About
About
My Story
My passion for nutrition, fitness, and healthy living was born out of my own struggles to find the “perfect diet.”
For years, I counted calories and fat grams and exercised to burn all the calories I consumed. I compulsively studied nutrition and was committed to find the best way of eating to feel great in my body. After years of living this way, I burned out my adrenals and became hypothyroid.
It wasn’t until I changed the way I looked at food and my body that I was able to let go of my rigid “food rules” and calorie counting. I changed the way I was eating and living and was able to heal my thyroid, naturally. This transformation inspired me to want to learn more and help people upgrade their own relationship with food and create a lifestyle that really feeds their soul.
My life’s work is my passion to change the way we practice medicine.
I saw firsthand how integrative medicine extended my mother’s life in her battle with stage-4 lung cancer and also in my father’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease. With integrative medicine, the patient and practitioner are partners in the healing process. The patient takes responsibility and is at the center of his/her own healing. Integrative medicine combines both conventional and alternative modalities that help to facilitate the body’s innate healing response. My father’s battle with Alzheimer’s Disease inspired me to become a certified Apollo Brain Health Coach, to support clients’ health with cognitive decline.
In my health coaching practice, I use motivational interviewing skills, and together, we take an integrative approach and focus on 7 core areas of health:
Coaching is a growth-promoting relationship, which elicits internal motivation and facilitates transformation through visioning, goal setting, and accountability. Working together, you can make powerful lifestyle changes. My goal is to help empower you to discover the possibilities and live the life you desire—and deserve!
My Qualifications
- Master of Arts, Health and Wellness Coaching, Maryland University of Integrative Health
- Board member, Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org)
- Board-certified Holistic Health Counselor, American Association of Drugless Practitioners
- AzCIM Certified Integrative Health Coach from the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
- Certified Eating Psychology Coach and Teacher, Institute for the Psychology of Eating
- Certified Holistic Health Coach, Institute for Integrative Nutrition
- AzCIM Integrative Health and Lifestyle Practitioner, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicinea
- B.S., Business Administration from Arizona State University with an emphasis in Nutrition
- Certified Apollo Health ReCODE 2.0 Brain Health Coach using the Bredesen protocol to guide participants to optimal brain health and cognition.
- Fellowship Wild Health Genomics-based Precision Medicine
- Member of the Philanthropic Council for Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness
Author Of…
- Contributor to IntegrativePractitioner.com
- Foreword to Integrative Practitioner’s “An Introductory Nutrition Guide for Integrative Practitioners”
- Author “My Wellness Coach” app
In September 2017, over 1,100 professional health & wellness coaches passed the first Health and Wellness Coach Certifying Examination (HWCCE) to earn the new credential: National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). To date, more than 8,900 health & wellness coaches are certified. The certification examination is provided by the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC), a collaboration between the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and the International Consortium for Health & Wellness Coaching (ICHWC).
The profession of health & wellness coaching has emerged to address an urgent and widespread need – to increase individuals’ engagement in health-giving lifestyles that prevent and treat chronic conditions. While the profession has grown, so has variability in the standards of health & wellness coaches who are employed from clinical settings to universities, health plans to private practices and health clubs. To deliver consistent standards for the new profession, the ICHWC, a consortium of thought leaders and 52 health & wellness coach training and education programs, and the NBME, which develops and administers physician licensing examinations in the United States, joined forces to establish standards for health and wellness coach training and education programs and a coach certification exam.
The National Board Certification for Health & Wellness Coaching is based upon a set of competencies for appropriately developing the coaching relationship, communication techniques, processes for behavior change, health and wellness knowledge, ethics and professional development, and more. All practitioners who meet eligibility requirements and pass the examination are designated National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC). These practitioners are demonstrating a standard of practice that assists employers and members of the public in selecting a health & wellness coach.
The over 8,900 practitioners who earned the NBC-HWC credential will be listed in an online public directory at www.ichwc.org.
Why I Chose AzCIM
An AzCIM-certified Integrative Health (IH) Coach is the most thoroughly trained and evaluated.
As a prerequisite into the AzCIM IH Coaching program, I completed a 6-month (250-hour) Integrative Health and Lifestyle program. My classmates included doctors, nurses, therapists, nutritionists, and acupuncturists, and other health-care practitioners.
250
Hour prerequisite integrative health and lifestyle program
200
Hours of training including 35 hours of in-person training
200+
Hours of documented practice coaching sessions for Motivational Interviewing
As part of the program, I completed more than 200 hours of training, including 35 hours of in-person training in Tucson under the direction of Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Victoria Maizes. I passed rigorous evaluations of live coaching sessions and Motivational Interviewing skills, over 200 hours of training, 28 total mentor-supervised practice hours, and 100+ hours of documented practice coaching sessions.
We were trained to:
Partner with you to help you achieve your personal goals
Recognize the innate healing potential you hold within you
Meet you were you’re at—without judgment
Emphasize self-care and empowerment.
My Specialties
Weight Loss
Sugar Detox
Mindful Eating
Brain Health & Cognition
Hormone Balance
Digestive Reset
Sports Nutrition
Stress Regulation
Toxins & Environmental Health
Who I Work With
Executives
Professional Athletes
Women & Men of All Ages
Motivated Individuals who are Ready for a New Level of Vitality
Leading Corporations who Understand the Value of a Healthy Workforce