Spotlight Series: Seva Health - Functional Medicine & Mindfulness for a Holistic Approach to Healthcare
Our July Spotlight Series features Angel Shannon, CRNP. Angel is an adult and geriatric primary care nurse practitioner who utilizes functional medicine and mindfulness techniques to help clients improve their mental health. She has a holistic approach to healthcare that encompasses mind, body & spirit, Read below for her story.
1. How did you get started with your business/career?
I always say that my career has been a rich tapestry of many diverse and interesting experiences. What's interesting is that medicine and healthcare were never in my career plans. I graduated high school a year early because I was so excited about pursuing a career in international corporate law. I majored in business finance and marketing at St John's University in New York for my undergraduate studies. But shortly after my program, I realized that I actually didn't want to go to law school.
At the same time that I was matriculating at St. Johns, my best friend was enrolled in nursing school and she worked in a busy ER and trauma center in New York City. Every time I listened to her stories and heard the passion in her voice about people who had been really ill and the stories of their recovery it sparked a real fire in me. I had grown up in a very holistic household, where natural health and environmental stewardship were central (my grandparents were farmers, and my great-grandmother was a midwife) and so all of those memories along with her stories kind of gelled together and sparked an interest in pursuing a career that was more human-focused and centered around healing.
I spent the first 20 years of my career in ER, critical care, trauma, community and public health and insurance administration so I've seen all four corners of medicine and the healthcare industry - the good, the bad and the ugly. In all of those years and throughout all of those experiences, I've never lost sight of my childhood and how I grew up. I've always been enamored by my grandparents and great-grandparents and the way that they lived. I also really love community and public health. I decided in 2014 to go back to my roots of holistic health and I launched my practice, Seva Health in 2014 with integrative, holistic health practices in mind. I love seniors and I initially started the practice as a house calls service for the adult and senior population. When demand picked up for other age demographics and services, we opened the office which is located in Pikesville. I absolutely love my practice, the work that I do and the community that I'm so deeply honored to serve.
2 - What are you passionate about when it comes to working with your clients?
It excites me to see my patients heal. When people have been experiencing a health challenge for a long time, no matter what that challenge may be (mental health or physical health), they're looking for real solutions. They're not looking for Band-Aids and quick fixes. They're not looking for medications that mask symptoms. People come to us for help. I'm most passionate about helping people who want to find the root causes of their symptoms to achieve real healing. By nature I'm a detective type, I love science and doing the hard work to find the answers that people need really excites me. Over the years I've also found that it's getting to those answers that leaves people feeling more empowered to make positive changes in their lives. Informed, educated patients make informed and educated decisions. It's really that simple and it ultimately leads to the kind of healing they've been searching for.
3 - What are your specialties?
I'm a board-certified Adult-Gerontological Nurse Practitioner. I specialize in Adult and Geriatric Integrative Medicine. I have extensive training in functional medicine, botanical medicine and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). I'm also a certified yoga therapist and Master Gardener, certified through the University of Maryland Extension. I'm a lifelong student of mind-body medicine and my goal is to deepen my study of MBSR and botanical medicine to weave more of both into my clinical and coaching practice.
4 - How does your work provide relief/insight or other benefits to your clientele?
My clients are often relieved to find a provider who can really walk safely between two worlds. I often say that what I offer in my practice is a marriage of the best of Western science and the best of ancient Eastern healing traditions and philosophy. Consumers today realize that there's a better way to live. The days of just taking a pill for every symptom are over. People want safe natural solutions to common health problems like anxiety, depression, insomnia, weight loss, and hypertension and they want the science to back it up. They're willing to make lifestyle changes that make sense. And more importantly, they want to feel empowered. That's what I'm proud to say I offer in my practice: safe science, real solutions and the encouragement and empowerment to make sustainable lifestyle changes.
5 - Anything else you would like to share (programs, classes, special info)
I recently launched Fit & Functional For Life™ a lifestyle medicine health coaching program to help people eat, sleep, move and live better which I think is even more important now than ever before when we think about immune health and disease prevention. The program offers 1:1 medically supervised weight loss, functional medicine testing, a proprietary coaching app, meditation instruction, enrollment in our private Facebook group and a scholars program for more 1:1 intensive coaching and support. You can find information on my website.
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