About Me
I am a dual certified Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) with more than a decade of advanced practice nursing experience. I have practiced as a CRNA since 2015 across a range of settings, from rural and solo anesthesia practice to trauma and higher acuity hospital environments to gastrointestinal and ambulatory procedural care. That work gave me deep experience with complex medication management, physiology, and staying calm and clear headed with patients in vulnerable, high stress moments.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I wanted more than a single encounter with the people I was caring for. I wanted the time to actually understand someone, not just manage them through a procedure. That pull led me to complete a Post-Master's Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certificate at the University of New Hampshire, and I now provide psychiatric evaluation, medication management, and integrative care through my private practice, Serene Mental Health & Wellness.
Credentials and Education
PMHNP-BC, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified
CRNA, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
APRN, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse
Post-Master's Certificate in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, University of New Hampshire
Master's Degree in Nurse Anesthesia, Wolford College
Bachelor's Degree in Human Development, The University of Texas at Austin
Associate Degree in Nursing
My Journey
My own path here was not a straight line. Growing up, I struggled academically and behaviorally in ways I now recognize were very likely undiagnosed ADHD. I was constantly in tutoring classes, forgetful, disorganized, and told again and again that I just needed to work harder and focus. I barely made it through undergrad, and when I first went to nursing school, I failed out. I had to move back home, and in a lot of ways that failure became the turning point of my life.
I grew up without much financially, and I also grew up watching the women in my family, in a culture where women were often expected to be quiet, accommodating, and dependent, quietly put everyone else's needs before their own. I knew I did not want that for myself. So I went back to nursing school, graduated with nearly a 4.0, worked in the ICU, became a CRNA, and kept building from there, including completing the Psychiatry Redefined Integrative Psychiatry Fellowship.
Why I Started My Own Practice
That experience is exactly why I do this work the way I do. I understand what it feels like to know something is wrong and not have the words for it, and to spend years being told the problem is that you just need to try harder. I do not believe medication should be the beginning and end of psychiatric care. I want to look at the whole picture, including sleep, nutrition, movement, stress, and the everyday patterns of someone's life, alongside thoughtful medication management when it is needed. Medication can absolutely help, but it works best as one part of a bigger plan, not the whole plan.
I focus my practice on women, particularly women with ADHD, anxiety, and PMDD. So much of my own story lives inside that focus. I know what it is like to feel capable and high achieving on paper while quietly falling apart trying to hold it all together. I want my patients to stop asking what is wrong with them and start asking what is actually happening, so we can figure out, together, what will genuinely help.
Outside of Work
Outside of work, I am the person my husband affectionately calls an overachiever, because I am pretty much always working toward the next goal.
I love to travel, try new food, and explore new places and cultures, and some of my favorite memories are simple ones, like being near the water or laughing with my family over a good meal.
I also bring a fair amount of humor into my work. In anesthesia, I learned that a little bit of levity goes a long way in putting nervous patients at ease, and I carry that same calm, warm energy into how I show up for the people I treat now.
One patient once told me I was cool as a cucumber in the middle of a high stress moment, and honestly, that is a pretty accurate description of how I try to show up for people, steady, present, and never rattled.
