An NP's Refreshing Insights on a FxMed Inspired Career | E39

Most practitioners assume the only honest path into functional medicine is to leave conventional medicine behind, and Katie Creedon has spent nearly two decades proving that assumption wrong.   Katie is an adult nurse practitioner with deep roots in geriatric care, a program director for a VA nurse practitioner residency, and the founder of New England Functional Wellness. On this episode of Functional Medicine for Real World Impact, host Tracy Harrison sits down with Katie to talk about what functional medicine for nurse practitioners looks like when it is built gradually, intentionally, and without abandoning the clinical foundation that makes the work credible.   Katie’s path has not been a straight line. She kept her footing in conventional medicine while building something new on the side, and that deliberate pace turned out to be exactly right for her life, her family, and her sense of professional credibility. She talks about what finally pushed her to act, why the mosaic career model works better for most practitioners than the all-or-nothing narrative suggests, and what she has learned about keeping care simple when the functional medicine toolbox makes complexity feel like progress.   Brain health in midlife sits at the center of Katie’s clinical focus. After years of watching dementia affect patients and families in nursing home settings, she became convinced that dementia prevention deserved far more attention than conventional care was giving it. Her perspective on healthy aging functional medicine is grounded in real clinical experience, and she is candid about the challenges of bringing that message to patients who are not yet thinking about their brains and to colleagues who remain skeptical of the field.   If you are navigating an integrative medicine career transition and wondering whether you have to choose between stability and alignment, Katie’s experience offers a more honest picture of what the path can look like.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Introduction to Functional Medicine for Nurse Practitioners 01:48 Katie Creedon's Background in Geriatric Care 05:53 How a Grandmother Shaped a Career in Aging 10:07 When Conventional Medicine Stops Being Enough 14:10 Finding Functional Medicine and Reigniting Clinical Purpose 18:16 Integrating Functional Medicine Into a Conventional Role 23:16 Building a Practice Gradually Without Burning It All Down 27:11 Why Both Conventional and Functional Medicine Matter 32:32 Mentoring New Nurse Practitioners With a Root Cause Lens 37:00 The Best and Worst of Functional Medicine in Practice 44:19 What Starting a Business Teaches You About Yourself 49:45 Dementia Prevention and Brain Health in Midlife 56:16 Letting Your Why Drive Your Courage 57:41 Advice for Practitioners Ready to Realign Their Careers Connect with Katie Creedon: Visit the New England Functional Wellness website Follow New England Functional Wellness on Instagram Connect with Katie on LinkedIn New England Functional Wellness Linktree Email Katie at [email protected]   SAFM Links: Take SAFM’s 10 CME course - The Essential Gut Deep Dive Get weekly Clinical Tips in your inbox  Learn more about SAFM’s practitioner training Subscribe to our YouTube channel Access quick clinical tips on Facebook  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm