About Me

Nurse Practitioner.

Guide.

Challenger.

Consciousness Curator.

Boy Mom.

My Credentials

  • University of Florida

    A Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) is an advanced degree that prepares nurses for expert-level clinical practice. DNP programs focus on advanced nursing practice, leadership, and evidence-based care.

    NPs are trained to diagnose and treat medical conditions, prescribe medications, and provide patient education and counseling. They often work independently or in collaboration with other healthcare professionals to deliver specialized care to patients of all ages. I am fortunate to be collaborating with Dr. Virmarie Diaz Fernandez, a highly experienced psychiatrist who shares my passion for holistic, person-centered care.

  • Credential Awarded: PMHNP-BC™

    American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)

    PMHNP-BC stands for Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified. It means I have specialized training in psychiatry and that I am licensed to evaluate, diagnose, and treat psychiatric conditions. This includes the prescription of psychotropic medications, when appropriate.

  • Integrative Psychiatry Institute

    Psychedelic-assisted therapy has been called the fifth wave of psychotherapy; it is an emerging field that combines the use of psychedelic substances with therapeutic techniques to facilitate healing and personal growth. Psychedelics, such as ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA are believed to induce altered states of consciousness that can promote deep self-reflection, emotional processing, and a shift in perspective.

    Currently in Florida, only ketamine is legally available for this purpose. I am trained to treat certain psychiatric conditions with ketamine as well as prepared for the anticipated approvals of MDMA and Psilocybin in the near future.

    I have completed a comprehensive, year-long program designed to train mental health clinicians to guide clients through non-ordinary states of consciousness and I am honored to be able to provide both prescription of approved psychotropic medications as well as psychotherapy.

    *Please note, I am not currently offering prescription of psychedelic medications and am only offering integration (therapy) services at this time. Working with me does not guarantee treatment with ketamine nor any psychedelic substance and I do not promote the illegal use of any substance.

  • EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a psychotherapy approach that is primarily used to treat trauma-related disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    EMDR incorporates elements from various therapeutic approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, and somatic therapy. The goal of EMDR is to help individuals process their traumatic memories and reduce the negative impact of traumatic experiences on their daily functioning, emotions, and beliefs.

A Little Piece of My Story

Many moons ago, I graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management. Nothing about this felt right except that I had some vague notion that I’d completed what I’d hoped would be the first major adult step towards becoming “successful” though I had no ability to recognize my own misalignment with self at the time. A housing market crash and life-altering personal changes landed me back at UF in the nursing program. As I began clinicals in undergrad, I distinctly remember thinking “Hmm… I could see myself in any setting, except psych.” At that time, I didn’t know where I was going. I was most comfortable with what appeared to be more defined and measurable. I didn’t know the process of meeting my true self was unfolding. I wasn’t aware I was being prepared to guide others through and beyond treatment that is at a clinical, arm’s length distance and towards more holistic care. And yet without this awareness…

My now 13-year history as a nurse began with my role in an in-patient setting in Oncology. I later spent time caring for lung-transplant patients and floated between various units until I found another depth of growth during my time in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at a Level 1 Trauma Center. I have been in the sometimes-hellish trenches of critical care medicine, witnessing profound and acute traumas as they were unfolding with countless patients and families. Spending years caring for others in times of ineffable suffering and striving (that can be just as heart-breaking when it ends, as when it doesn’t) changes you. For me, these experiences were a daily grapple with the layers I had built to keep myself insulated from raw, human pain and also from the parts of myself that are well-positioned to meet suffering with an open heart.

In hindsight, I’ve realized there were so many times I had found myself in the in-between moments, in the pause of time, witnessing an entry into the unknown and witnessing the realization that life was forever changing. I think it was in the midst of the momentum and fervor of fighting for life that is where I first discovered my role in holding space. It is where I came to further know the dilation of time. It is where I began to develop an understanding of the depth to which our relationships can shape our most harrowing circumstance.

Artwork by Charlie Mackesy

“Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.”

―C.G. Jung

Around this time I followed a random, unanticipated prompting to switch from my Critical Care DNP track to Psychiatric-Mental Health Care.  The focus of my nursing work was shifting from saving people’s physical lives to working to support their mental, emotional, and spiritual evolution as they faced completely transformative experiences. It became clear to me that support for healing is both an internal and systemic process that draws upon our conscious relationships with self and with others.

All the while I became a mother to two little boys, got divorced, and plunged into my own self-rediscovery and journey of healing from trauma. One of the aspects I value most about myself, personally and professionally, is my commitment to and love of cultivating curiosity. I have come to learn, with both frustration and delight, that our healing and self-discovery journeys are ongoing.

Through invaluable relationships, therapy, parenting, yoga, mindfulness, learning to welcome the parts of myself I once rejected the most, learning to allow myself to feel again, allowing myself to be witnessed in this process, annnnd trusting myself to both hold the structure and welcome the collapse… I have myself become the mentor I always needed. As I have continued to step deeper into my role as a mental health care provider and into my own ongoing work, the narrative that continues to unfold holds undeniable themes of perseverance, non-duality, humor, and an ever-evolving knowing that everything is going to be okay, even when it isn’t.

I am so excited and humbled to be able to transmute my personal and professional knowledge and experiences into compassionate yet motivating, mental health care. I am so excited to share this all with you. I am ready to meet you exactly where you are and offer a strong, reliable container and a whole host of tools to assist you along your path of becoming.

This interview was done without preparation after a near-all-nighter completing my doctoral project… oh how I wish I had been more articulate that day.

I continue to feel grateful for the training I received at UF and the redirection that led me into mental health care.

"Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."

― Henry David Thoreau

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