I graduated from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland, Oregon — ranked the top acupuncture and herbal school in the country — in 2006. My private practice opened in 2007, and I treat a wide variety of health issues from the simple to the complex.
I completed undergraduate degrees from UW-Madison in English with an emphasis on creative writing (poetry) and Cultural Anthropology. I wanted to either go into Environmental anthropology or the arts. Healthcare and business were never on my radar.
At the end of college, however, I developed a crippling anxiety disorder. Intense anxiety attacks began, and they worsened after graduation. They got so bad that I was constantly living in fear of an attack, and began to withdraw from my friends. I didn’t want to be medicated because I didn’t want the anxiety masked — I wanted it gone!
There had to be a way out: a way back to the time when anxiety wasn’t ruling my life. I wanted to fall asleep in minutes instead of hours, and I didn’t want to have to try to “act normal” in front of friends. I wanted to return to a time when I wasn’t constantly either in an anxiety attack or fearing the next one. There had to be another way.
And I was right. A colleague told me to call her acupuncturist. That phone call changed my life.
Within several months, not only did I no longer have anxiety attacks, but my decade-long issue of daily headaches and monthly migraines ended. I could sleep, I was excited about life again, and I no longer had to carry around Excedrin.
This experience started me on the path to where I am now. In the years since I have also used acupuncture and herbal medicine to help me conceive my oldest son after fertility issues, as well as for a myriad of minor health issues. And I have gotten to witness the positive changes it has elicited in my patients’ lives and health.
I love helping people learn about their bodies through treatment. Patients not only feel better after treatment with acupuncture, herbs, and nutrition, but they also stay healthy. Since finishing school I have developed a passion for helping people with women’s health issues (including fertility, prenatal/postpartum and menopausal complaints), acute and chronic pain, and autoimmune disorders. I continue to be amazed by the strength of this medicine and by the power of the human body.
I use a variety of methods to treat patients. In addition to being state and nationally licensed/certified in acupuncture, I am nationally certified in Chinese herbal medicine. I have spent 5 years training in functional nutrition, and am certified to teach 1000 Hands Buddha Qigong. All of my treatments are individualized to meet your health needs.
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with friends, my husband and our two rambunctious sons. I love cooking and sharing meals, blogging, hiking, reading, and watching football and playing soccer with my family. My family and I have lived in SE Portland since 2001.