Meet Kelly
Meet Kelly. Kelly LaPoint is the newest member of our LIV Health medical team. She is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and will be serving all areas. She recently graduated from Frontier Nursing University with her Master of Science in Nursing with a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) specialization. Kelly is ANCC board-certified and is trained to provide holistic psychiatric care for individuals across the life span.
Q: What’s your favorite family recipe? Will you share it?
K: I make new things so often, I’m not sure that we have a favorite! I LOVE to cook!! I do think my family looks forward to Gingerbread Trifle every year at Christmas. The page in my cookbook is sticky and textured with splatters of batter.
Q: Why do you feel there is such a stigma around mental health? How can we change it?
K: I think the stigma results from a lack of understanding and, perhaps, even a little fear. More times than not, entertainment and media portray mental health in a negative way. Mental health gets blamed for too many tragedies. I think we can change that by educating the public in our personal lives as well as when we work. I find that just telling the stories of each client’s strengths creates a powerful pause and an appreciation for mental health as valid, treatable, and manageable – just as any other chronic condition.
Q: What is your medical specialty? And why did you choose it?
K: I am a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. After 25 years of nursing, I wondered if I was still making a difference, and, frankly, I was burned out. I wanted to practice in a specialty that was underserved and in need of radical commitment and compassion. I went into this with the desire to create change, but I had no idea how much this specialty would change me, and I learn something about my fellow humans and myself every day.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?
K: I love to adventure! Sometimes, that means in my own backyard in my beautiful state of Colorado, and sometimes that means in another country. What I love most about adventure is learning and the empowerment of spending some time out of my comfort zone.
Q: What is LIV to you?
K: LIV is hope and promise. LIV is making a difference in big and small ways. LIV is an AMAZING and innovative way to practice that changes lives! In my quest to find the right position in my new role as a nurse practitioner, I found many companies that were taking advantage of the mental health care dilemma. When I happened upon LIV, I knew it had a different philosophy. At LIV, the patient is the center of it all. The care of the patient is the measure of success.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do for self-care?
K: I’m going to have to go right back to adventure as I mentioned above. To me, growing and participating in newness IS self-care. On the days I’m not feeling quite as profound, I love to trail run, hike, camp, and just be outside.