Provider Spotlight: Shannon Darling, PMHNP
Shannon Darling, PMHNP
Shannon and I came up with the ICC together through our shared vision of building community amongst providers, as well as a shared passion for collaborative care. She is the Clinical Director of the ICC, as well as Owner and Clinician in her practice, Wild Heart Integrative Health Services. Between spending time with me, parenting our 10 month old daughter, and her other two children, she tends to have her hands full! She also recently published an article on Ketamine Assisted Therapy, which you can read here. With that, I’ll take it away to the interview portion!
Cole: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Shannon: I am a rare Colorado native. I grew up here in Fort Collins and currently live here with my partner, Cole, a 12 year old son, 10 year old daughter, and 9 month old daughter. I enjoy yoga, weightlifting, and anything that gets me out into the sunshine! I've had a lot of different hobbies and traveled around a bit, but right now I spend most of my time building my practice and running kids around to different sports and activities.
Cole: Tell us a little bit about how you practice. What are your specialities, if any? What clients do you love to work with?
Shannon: My practice is called Wild Heart Integrative Health Services. I specialize in integrative psychiatry and psychedelic medicine and therapy. I love working with women throughout the lifespan, but enjoy working with anyone that is looking for a more individualized and holistic approach to their healing.
Cole: Why did you decide to get into the work that you do now?
Shannon: I worked in the hospital setting for almost 15 years as a registered nurse, around 10 years in labor, delivery, postpartum, and NICU. In my time working in that setting I started noticing that our patients were getting sicker (even a population of younger women and babies) and that there was a strong correlation between mental and physical wellbeing that was not being addressed within our health care system. And, I was burnt out. I was tired of being under staffed and under equipped to take care of people safely. (and this was before the pandemic!) I felt that our current health care system was failing to take care of patients and failing to take care of the people that were in charge of taking care of those patients. While my plan had been to get my advanced practice degree to continue taking care of women and infants as a midwife, I decided to switch my focus to mental health. I felt this was a way to get myself out of the hospital first, and then begin to bridge the gap in our system from a siloed illness-care model to an integrative wellness care model.
Cole: What are some of the biggest challenges facing mental health providers today, in your opinion?
Shannon: Burnout and providing access to services. We want to be able to reach the most amount of people that need our services, but find it challenging to strike a balance between being adequately compensated for our work and providing services that people can access. Putting limits on our own energy at work and having enough for ourselves and our families can also be a major challenge.
Cole: Where do you see the future of mental health care going?
Shannon: I imagine a model of care that focuses on wellness and bringing providers and clients from multiple different backgrounds together in communities or centers of care.
Cole: What’s one thing you recommend that all your clients do to see lasting impact in their lives?
Shannon: Find community and connection and the sunshine!
You can learn more about Shannon, contact her, and book appointments on her Website.
