My passion for working with people started in high school when I first began volunteering at a summer camp for adults with cognitive impairments and developmental disabilities. I am  proud to still be involved in that community, volunteering for the 20th year this past summer of 2023. While I studied History and International Relations in undergrad, I found myself working as a caregiver, then later in management for caregiving organizations. I found management to be a challenge and did not enjoy the loss of a direct connection with the people I served. It was at that time I began working as a crisis counselor for a local community mental health team and started to pursue a career in nursing. I felt nursing would be the best way for me to broaden my reach and impact in the community while working directly with the people I wanted to serve. As an RN and PMHNP I have worked in outpatient community mental health treating substance use disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, psychosis, personality disorders, ADHD and providing care for adults with developmental disabilities and their care teams.

In 2020, I started to precept students and have them shadow me through my work days, seeing patients together. It was a student who recommended me for a Professorship at Seattle University. I have been so grateful to stay connected to evidenced based research and academics through this role. In the past year I took my passion for learning a step further and enrolled as a student in pursuit of a doctorate degree in nursing.

In my downtime, I enjoy running, lifting and disrupting diet culture in supposed “health” spaces. I personally enjoy exercise as a means of finding comfort in my body and get frustrated by how our culture focuses on weight over other measures of health. I think this can turn people off to the benefits of movement and I regularly work with people around these kinds of challenges.

I can also be found cooking with my husband, who immigrated to the US from India. After we were married and still awaiting his green card, I spent 3 years moving back and forth from the US to India and loved learning to cook traditional South Indian dishes with his family. He has taught me so much about building flavor into complex and delicious food. Our marriage has also given me a first hand experience of just how broken our immigration system is. I am grateful we are now living together full time in the US and we are able to travel on our terms. He and I share our home with our sweet short haired cat Diane who brings constant joy and amusement to our world. If we end up working together for your psychiatric care, our sessions will be focused around your goals and needs, but I come to this work with my own history and experiences which have shaped my beliefs. If you have more questions about me than what I’ve shared here, please feel free to ask! 

I am out on maternity leave from September-November, 2024 and not currently accepting new patients.