Lisa Underhill, MN, NP

Lisa earned her Masters in nursing at Dalhousie University and her Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner post graduate diploma at the University of Ottawa.

Lisa has been a nurse her entire career in many different roles and settings, such as home care, intensive care, clinical teaching and supervision for nursing students, program development and evaluation as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in diabetes, and program and public health policy for chronic disease prevention and management at the Public Health Agency of Canada. During the last 10 years she has worked in several community health centers as a nurse practitioner (NP) and more recently is practicing in telemedicine. Teaching and doing clinical practice have been the most rewarding for Lisa in her career.

Lisa has always been drawn to a holistic, mind-body view in health and wellness. She is excited to begin her next chapter at the Centre for Health Innovation. It’s been her vision ever since she became an NP to practice using the principles of integrative and functional medicine.

Lisa is curious and loves learning. She has studied therapeutic touch and is certified as a hatha yoga instructor. She has completed the foundational clinical course with the Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM) enhancing her knowledge of lifestyle and nutrition medicine within a holistic health paradigm, and recently completed the bio-identical hormone course with the IFM. She is a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine.  Applying principles to address root cause of illness and disease, Lisa focuses on understanding lifestyle (sleep, nutrition, movement, stress management) and the impact this has on health and quality of life. Lisa incorporates health coaching and active listening to help identify specific goals and supports patients to make realistic behavior changes to improve health and wellness. Lisa wants her clients to leave appointments engaged, clear on next steps and feeling hopeful about their health.

Lisa brings a trauma informed lens to her practice including how to support a healthy and calm nervous system. She successfully completed six courses in the Level 1 Biology of Trauma certification with Trauma Healing Accelerated. She is a volunteer mentor in their 21-day intensive program that teaches somatic therapies to release stored trauma in the body. From this training, Lisa incorporates teaching how the nervous system works, and how it can get stuck in freeze or in an overwhelmed state.

In terms of specific issues, you can see Lisa for any primary care related concerns. She has a special interest in mental health, nutrition, stress management and gut health. Lisa is able to see adults and adolescents.