Sarah Lewis

Book a session with me by clicking on my listed website. I'm Sarah. I am a board certified Adult Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) with over 15 years of clinical PMHNP experience in community mental health, primary care, and emergency psychiatry settings, plus 8 years as a former certified Oncology RN. I specialize in helping adults suffering from depression, anxiety, panic, insomnia, bipolar spectrum disorders, and sleep/wake cycle related disorders through careful diagnostic psychiatric evaluation, Brief Solution Focused therapy, evidence based psychiatric medication management, and nutritional and metabolic psychiatry assessment to support brain/mental health. I also enjoy working with people who have been impacted by insulin resistance, diabetes, challenges with energy, metabolism, weight, cancer, chronic pain, or other medical issues intertwined with mental health symptoms.

My approach offers an individualized culturally contextual, and comprehensive diagnostic psychiatric evaluation exploring your medical, psychiatric, social, trauma, family, substance use, and nutritional history. I offer clinical expertise in psychiatric diagnosis, psychopharmacology, nutritional + metabolic psychiatry. We may explore together how nutritional patterns, spirituality, trauma, or medical illness impact you. I am happy to offer compassionate, collaborative, and evidence based treatment for adults who are frustrated with standard medications, persistent side effects, and/or who are curious if recovery is possible for distressing mood, anxiety, or sleep disorders, and who would like to work together to identify a clear diagnosis, and try lifestyle + nutrition + tailored medication therapies. I am delighted to work with culturally, socioeconomically, and ethnically diverse people living with unrelieved psychiatric symptoms who may be wondering how addressing brain metabolism, nutrition, or social/spiritual/cultural connections can improve symptoms like insomnia, daily depressed or unstable mood patterns, low energy, agitation, anger, poor concentration, panic, or intrusive or obsessive thoughts.

Your first session with me online would include a 90min initial psychiatric diagnostic evaluation that would review your past psychiatric, medical, social, developmental, and substance use history in detail (some of this information would be obtained/submitted via messaging ahead of the appointment). I would also explore recent and past distressing psychiatric symptoms that have caused recurrent or serious problems in your relationships, jobs, finances, or other areas in order to clarify a working psychiatric diagnosis. This takes time, but would offer you an initial direction to go with a collaboratively created treatment plan. I follow this initial evaluation up with a detailed, written treatment plan, including all recommendations discussed during our first meeting. I am open and available for clarifying questions, and real time feedback, via email or messaging prior to the next appointment.

Typically, during the second appointment, I would review what is better or going well, what's unchanged or distressing, review treatment goals/plan, obtain additional history and diagnostic information, and begin a Nutritional Psychiatry assessment that explores your current relationship with food, typical eating pattern, formative family or cultural values, dietary challenges and preferences to increase brain resiliency and health. I am not dogmatic nor do I belong to ONE dietary tribe, but look for nutritional throughlines that aim to improve key nutrients, reduce inflammation and nourish brain health.

Each person's "recipe" for stabilizing mental health is unique, but often includes a combination of evidence based psychiatric medication, nutritional interventions, improving quality sleep behaviors or circadian rhythms, including movement, and examining how things like chronic stress, loneliness, spirituality, lack of purpose, social connection, and trauma may impact mental health.