All blog posts from Dr. Allott are provided for educational and informational purposes only. As Dr. Allott is also a licensed medical practitioner, we must make it clear that nothing on the blog is intended to constitute medical advice, consultation, recommendation, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are concerned about your health, please seek appropriate care in your area.

New Practitioner Joins Dr. Kristen Allott’s Clinical Practice

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Heather Brummer, MS, L.Ac., CN

For those of you who are living in the State of Washington, I am excited to announce that I have hired my good friend and thought partner Heather Brummer to be a practitioner at Dynamic Paths. Some of you may remember that 10 years ago, Heather joined Dynamic Paths for a while before moving on to other opportunities. 

Since we can now see patients virtually, I’ve asked Heather to come back and she is excited to return. Heather brings with her the credentials of licensed acupuncturist and certified nutritionist. Since we “grew up” together, she and I hold many of the same approaches to our medicine. We both:

  • Identify the physical cause of the complaints that patient is seeking relief from

  • Help the patient to take small achievable steps to have more energy and mental clarity

  • Understand that the history of trauma impacts the symptoms of physical and mental health experienced today

Heather also brings skills, experience, interests that are more developed than mine, such as:

  • How to impact women’s hormonal cycles improve physical and mental health

  • How individuals can successfully bridge the gap between weight loss and intuitive eating

  • How to use essential oils externally to influence the nervous system

Here is her bio on our website.

Part of why I am excited to be working with Heather is that for several months I have had a waitlist and Heather will double the capacity of my clinical practice. This means that more people will have access to support for addressing the physical causes of mental health problems (challenges with food, sleep, movement, breathing, physiology, and hormones). As Heather and I will be working together, her patients can be referred to me for laboratory diagnosis.  

If you would like to learn more;

  1. Call me with questions about how Dynamic Paths can help (Kristen: 206-579-2757)

  2. Call Heather to set an appointment at 425-280-6633

  3. Read about our Six Appointment Process below, to understand how we work with you to identify the causes of fatigue, depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns.  

Here’s Dynamic Path’s Six Appointment Process

Generally, people will meet with us for 5 to 6 appointments. Each appointment is crafted to meet your needs. As we identified some of the underlying causes, you and I will create small achievable steps to address your underlying problems and improve your energy and mental clarity. Below is a general outline of the appointment process that I use, which will be modified to address your individual’s needs.

  • First Appointment: We will review your history via your intake form and any old laboratory reports that you have access to. The purpose is to focus on improving your body's power supply by discussing diet, sleep, and movement. My goal is to send you home with an achievable mini-experiment that will increase your energy and mental clarity. 

  •  Second Appointment: We will continue to discuss how your body's power system works. Often, I will educate you about what dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA, and serotonin do for you, how to know if yours are deficient and what food and behaviors support specific neurotransmitters. 

  • Third appointment: I will order blood tests to ensure you have the nutrients (protein, B vitamins, and minerals) in your system to synthesize neurotransmitters. I will also check for physiological processes that mimic mental health conditions and contribute to your lack of energy and mental clarity, such as inflammation, glucose control issues, thyroid dysregulation, pre-diabetes, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. Additionally, I may assess your cortisol throughout the day through silva testing. 

  •  Forth Appointment: We will review that lab tests in detail together. Then, we will work together to determine how best to correct or improve what we discovered. 

  •  Fifth and Sixth Appointments: These appointments tend to be very individualized. Below are some of the topics that are assessed and discussed.  

    • Deep Dive into Self-Care: Some individuals benefit from learning and improving their skills in understanding themselves and their relationship to food, emotions, sleep, exercise and their body. 

    •  Medication use or withdrawal: For some, we discuss if medications can improve mental and physical wellbeing. Other individuals, we discuss and the possibility of withdrawing from medications.

    •  Specialty testing: After 15 years of clinical practice, many labs tests can be run to assess for physical causes of mental health challenges. 

    • Physical exams: The most common physical exams I perform is looking for dysregulation of the visual and balance system. When our visual and balance systems are off, our brain gets misinformation that can contribute or mimic fatigue, depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. 

    • Acupuncture: I offer acupuncture for your mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, cravings, menstrual issues, PTSD symptoms and/or insomnia. Sometimes acupuncture can temporally improve symptoms just so you know what it is like to feel better. 

  • Wrapping up the Assessment Process: We will wrap up the assessment process making sure that you have a better understanding of your brain and body, have new achievable tools to maintain your energy and mental clarity, and, if necessary, have appropriate referrals for your next steps. Some people continue to see me for support and education. Others drop in for a “tune up”. I support the path that is best for you.