-cultural Experience
• LGBTQI Experience

Functional Medicine Nutrition involves illuminating the best bio-individual way for each of us to use food as medicine in order to optimize our health and prevent or reverse dysfunction or dis-ease. There is no "one size fits all" with nutrition as we each have variations in our genetics, cultural preferences,  health histories, wellness goals, and relationships with food. Most people want to be healthy, but many struggle to make nutrition what it really should be: one aspect of our nourishment as a whole.  

 A functional medicine nutritionist looks at nourishment from multiple angles including food, friends, emotions, work, environment, and thoughts. How we are nourished in each of these areas can greatly affect our health and function. When the interconnections between these parts are truly valued, we have a greater chance of making more permanent shifts in self-care that contribute so significantly to disease and distress.

Functional Nutrition provides an integrative approach that sees the body and mind as an interconnected system that functions optimally when in a state of balance and is well nourished on multiple levels.  

I currently offer virtual psychotherapy for WA state clients. My counseling approach is deeply compassionate and accepting while encouraging attention to the core self and seeking an honest experience of what that brings. I work within a framework of understanding that acknowledges the interconnecting impacts of our innate self, family systems, cultural experience, social inequities and privilege, and intimate relationships on our present experience that can at times serve us or inhibit us from living more fully authentic lives. I am person-centered much more than theoretically-centered, but my propensity is to recognize the biological, social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual influences on our whole health. This means that I use a variety of tools depending on the needs of a particular individual, including mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy, family systems, and somatic attuning. 

 Knowing what to do is one thing, but actually implementing changes to our self-care takes time and measurable goals between visits. The small choices we make each day add up over time to the way we experience life.  When we string multiple less-optimal choices together, we can end up feeling physically and emotionally uncomfortable, tired, uninspired and isolated. We want to help you experience a fuller version of your life--with more energy, motivation, inspiration, and connection.  

Functional lifestyle counseling provides a chance for us to think both about big-picture goals such as "I want to feel happier" and the powerfully interconnecting small, tangible steps it takes to get there. 

  A functional medicine nutritionist does not diagnose disease, but instead focuses "upstream" on the dysfunction at the root-cause of your symptoms. This is done through comprehensive nutritional assessments via physical exam, environmental toxicity and nutrition questionnaires, a thorough mind-body health history, and/or laboratory testing/analysis.   Some areas commonly addressed include:

• Nutritional Psychology & Psychiatric Nutrition
• Nutrition-specific Genetic testing & Functional Lab Analysis
• Detoxification Support
• Increase Energy & Mitochondrial Health
• Improve Gut Health/Dysbiosis
• Enjoyable Movement/Exercise, and Cardiovascular health
• Food sensitivities/allergies
• Transform Body Composition

Nutrition-specific genetic testing is now available. After completing a simple gene testing kit sent to you, in this consultation we review your bio-individual genetic assessment. This includes your personalized nutritional needs and essential prevention pathways for conditions to which you are genetically predisposed. See Nutrition Genome to obtain a test kit to be completed prior to this visit.

Genetic testing information can inform us about prevention and risk factors related to:

• Cardiovascular Disease 
• Cancer 
• Dementia & Cognitive Decline
• Detoxification Needs
• Metabolic Optimization
• Specific nutrient requirements