Meet ANGIE

Angie is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner - Intern at Red Sands Psychiatry. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate of Nursing Practice at the University of Arizona, where she is also earning a concurrent Masters's Degree in Nutrition. Her goal is to combine both disciplines as she works hand-in-hand with patients to improve their lives.

 

Professionally, Angie has held various positions in HR, marketing, and nursing. She entered the mental health field in 2016 by assisting in the launch of a non-profit organization that helps transition at-risk youth/adolescents into young adulthood. Since then, she found a home in the mental health field where she has served in roles across the lifespan - most recently as a walk-in mental health crisis nurse and an inpatient psychiatric nurse in the behavioral health unit at St. George Regional Hospital. Her breadth of experience in these various roles has made her particularly adept at connecting and working with people.

 

With her educational background in nutrition and wellness, she loves collaborating with patients on maximizing their food consumption to support their mental and emotional well-being. She also uses this knowledge to assist individuals with eating disorders, a heavily underserved area of mental health. Additionally, her educational background has given her experience assisting patients with ketamine therapy. After administering it to nearly 200 individuals throughout her career and educating others on its utility, she finds it a fascinating area of medicine and loves sharing it with patients. 

 

Something that fascinates Angie about mental health is the resiliency demonstrated by her patients. She strives to “hold space” for patients as they journey through life’s triumphs, pains, losses, joys, and everything in between. While providing this space, she endeavors to earn the trust necessary to support and sit beside her patients in their most vulnerable times.

 

Angie is thoughtful, kind, and unafraid of emotion. Regardless of what surfaces and in whatever form, she will hold space for it in her office and be an unflappable ally in supporting patients through their mental health journey. She considers it an honor to work with individuals who have the courage to confront their pain. 

 

Outside the office, Angie is a voracious reader and frequently finds herself reading multiple books simultaneously. She also spends her spare time running in short bursts on hiking trails or simply moving her body in any capacity daily. Angie is passionate about cooking and believes nothing says “I love you” quite like a freshly baked loaf of bread. She also loves her family, going on adventures with them, and experiencing the world through their eyes.

 

Angie’s primary goal as a mental health provider is to serve and continue to be the voice of advocacy for those who are voiceless. She hopes to continue to explore hallucinogenics and their potential role in actualizing change for treatment-resistant mental health sufferers. Though research is still in its infancy, she hopes to practice and meet her patients at the crossroads of mental illness and nutrition; stay tuned!

 

A favorite quote of hers comes from the great American poet Robert Frost:
“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.”