How I got Here, the Long story version…

In my early twenties, my mother became ill. She was a medical mystery who did not respond to conventional medical treatment. Test after test came up clear while I watched my young mother wither away down to 80 lbs. Following a surgery, she developed severe insomnia, mysteriously lost feeling in her hands and feet, could not digest food properly and was losing weight at an alarming rate. I was watching my mother unravel physically and mentally before my eyes. As concerned as all her doctors were, no one seemed to have any answers for us. I started turning to the books on her shelves-herbal medicine books from courses she took back in the 60's, macrobiotic cook books, spiritual healing books. 

I started very simply; I started to cook with wholesome, real foods and I watched her slowly begin to transform back into my mom. Within a few weeks, her digestion normalized and the lump she had felt in her throat for over a year was gone. Within a couple of months, she could sleep a bit longer at night. With the addition of a few simple herbs we found in my kitchen cabinet like cinnamon and fennel, her pre-diabetes diagnosis was resolved.

This walking experiment of watching my mom transform before my own eyes, in our little home on a cold, tree-lined island in Maine, was life changing for me. It was astonishing to me that where the most astute surgeons and strongest pharmaceutical medications had failed her, eating foods from the earth, prepared simply in our tiny attic kitchen, could drastically alter her symptoms. I began my journey into Naturopathic medicine, hungry for everything I could get my hands on about this vast and foreign realm of medicine that had been the only saving grace for my ailing parent.

Her digestion, sleep, mood, and more improved to the point where she was able to return to work for the first time in two years. Unfortunately, despite taking medication for it she had persistent high blood pressure from smoking since the tender age of 13, and suffered a serious stroke that left her in a coma. At that point, the wonders of conventional medicine were necessary to keep her alive.

Left completely paralyzed, she only survived a few more years in an institutional setting. But, the years of transformational healing I had seen in my mother with “kitchen cabinet medicine” and wholesome food, changed me forever.

Naturopathic medicine had found her too late, but I had found myself and my career path. These years of caretaking, hospitals and nursing homes left me with an intimate understanding of when conventional medicine would shine, and when natural medicine had the best available toolbox.

I attended Bastyr University to earn my doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine so that I could dive deeper into the wonders of natural healing. I hoped to learn about the energy systems of the body and understand more deeply how my great grandmother's depression and anxiety steeped my mother's nervous system in dysfunction from an early age, and could have contributed to something as conctrete as her high blood pressure. I hoped to understand why holding an amethyst had helped her rest at times when even sleeping pills wouldn't. I hoped to learn more about the magical weeds; the tall dandelions and wild fennel plants, and how these wild pests right outside my window could heal.

I also hoped to learn more about the human psyche, and the energy system. I wanted to glean as much knowledge as possible not just from western modalities, but from Chinese, Indian, Native American, and more.

This led to trainings even beyond the scope of my naturopathic medical training, devouring everything I could get my hands on, from the meridian system of Chinese medicine, to shamanic journeying. I am trained and experienced in a wide variety of modalities, and will always be learning more, to benefit myself and all those whose paths I cross.