Kristy L. Eagles, CNP is a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She received her Master of Science in nursing from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Master of Science in counseling psychology from Northeastern University, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has worked in the mental health field in some capacity since 2006, including outpatient community mental health, crisis intervention, inpatient detox, inpatient psychiatry, and psychiatric consultation. She offers psychiatric diagnostic evaluations, medication management, and psychotherapy through telemedicine to people located in MA. She primarily sees adults.
Kristy believes in a holistic and ecological approach to wellness promotion, maintenance, and restoration. It is not just the individual person and the isolated symptoms that are of concern, but the complex interplay of mind, body, and spirit combined with the socioeconomic forces shaping one’s environment. All these factors need to be taken into consideration when assessing and providing care to people in order to ensure best outcomes.
Kristy utilizes an integrative approach in her practice, including the use of conventional psychiatric treatments in addition to a variety of holistic therapies depending on a person’s individualized needs and preferences. She believes strongly in determining the root cause of symptomatology and collaborates regularly with a holistic psychiatrist in order to attend to biochemical imbalances (e.g., zinc, copper, vitamin B-6, methyl/folate), nutritional concerns (e.g., imbalanced gut microflora/leaky gut), and mold toxicity. Such imbalances are known to cause a myriad of psychiatric symptoms that are often treated in conventional ways without targeting the source of the condition. Holistic treatment requires motivation and commitment but can lead to lasting recovery and healing.
Kristy provides psychotherapy through the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and meditation. Sometimes our brain can get stuck in overstimulation leading to a plethora of psychiatric manifestations via the sympathetic nervous system, the immune system, and the hormones associated with the stress response. The aforementioned therapies help to thicken and strengthen the pre-frontal cortex (the part of our brain responsible for rational thought) and reduce the activity of our limbic system (the part of our brain responsible for fight or flight response); thereby retraining our brain and breaking symptom patterns.