The Back Story:
I developed my unique approach to health care because I had serious health problems in my 20s, in the 1990s. I grew up learning about herbs walking in the forest with her grandmother on the family farm in western New York. That grew into an interest herbal medicine, which I used to keep myself healthy in the wilds of NYC with teas and tinctures and healing foods.

In my early twenties, the sudden onset of a seizure disorder was past the limits of the herbal and nutritional medicine that I had relied upon. Western medicine offered solutions of more and more pharmaceuticals that simply added more complications and “side effects” that greatly diminished my quality of life.

There were a few wake-up call moments in subsequent years that were very difficult health complications which finally pushed me to look for answers elsewhere. A nutritionist I met at yoga class helped me break free of the meds, but the underlying issues were still tangible and barely managed. Yoga and meditation helped, but there was more work to be done.

I was offered a commission to paint a mural of a Hindu deity (the Vishwaroopa) on a temple ceiling in South India (a book is forthcoming). I arrived there in August of 1999 and In between long hot hours of painting, I studied Ayurveda and Siddha medicine and received those wonderful treatments, which helped but didn’t pull out the root of the problem. Fellow travelers from Australia came along and suggested that I try Chinese medicine, touting its marvelous treatment potential. Noted.

Upon my return to the States, I tried acupuncture. The results were compelling enough that I moved to San Francisco and went to the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine to study it, not only for my own sake but as an occupation that would help others in a similar predicament. I met Dr. YuanjinTao in the college clinic one evening when I went in experiencing strong prodromal onset symptoms. His 9-needle treatment stopped it. This was a revelatory experience because for years it felt as though I would never be free of this condition. It was like walking around waiting for another full-body shoe to drop constantly. After three years of acupuncture treatments once or twice per week, and many gallons of stinky herbal teas (!), I was indeed free of all symptoms. I continued indulging my wanderlust throughout Asia. When I was symptom free for five years, I went to Bali and got her open water scuba diving certification. I continue to dive around the world and practice East-West Functional Medicine in my Palm Beach Gardens, Florida clinic.

The Healing Modalities I Offer
At the Hackett Holistic Health, these comprehensive modalities include:
- Acupuncture (Chinese and Japanese styles)
- Kinetic Chain Acupuncture (a proprietary sports medicine system of acupuncture)
- Dry Needling (a specialized type of Chinese needling I learned directly in China)
- Herbal and Orthomolecular (Nutritional Supplements) Medicine
- Functional Analysis of Lab Work
- Nutrition Counseling
- Custom Compounded Peptide and Hormone Support Formulations
- Trigger Point Injections (Traumeel, Spascupreel, Discus Comp homeopathic, peptides)