Welcome!

If you have found the Underwood Functional Wellness website, you are most likely struggling with mood issues, such as anxiety or depression, and are exploring alternatives to medications just like I was.  I want you to know that I am here to help.

Specializing in brain health and mental wellness, I support professionals in high-stakes occupations such as first responders, military personnel, health care professionals, and pilots, that are at particular risk for mood disorders, so they can excel in their life and chosen field.  

Unfortunately, mental health struggles are typically regarded as psychological diseases without further exploration of possible underlying physiological imbalances.  If you are in a profession with an increased risk of chemical exposures, TBI, unrelenting stress or vigilance, long hours, shift-work, or trauma, I highly recommend exploring and supporting your physiology. Mental health counseling may also be appropriate but as Mark Hyman, MD states, “only about 10% of us are nutritionally, metabolically, and biochemically balanced enough to fully benefit from psychotherapy.”

Always fascinated with science and drawn to helping people, healthcare was a natural fit. I pursued education and employment in conventional medicine as an EMT and later as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. While many people are drawn to nutrition because of a long, complicated history with food or weight, I was blissfully unaware that food served a purpose beyond pleasure.   It wasn't until I experienced the power of food as medicine that I appreciated the complex nature of food beyond calories.

When I started to struggle with unrelenting migraines, fatigue, and dark depression, I naturally turned to what was familiar, conventional medical care.  I assumed they would help me identify the causes, but they only labeled it and recommended medications for it.  Personally, I am okay with management as long as resolution is the goal.

Lifelong management did not resonate with me, and through persistence, discovered that my vitamin D level was nearly undetectable, and within a week of supplementation (high dose), my black cloud completely lifted.  It was rapid, and honestly, stunning how complete my mood reversal was.    With further investigation, I also resolved 40+yrs of migraines. 

I became fascinated with what other deficiencies, toxicities and imbalances impact mental/cognitive health  and are largely unexplored in the conventional setting.

Fortunately, I am a lifelong learner, and in addition to my graduate degree in Clinical Nutrition and Integrative Health, and certifications in Functional Medicine and Brain Health Coaching,  I stay current with the latest research in how to support and nourish your brain.  I also have a foot in both the conventional as well as the integrative medical models and know that there is a time and place for both modalities when used appropriately. 

But as Hippocrates states, "first do no harm," so the first step should be intelligent self-care.

It is not easy to suffer financially, physically, or mentally with a chronic health issue and can also diminish the experience of the very job you were called to do.  Don’t settle for merely surviving.  Don’t wait, reach out today.