What life events or challenges that you’ve experienced (could be minor, could be major) – whether you’ve experienced them directly or via someone close to you, have had any type of impact on your desire to pursue a career in psychotherapy?

I have been blessed to not only become a psychiatrist but to also personally experience most psychiatric diagnoses.  I have personally experienced what Western psychiatry would label major depression, mania, psychosis, generalized anxiety disorder and severe PTSD.   Through these experiences, I was able to go on a deeply healing personal journey that included becoming a yoga teacher, an avid breathwork practitioner,  plant medicine facilitator, and integrative psychiatrist. It is through these experiences that I was able to remember who I am, and re-integrate myself back into a state of wholeness.  I was also able to develop sincere empathy for all of my patients, and to be able to speak to them from direct experience heart to heart.  

How did those events impact you emotionally/morally? How, if at all did those events impact the way you view how our current system teaches us to treat patients with mental health challenges?

These events impacted me at the very root and core of my being.  They forced me to take a good look at the current western psychiatric system in which I worked. I became a true student of learning ways to actually heal the root cause of the problem rather than simply band-aiding symptoms.  These events forced me to take a hands on approach towards healing.  It also helped me develop the empathy, patience, and unconditional love that I believe is the key to true healing.

When and why did you decide to actually focus on practicing Integrative Psychotherapy, specifically, and how was your decision shaped by the experiences above?

Integrative psychiatry was not something I set out to do.  It was a result of  searching for truth and true healing.  As I began the journey of healing myself and desiring to know the truth no matter the consequences, it led me down the  path of becoming an “integrative” psychiatrist.  I don’t necessarily enjoy labels and sometimes words can be limiting.  When I say integrative what I truly  mean  is a state of wholeness, where all parts of the Self have been forgiven, and called back into a state of wholeness, where the energetic, mental, emotional and physical  body are all in a state of coherence and resonance.  This can only be experienced and not spoken.  This is a state of true peace and freedom which I believe is the birthright of all sentient beings.  

What methods or practices do you utilize to help individuals get/feel better?

My primary methods I utilize to help people remember who they truly are include: intuitive listening, yoga, breathwork, meditation, plant medicines, frequency technology,  detox, nutrition, exercise protocols, relaxation techniques and many other  techniques that  can help anyone connect to their true Self.  

I base my approach on an acronym I learned when I was a kid. 

NEWSTART:

Nutrition

Exercise

Water

Sunshine

Trust in higher Self 

Air

Rest

Temperance/Self control

Using this as a basis, I customize specific treatment protocols for my patients to treat the root cause of whatever they are dealing with.

How did people react when you share this Integrative/Holistic approach with them – whether it be patients or other doctors?

People’s reactions are a reflection of their own perspectives.  I tend to get all kinds of  reactions when I share my approach.  Most of the time the reaction is positive and leads to true healing if the work is done.