Some people find their calling. Mine found me.
My first job out of nursing school was in an acute behavioral health unit. I did not plan it that way. I told myself I would take whatever came first, and mental health came first. It was intense, unfamiliar, and honestly a little frightening. I watched colleagues get injured. I was cursed at, dismissed, and at times treated as though I did not belong. But something kept pulling me back, and over time I realized what it was: the patients.
I would watch someone come through the door in crisis, barely holding on, and then weeks later walk out steadier, calmer, more themselves. That journey, from that version of a person to this one, became something I could not stop caring about. I stopped surviving the work and started loving it. That shift did not happen overnight. It happened because I made a decision early on that no matter what was happening around me, my job was to show up fully for the person in front of me. If I ever had to defend what I did for a patient, I wanted to do it with my chest up. That standard became the foundation of everything.
My Story
Over the years, I have cared for patients in inpatient psychiatric units, psychiatric emergency settings, detoxification and substance use treatment, and outpatient telehealth. Each setting taught me something different. The emergency work taught me to stay calm when everything feels urgent. Detox taught me that healing requires patience, trust, and a complete absence of judgment. Inpatient care taught me that behind every diagnosis is a real human being carrying weight that a chart cannot fully capture.
What I noticed across all of those settings was the same thing: people felt rushed, reduced to a diagnosis, or afraid to be fully honest with their provider. I started Fitsam Psychiatry because I wanted to offer something different. I wanted to create space where patients are treated as partners, where the appointment does not end before the conversation does, and where showing up and being honest feels safe.
Outside of work, I am a mother, a Christian, and someone who genuinely loves people. I sing in the choir, I travel when I can, I dance, and I am always curious about new ideas and new ways of doing things. I believe that learning is never finished, and that applies to my practice as much as it does to my personal life. The world changes, medicine evolves, and my patients deserve a provider who keeps up.
If you have been searching for a provider who will actually listen, who will see you as a person rather than a problem to solve, and who will stay with you through the process of healing, I hope you will reach out.
Healing takes time. But you do not have to go through it alone.
CREDENTIALS
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE
Behavioral Health Charge Nurse
Inpatient Psychiatry
Psychiatric Emergency Services
Detoxification & Addiction Treatment
Outpatient Telepsychiatry
Experience serving children, adolescents, adults, and older adults
PMHNP-BC, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified
DEA Registered
MSN, Walden University
BSN, Western Governors University
Registered Nurse (RN)
Former Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)