News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Audry Van Houweling named her practice in Sisters She Soars Psychiatry because she wanted to evoke resilience, empowerment and the overcoming of obstacles.
"We specialize in working with women and girls," she said. "We take a holistic approach to restoring wellness."
While she can prescribe and manage medication, her practice goes much deeper. Van Houweling is committed to a functional medicine model that gets at root causes of emotional and psychological disruptions.
Audry has worked in community mental health, residential, outpatient, and emergency settings. Audry has experience treating a wide range of mental health conditions including mood disorders, psychosis, anxiety disorders, co-occurring disorders, personality disorders, pre-menstrual disorders, post-partum disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit disorders.
"I came to the conclusion that I wanted to open a private practice and pursue psychiatry from a holistic angle," she told The Nugget.
Having grown up in Tumalo and with family in the area and her love of the outdoors - especially horseback riding - Sisters was a natural choice.
She is particularly interested in helping people seeking a comprehensive approach to restoring emotional wellness - people grappling with depression, mood swings, fatigue, difficulty focusing.
She provides lab testing to get at just what is happening physiologically and gets to know individual history so that she understands the context for what a person is currently experiencing.
"I love to hear people's stories," she said.
Understanding the full range of a person's state helps Van Houweling develop a broad-based approach to restoring emotional wellness.
She notes that mental health services are still scarce in Central Oregon and that there's still a stigma to seeking help.
"I think there's pressure for people to 'pull themselves up by the boot straps,'" she said.
Today's world is at once more connected than ever - and more isolating. Social media can create new strains on emotional health. Women in particular are often subject to invidious comparisons with other people's lives - and feel acutely a sense of their shortcomings.
"Women can fall into that trap quite a bit," she said. "There's almost a constant need to compare or critique yourself or somebody else. People think they're connected, but at the same time they're lonely and
isolated."
In order to make sure her services are within reach for those who need them, She Soars Psychiatry offers an affordable concierge program. Sessions are transferrable to other family members, including men and boys.
For more information visit www.shesoarspsych.com.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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