About Kristyn
Welcome
Well hello there! I’m Kristyn.
I am a Registered Nurse and Student Health Coach. I graduated with my BScN from the UofA in 2010 and spent the first five years of my career in the acute care and emergency departments of a small rural hospital in Alberta.
After having my third child, I decided that returning to the hospital and shiftwork was not ideal so I took a job at the Lakeland Primary Care Network as a diabetic foot care nurse. I felt like this was a step in the right direction towards a career of health promotion.
I did love my job there, and especially my clients, but I was only helping to manage the complications of their chronic diseases, not to prevent the diseases in the first place. When Covid shut down the clinic, and my kids were homeschooling, I chose to stay home with them.
Even when they returned to school and the clinic reopened, I didn’t feel like returning to the Primary Care Network was the right fit for me. I decided to remain non-practicing for another year and unexpectedly began my own health and wellness journey, completely overhauling my physical, mental and emotional health, which is what ultimately inspired me to pursue a career in holistic health!
Even in nursing school, my favourite projects and passions were always health promotion and injury/disease prevention related. Working in acute care and emerge, I felt very discouraged by the revolving door of repeat patients and the lack of health promotion. I often experienced extreme guilt when I didn’t have the time to talk with patients and get to know them on a deeper level.
While working in foot care at the Primary Care Network, I did get to know my patients better, and often found that there were many factors in their lives that were affecting their health that their doctors and healthcare providers were just not addressing or even aware of. I knew that just listening to them was making a difference, but always wished I had the time and skills to dive deeper with them into some of these areas of their lives.
A little about me…
Being at home during Covid allowed me a lot of free time to purge and declutter my house and my life. In January 2021, a friend of mine and owner of a fitness company started a virtual wellness challenge. My main motivation for joining was just to support my friend and her business, and of course I had plenty of free time, so no excuse not to.
The challenge was for 6 weeks and consisted of drinking more water, no alcohol and exercising three times per week. It sounded simple enough but it literally changed my life. In those six weeks, I lost almost 20 pounds and my body started to feel less foreign to me. It was at this point that I realized how unhealthy I had actually been and that I’d been living in survival mode.
I had placed all my focus, energy and attention on my children, and completely neglected my own self-care. My perfectionist tendencies had always prevented me from sticking to any sort of nutrition or exercise program because I had such a strong ‘all or nothing’ mindset. But the small changes in the wellness challenge felt manageable and sustainable.
This ignited my passion for health and fitness and I dove into different nutrition and exercise challenges, experimenting with what worked for me. For two years, I worked on making small shifts in my life to improve my physical, mental and emotional health. I’ve swapped out many ingredients and products in our home for more natural options and try to make as many things from scratch as possible.
In total, I’ve lost 75 pounds, gained so much joy and zest for life again and I realized that I was no longer working towards some end goal, a number on the scale or a clothing size. Rather, I had focused my attention inwards, on how I wanted to feel and show up each day for others and myself.
I’d fallen in love with the journey itself and the way I felt with each positive choice towards continued health, happiness and growth. I knew that if I was going to return to nursing, I needed to find a career that aligned with my new healthy lifestyle.
On a personal note…
I grew up on a cattle/grain farm near Elk Point, Alberta with my parents and younger sister. My mom always had a huge garden and almost everything we ate was from our own beef, fresh from the garden and home baked.
We grew up with dogs, cats, kittens, chickens, horses and cows. My mom’s parents lived only a mile away, and my dad’s parents lived right in Elk Point, so we were fortunate to spend plenty of time with our grandparents. I was always a very active child, spending time outdoors and playing sports.
I now live on an acreage near St. Paul Alberta, with my husband of 14 years, three children (ages 13, 10 and 8), dog (Nova) and cat (Luna). We subdivided 5 acres from my husband’s parents and built our dream home in 2013. Living next-door to my in-laws has been an absolute blessing. My own parents still live near Elk Point so we see them often as well. I don’t think my children realize just how lucky they are.
I love being surrounded by family and friends and absolutely love any excuse to plan, host and celebrate events of all kinds! Although I’m not a huge lover of cooking, I have learned to enjoy the process and payoff of planning and prepping healthy meals and snacks for my family.
I have an enthusiasm for working out, especially weight lifting, and commit to moving my body in some way every single day! I also love camping, hiking, kayaking, quadding, travelling, reading, fashion and shopping, interior decorating, music (90s are my jam) and dancing!
I’m definitely a nurturer, and am always taking care of others. Learning to prioritize and nurture my own health and wellness has been a huge learning curve for me, but the ripple effects on my family and friends have been so powerful and so rewarding!
Kristyn
Fun
facts
about me
Fun
facts
about me
- I grew up on a cattle/grain farm surrounded by animals, jumping bales and driving quads.
- My Dad was our school bus driver and we were the first ones on in the morning and last ones off in the afternoon. The only radio station we got on the bus was 790 CFCW so I know the words to EVERY country song!
- My Mom was a full time Registered Nurse, helping out on the farm, growing a huge garden, canning, freezing, baking and running us girls around and I have no idea how she managed to do it all!
- I married my high school sweetheart in 2009 in the Dominican and we are still happily married and have 3 beautiful kiddos (2 girls and a boy in the middle)!
- I grew up playing hockey from age 11-18 and I miss playing so much.
- We subdivided 5 acres of land from my in-laws and built our dream home in 2013. It’s been a labour of love as we’ve done many projects around the house and all the landscaping ourselves!
- I ran four 10K marathons in the course of 1 year with no training. I don’t particularly like running but loved the challenge and the feeling of pride!
- I love fashion, interior and exterior design and consider shopping to be cardio.
- My girls took up dance a few years ago so now I’m a dance mom doing all the hair, makeup and disgustingly early mornings. But I secretly love it!
- I drive my family crazy with how many pictures I take and photo shoots I plan but I absolutely love capturing all the memories and moments!
I knew I wanted to return to nursing but in a way that allowed me to help women just like myself, attain their best possible health and wellness and to prevent developing chronic diseases in the future.
While scrolling Facebook one night, a job posting for The Holistic RN & Co. popped up on my news feed. I read through the job description, heart racing with excitement, and everything just clicked. I knew instantly that this is what I’d been searching for. This is what I’m meant to do!
I have always loved helping and caring for others and I’m now looking forward to being able to do that with a proactive and individualized approach. Considering your health in a holistic way seems so simple and obvious, and yet, our conventional healthcare system is not doing this.
We need to go beyond treating only the symptoms, relying on pharmaceuticals and using band-aid solutions. We need to dig deeper and discover the root cause of our problems and concerns, and sometimes, we need someone to guide and support us along that journey of self-discovery.
We don’t have to do this alone and we can learn so much from each other. I am so passionate about empowering other women to heal, thrive, and improve their quality of life in the most natural and sustainable way possible!
I look forward to working with you in your journey, and helping you find your ‘zest’ for life again.
Let’s connect!
Find me here