About Karen
Karen is passionate about helping you improve your health. One of her deepest beliefs is that our bodies have the wisdom to heal themselves. She is a Masters prepared Advanced Practice Nurse (Nurse Practitioner), licensed in both Wisconsin and Illinois, a Nationally Board Certified Holistic Nurse, and a Nationally Board Certified Nurse Coach. She has over 20 years of experience as a Nurse Practitioner in a variety of settings, including Primary Care, Integrated Health Care agencies, and nursing education. For more information on Karen’s background and clinical experience, see her CV.
When she’s not collaborating with her patients, she enjoys gardening, snowshoeing, natural habitat restoration and raising therapy dogs.

Approach
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
--Wayne Dyer
Karen's approach encompasses all of the components of a person: their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. She believes that all of these components come together and influence one another to create one’s sense of health and well-being.
The effectiveness of numerous alternative therapies and lifestyle measures such as healthy diet have been well documented by research at the National Institutes of Health. However, our traditional Western healthcare system has been slow to promote these remedies and patients utilizing only Western medicine often find that their health is not improving and that they are unable to effectively prevent, treat or reverse their chronic health conditions.
The common practice of Western medical professionals and consumers alike is often to default to what feels like the best option for managing disease: prescription medications.
While Karen believes that medications can play a valuable role in treating disease, she is passionate about helping people learn about and implement alternative approaches to health and disease management. Additionally, while providers in our traditional medical system make valuable recommendations for health habit modification, they are often not set up to provide the ongoing, frequent support that helps patients effectively make the prescribed changes.
If you have been managing a chronic disease through medication but not truly feeling better, perhaps it’s time to consider other options. Or if you have found yourself unable to make or sustain the health habit modifications recommended to you by a medical professional, perhaps it is time to recruit additional guidance and support.
Karen’s approach will provide you with three key pathways to optimal health: 1) education on alternative approaches to accomplish your health goals, 2) ongoing coaching and support to help you implement and sustain health-focused changes, and 3) encouragement to look deeply within to find motivation, set realistic goals, and think outside the box to find lasting health solutions. Take the next step in truly improving your health: call Karen for your complimentary initial 20-minute consultation.
Help your pocket book!
In addition to your physical heath and well-being, Integral Health Solutions may also improve the health of your pocket book. Health care costs in the US are skyrocketing. According to research published by the American Diabetes Association in 2013, out-of-pocket medical and drug costs for treating type 2 diabetes now average $7,900 per person annually, not including any necessary deductible. Yet, we have evidence that many chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, can be prevented, delayed or reversed through simple, cost-effective lifestyle changes.
Integral Health Solutions’ logo, the labyrinth, is a symbol for self-discovery. Through consulting with and coaching you, Karen’s techniques will assist you on your journey to optimal health.
Health Conditions Managed
Karen will partner with you to develop a personalized plan along with specific interventions to halt the progression or reverse the signs and symptoms of your medical condition(s). We now have ample evidence that lifestyle medicine—that is, making health-focused changes in dietary intake, daily movement, sleep patterns, and ways of handling stress—can effectively treat and reverse the progression of many common chronic diseases. Drawing from a wide variety of approaches, some but not all of the conditions Karen can help you with include:
- Type II Diabetes
- Prediabetes
- High Blood Pressure
- High Cholesterol
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Fatty Liver
- High BMI
- Chronic Pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Poor Sleep
- Fatigue
- Tobacco Use Disorder
“The natural healing force in each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.”
--Hippocrates
Call Karen for your initial complimentary 20-minute consultation.
Are You Ready to Reverse Disease and Reduce your Medications?
I'd love to invite you to schedule a free consultation to talk about your health goals!