Interview with LÉVO provider Aubri Hansen, MSN, FNP-C

We had the pleasure of interviewing one of our incredible providers at LÉVO, Aubri Hansen, MSN, FNP-C. You can read the full interview below. To watch clips from Aubri’s interview, click here.

Why don’t you introduce yourself to us and tell us a little about your background.

I'm Aubri Hansen. I'm a nurse practitioner, a family nurse practitioner. My background, I did urgent care and family practice for a lot of years and then moved into the mental health space and have loved it. I've done that for the last few years and I really enjoy the impact and the difference that it can make in someone's life.

What would you say fuels your passion for helping patients through their mental health journeys and concerns?

Yeah, I think everybody wants to live a full and happy life and I think it's hard for us to sometimes get there. And so I think that's one of the things that I love the most about working in mental health is it gives you an opportunity to be involved in somebody’s process of getting to the goals that they've been trying to get to, and they just haven't quite been able to make it on their own and so I think by engaging in what we do here at LÉVO Mind Care, we have the opportunity to help patients to fulfill those things that they've really wanted to fulfill or to help them to feel their best or be their best. And so it's really amazing to be allowed to be a part of that process. It's really cool.

What populations, if any, specifically do you enjoy working with?

Yeah, I really love the whole spectrum. I've always worked with Pediatrics clear up through, you know, the older population. And I think that to do a little bit of everything kind of opens up the opportunity to see so many different perspectives. And so I don't know that I have one that I really love more than another, but it's really fun just to kind of see the whole broad spectrum of patients and ages.

Why would you say a medication evaluation is something that's important for patients to consider?

Yeah, well, I think when it comes to medication and in treating mental health in particular, there's not like a one size fits all. I think everybody has such a unique situation. And so evaluating for medication, it helps us to have the opportunity to see what specifically we are working on with this client. What does this person want to achieve? What is it that's really bothering them? And then we can tailor our medications specifically to those things so that we're not just saying, you have this diagnosis. Here's the one thing that you can take, but you have this thing that's bothering you and you're feeling a little impulsive or you're feeling a little anxious or, you know, there's so many different symptoms and so many different ways that our brains can respond and react. And so to find specifically what each person needs and being able to tailor their medication and their treatment plan to that is really, really a unique thing that you can do with a medication evaluation.

What would you say are some myths about medication that you'd like to bust?

Yeah. I think there's a lot of myths with medication in general, but specifically with mental health medications. And I think that one myth is that you're broken if you have to take them. You know, I think that there are ways that our brains function and sometimes our brains need a little bit of help to boost up certain neurotransmitters, certain ways that our brain can communicate and how we can communicate. And I think that we all could benefit in some ways from helping our brain to work at its best capacity.

Another myth that I think is that like, well, if I go on this now, I'm going to be stuck on this forever. And that's something that I just, every person is so individual and every person has such a different path and a different treatment plan. And so just because you need a medication for a period of time doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be stuck on this forever.

The other thing I think with medication is that there's a lot of misconceptions that if I take something, I'm going to be addicted. I'm going to be stuck on it forever. But that's not true. Sure, there's side effects that we talk about and that we have to work through. But they're not medications primarily. I mean, there are some that we, of course, have to look at carefully, but they're not things that are going to be addictive, they're things that are helping you and helping so that your brain is functioning. And in the way that you want it to so that you can have a happy, joyful life.

What other tools do you recommend other than medication if someone comes to see you at LÉVO?

Yeah, I actually, I think that's one of the things I love about what LÉVO is trying to do here is that it's not just like, come in, get your medication and we send you out the door. I think that there are so many tools available now to be able to reach whatever goals people have and whatever things that they want to get to. And so I think some of the tools that we have, obviously, like when we're talking about medication and we're talking about the different pieces of a mental health picture, we talk about the different components, right? Medication is that biological piece. But there's so many other pieces that we can work on. And medication really helps, you know, kind of from the brain stem up and there's therapy. I think that therapy is such a phenomenal way to help pull that piece into the treatment plan. And that helps work from the top of the brain down. And so you're kind of covering the whole brain and being able to treat that full picture. But even today, when I was treating one of my clients earlier, we talked about Breathwork. You know, we worked through some relaxation techniques that they could do to help them when they were building up in their anxiety to help bring that down. That helped change how the stress is affecting them and how you know, how things are kind of triggering in their brain. I think there are so many phenomenal supplements now that we have that have shown really great benefits in mental health that you can add on to your treatment plan, because I know medication isn't for everybody, but there are a lot of really great strategies through exercise and dietary techniques, things that we're just not taught in our day to day life, but that we can pull in and use to benefit the treatment plan. And so we're kind of looking at the whole picture and not just like, here's a medication alone and, you know, maybe this is all it is. So there's a lot of different things that we can do.

For someone who doesn't know what to expect, can you walk them through a first appointment with you?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, first appointment is just kind of coming in, getting to know who they are, getting to know who we are, and forming a relationship, a therapeutic relationship where we can work together to come up with a treatment plan. So really, when they first come in, we just kind of get to know why they're here, what's going on, what made them decide that they needed to come in and talk with me and then we talk through what's been bothering them. You know, what symptoms are they experiencing, what kind of difficulties are they having? I mean, we go through a whole lot of questions so that we can really make sure that we're targeting what we need, what we need to tackle, what we need to treat, and what the best plan of action is for this patient. So it really is just getting to know them and getting to understand their story, getting to understand what symptoms they're experiencing and what their goals are, what they want to accomplish from this, and then working together to come up with a treatment plan. I'm never going to tell somebody that this is what the plan is. But we talk through, okay, here are some options. These are the medications that sound like they might work best for you. Here are some other strategies that might work well for you. And then we come up with a plan and then we follow up on that plan as we're moving forward.

Is there a specific way you like to connect with your patients?

Yeah, really, I think that the best connection for me and for my patients is just by learning who they are, getting to understand what makes them tick, what they want to accomplish, and then just kind of creating that relationship as a provider with them to help them to feel confident and comfortable in what we're doing here so that they feel that they can share what their struggles are and what they're hoping to get out of this. But I really feel just being open and helping them to know that I'm here to help them, that my goal is not to do what I want. My goal is to do what they want and to help them to feel confident in the decisions that we're making together. And so I think that that's really just by connecting with them, you know, in our conversations and in our visits here, helping them to feel confident in what we're doing.

What do you do to maintain your own mental health?

I think mental health, I think all of us have our ups and downs with mental health. And honestly, I think that the things that I love to do the most are the most underrated because they're hard are exercise, diet, and sleep. I am like a big believer in sleep so I am in bed every night when I can, you know, at a decent hour because I think that that is such a big component of mental health is making sure we're rested and that we have the right nutrients and the right things that we need in our bodies and that we're moving our bodies. Moving our bodies is so important for our mental health. And I think that we really undervalue the impact that it can have. But the research is phenomenal on what those kinds of basic daily things can do. But I think those are some of the big things that I really have tried to focus on and then getting help when I need it. So I'm a big believer in therapy and getting evaluated and having someone that you can discuss things with when you need it. And so I think there's a lot of great benefits to all of those things.

Can you explain your role in a patient's care team? What makes you different from a primary care provider or their therapist? 

Yeah. So I did family practice. Family practice was my background. And you are seeing so much. You have, you know, someone comes in with a broken arm, someone comes in that has a cold, and then someone comes in that has a mental health concern. And so your spectrum is very broad and it's really wonderful that to be able to have those clients, those patients come in and see someone that all they do is mental health all day. They can really focus in on the ins and outs of that specific area. You know, it's like going to see your dermatologist or going to see your OBGYN. You know, those are things that that is what they specialize in. And so I think going and seeing someone that specializes in mental health just brings an added really great benefit to your care because we can work together with your family practice and say, hey, this is what's going on. I'm on that medical side and this is what's going on with the mental health piece and work together to find what's going on. But I really think that having someone that specializes specifically in this area is really beneficial because they just have more time to dial in on the very specific symptoms and the time to work through it. You know, if we have to go through more than one trial of a medication or we have to try different avenues and the resources, I think that when you when you see someone who specializes in something, they know all of the resources that are available for that specific area because that's all they're doing all day instead of having to do something that's a little bit more broad. So I think that the medication management goes hand in hand with the therapy piece, so it's really great to be able to do both. All the research shows that doing therapy along with medication is going to give you the best results for management of mental health. I think that it's really great for the therapist and the medication provider to work together, because I think that the therapist can give a great evaluation of like, look, this is what I'm seeing. I spend hours with this patient. This is what I think is going on. And they can let us know and we can say, great, so this is what I'm seeing here in practice. Now I can give the medications that are appropriate to help treat that. And in most mental health conditions, they need both sides. Some are better treated with medication and some are better treated with the therapeutic piece. But to combine the both of those together is really where you're going to see the best results. And I think that having a place where they can go and and talk through things and communicate that component and learn the strategies that stop that automatic negative thought process that's going on is so critical to the medication piece being successful. And I think that having the biological component, you know, that piece we're working with those neurotransmitters in our brain, we're working with the pieces that, you know, our bodies need to help be strong.  I think bringing that component in on the medication side, they really go hand in hand together, but they are separate. You know, I don't have all of the skills that a therapist has, and the therapist doesn't know all the medications that might benefit the specific symptoms that their client is having. And so I think if we can communicate together, we can get the best treatment all around.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a provider?

I think one of my strengths as a provider is just helping people to feel comfortable and that like they know I'm on their team, I'm here to support them. I'm here to help them to do what they want to do, to accomplish what they want to accomplish. But I think just kind of having that friendly demeanor and being able to help connect with them, I think is probably one of the strengths I have. So that they feel like we can do this together, we're going to do this and I'm going to figure out how I can improve my life and accomplish the goals that I want to. 

Is there anything else you want to share?

I think there's so much stigma surrounding mental health. And if I talk about something, maybe it means something's wrong with me and there's not. I think I want everybody, all my clients to know like we're all a little screwed up, you know, we all have things we're dealing with so I think finding the right avenues to help you to be successful, that's really what this is about. That's what we're about here at LÉVO is helping people to accomplish what they want to accomplish and reach their goals and to have a happy and fulfilled life. And so I think just helping people to understand that, like you'd be surprised who walks through these doors. Everybody has something. And there's no right or wrong way to do it, but just start exploring, you know, figure out, start with Googling, figure out what works for them, and then come talk to us. We're not going to make you do anything. We're never going to force you to take a medication or do a certain exercise. But we have a lot of really great ideas here to help people to feel their best and to get to where they need to. But I think just starting the discussion. So I think it's really important that we just start the discussion and help people to understand that. Like that's what we're here for, is to help them to start that discussion and we'll help direct. If they're like, I don't know, I don't know where to go. Well, we'll help them with that.