I was born in the Midwest, raised in a cabin in rural Alaska and moved to Washington in 1990. I am an alumna of Central Washington University, where I received my Bachelor of Science in Biology. Because I love to teach, my original college major was Elementary Education; but after taking an elective course in human physiology, I immediately switched tracks and headed for medicine. I graduated from Bastyr University with my Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine and am a licensed Naturopathic Physician in the state of Washington. I practiced for a brief time in Florida, in an attempt to experience what it was like to live in sunshine; but I shortly realized that even wonderful weather was not a substitute for the pleasure of living in Seattle, and moved home.

MY PHILOSOPHY - It’s all about balance.
Illness stems from imbalance. Our bodies are naturally programmed to heal themselves, but when there is an imbalance or a blockage of some kind (physical, mental or emotional), the body is prevented from following that expected course to health and the result is disease. The correction of these imbalances is the main focus of treatment in naturopathic medicine.

Patients coming to see me with multiple health concerns, are often surprised to find that there are only one or two actual underlying issues and that once these primary imbalances are corrected, their health problems naturally resolve. At Seattle Natural Medicine, you will be given practical tools to identify and remove those obstacles to your health, and to support the body’s innate tendency to heal itself.

One item of note: many patients come in expecting to have to permanently quit all of their guilty indulgences. They think that coming to see a naturopathic doctor means forever after eating only seaweed, brown rice and tofu, and never again having the pleasure of a banana split, an order of french fries or the occasional Sunday afternoon-on-the-couch-movie-binge. This isn’t realistic and it’s definitely not very fun. We have to remember that the “guilty little pleasures” have a purpose in our lives - they feed the spirit, which is just as vital as feeding the body; again, it’s a matter of balance. This is what Seattle Natural Medicine is all about; not living a life of deprivation, but living a life in balance.