Leann Yamanaka (she/her)

I like to start with a brief phone consult to discuss your situation and treatment goals, and to ensure we are a good fit. Next we will schedule a comprehensive and holistic assessment to explore your personal and family history, current lifestyle and habits, symptoms and individual strengths. This helps create a road map to guide recommendations and interventions. My role is to identify treatment options that are as safe as possible and which align with your goals. Although the role of the nurse practitioner is generally to prescribe medications, I always consider other interventions such as lifestyle modifications, improved nutrition, or use of supplements. No medication is risk-free, and it is impossible to guarantee that interventions or medications will be successful and without side effects. I strive to explain and educate in a clear and accessible way so that people can make informed choices about what interventions to include in their plan of care.

I believe that no single model can account for the origin of mental health issues - genetics, trauma, abnormalities in neurotransmitters, a lack of interpersonal connection and imbalance in the gut microbiome are all some potential underlying causes. Diagnoses such as "depression" or "anxiety" are intellectual constructs that group physical and emotional experiences into categories so we can talk about them more easily. Each person's experience is unique, each person’s biology is unique, and there are no "plug and play" treatment plans that can be matched to a diagnosis. I create treatment plans that are specific to each person, never a cookie cutter approach. I have a small dog that occasionally joins me in the office. He is working on his therapy animal certification and enjoys dog agility training.