Provider

Kerry's Story

Kerry's Story

My interest in health and healing began as a child with my connection to the land and working with animals on our small farm in rural Oregon. I assisted during sheep and rabbit births, sat bareback on my pony for hours daydreaming, and helped animals transition into death. I also played several sports through most of highschool. As a child my mother, aunts, and family friends introduced me to yoga, Eastern philosophies, and energy work.

I often listened to recorded guided visualizations to help with sleep, sports, and stress. As a child I experienced significant traumas which included events as well as illnesses. Yearly croup and strep throat fully resolved once I discovered herbal medicines and stress reduction techniques in my late teens while working at a local grocery store.

Echinacea, my first herbal remedy, was recommended by a coworker, who was also a naturopathic student. While we worked together I learned about herbal tinctures and non-conventional medical schools. Around this time I was also diagnosed with a plethora of other medical concerns. During these trying times some of the most helpful types of health care I received were from providers who taught me about the mind-body-nature connection. By the time I entered college I was a firm believer in and dedicated to my own self-healing using traditional and intuitive methods, alongside conventional medicine as needed.

I have always loved learning, and like many college students I stayed up late studying, with the help of multiple cups of coffee, then found it difficult to sleep. However, I soon realized when I practiced qigong at night I fell asleep easily, despite the caffeine. I felt more energized, centered, and stronger overall the more I practiced qigong. In college I also received acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for chronic menstrual pain and experienced a significant decrease in pain. After receiving my psychology degree I decided I would attend a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) graduate school to further my education in traditional medicine. 

At the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine my favorite classes included herbology, theory, qigong, and clinic with supervisors teaching gentle acupuncture methods. As a massage therapist I was drawn to the bodywork and palpation aspects of classes including Shiatsu, Tuina, orthopedics, teishin techniques, and Japanese acupuncture palpation methods.

During and after graduate school my husband was often deployed with the National Guard overseas or for natural disasters. Due to the stress of school and raising children (including during deployments and COVID) I relied on qigong, yoga, holistic health practices, dog and cat cuddles, and family for much needed support. Later, in 2021 while homeschooling my son, I decided to go back to school. I began teacher training courses in yoga and Ayurveda to learn more about ancient Indian ways of managing stress, supporting digestion, and other concerns.

Currently in Olympia, I continue my journey of health and healing and offer my community my experience and a variety of healing modalities from acupuncture and massage to Ayurveda and others. Most of the modalities I practice are from traditional ancient systems of medicine in India, China, and Japan and taught by amazing professors from the East as well as other parts of the world. I am ever grateful to all my teachers.

As a lifelong student the center or heart of my journey, so far, has been learning self-love, compassion, and how to pace my daily activities and routines through meditation, restorative practices, lifestyle changes including diet, and Eastern philosophies. Finding, feeling, sensing a moment of deep relaxation, inner peace, if even for a moment, is a foundation for healing. This letting go and relaxing in the present moment despite discomfort changed my relationship with and experience of stress, pain, myself, and the world. This is why I practice — because through my own experiences, I know we can begin right where we are. Caring for ourselves in a holistic manner can be life changing. Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, bodywork, Ayurveda, yoga, and other traditional systems of medicine can often improve health by providing different treatment methods and suggestions because they view the mind, body, and spirit/life-force as interwoven. 

Credentials - Education - Hobbies

Kerry is a Washington State Licensed Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine Practitioner, Licensed Massage Therapist, NCCAOM Diplomate of Oriental Medicine, Ayurveda Wellness Coach, and Yoga teacher RYT 200. 

Kerry has worked in healthcare for over 20 years at a variety of locations including the Alaska Native Medical Center in Alaska, Medical Massage and Acupuncture Inc. in Chehalis, WA, and her own private practice. 

She enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering with youth and community organizations, gardening with native plants, reading science fiction, fantasy, and poetry, and practicing qigong and yoga. Her husband is an Army National Guard veteran and first responder. She lives on a small family farm with dogs, cats, chickens (including Captain pictured below), ducks, goats, a frog, and a rabbit.