What is “Natural Psychiatry?”
Natural Psychiatry to me means connecting with our true nature by returning to our roots - focusing on what we eat, how we move our bodies, and how we relax our nervous systems. These remarkably simple acts often seem untenable in our modern life but they are the foundations of wellbeing.
Natural Psychiatry also means embracing this season of your journey as a natural rhythm. We all grow and also hibernate, feel filled or drained as the tide, and navigate both high peaks and low valleys on our paths. Our current situation may not be what was forecasted, but I know we all have the potential to discover or deepen our connection with our innate resilience to weather anything.
Training & experience
Hello! I'm Laura, a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC).
Originally from Wisconsin, I completed training as a Registered Nurse (BSN) at the University of Pennsylvania and as a Nurse Practitioner (MSN) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2016. I completed residency with the UCSF Child and Adolescent Department of Psychiatry and after worked with children, adolescents, and adults at UCSF, and with adults at community-based nonprofit clinics and at an integrative private practice in downtown San Francisco. I completed trainings in Systems-Centered Therapy (SCT), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Level 1), Holotrophic Breathwork, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp).
I practiced nature therapy on the Pacific Crest Trail and in Nepal, and studied Hatha as a registered yoga teacher (RYT) in India in 2019. In 2020, I moved to Washington and opened Natural Psychiatry. I also studied Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY), Applied Buddhist Psychology (Sacred Stream), and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (Polaris Insight Center).
After becoming a mother in 2021, I completed an integrative psychiatry fellowship in women’s reproductive wellness (FRIP) and became certified in Perinatal Mental Health (PSI, PMH-C). I am currently training as a Perinatal Yoga Teacher.
I am a lifelong student of herbalism, permaculture, nutrition, yoga, and mindfulness. I enjoy spending time in my garden, wild harvesting, cooking, hiking, being with friends old and new, and spending time with my husband and two young children.
