We are thrilled to announce that we have a new psychiatrist joining our team, Dr. Ruta Nene!

Dr. Nene is a board certified psychiatrist who has been in practice for 15 years. She completed her residency at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and she is excited to be joining us as a holistic psychiatrist and Free Range fellow.

From Dr. Nene:

I’ve had the privilege of working with patients from a vast array of settings, from community mental health clinics to jails and prisons to private practice.

Growing up, I felt “different” from everyone around me. I thought that was primarily because I am the daughter of immigrants, a woman of color with an unusual name. I struggled to figure out my identity. But even as I grew older and felt more comfortable in my own skin, I continued to feel different from even those I felt close to. I came to understand that I have many characteristics of a highly sensitive person (HSP) and while that has proven to be treacherous at times, especially in childhood, it has also been a way for me to deeply connect with my patients. In my 20s, I was a passenger in a bad car accident and afterwards I started experiencing panic attacks when driving on the highway. I have also dealt with personal loss; I lost my mother in 2004 to breast cancer and that was a dark time in my life. Experiencing that loss did lead me to discover the world of nutrition and its relationship to illness and disease and helped me incorporate a plant based food philosophy as it relates to overall health.

From a young age, I’ve always been interested in complementary and alternative medicine. Ayurveda was lightly woven into my childhood with remedies made by my mother and grandmother when I was ill. Going through the experiences mentioned above, to name a few, has allowed me to shift my perspective on mental, spiritual, and physical health. Over the past decade I’ve incorporated more and more holistic modalities into my own life and I’ve seen the profound impacts of these additions to my wellbeing. In that vein, I’m excited to be able to incorporate a more integrative approach in caring for people with mental health concerns.

I believe that we as humans possess innumerable intrinsic gifts which can assist us in the healing process. In modern times we have been directed further and further away from those gifts as we veer away from nature and connection to ourselves and others. We have been directed to rely solely on pharmaceuticals and other external sources of treatment. I believe there is value in tapping into our innate healing powers as well as looking towards ancient wisdoms from Eastern Medicine, both in conjunction with evidence based western concepts.

Please join me in giving Dr. Nene a big, Free Range welcome! Dr. Nene will be seeing patients in Virginia, Maryland and other states on a case by case basis. You can book a free 15-minute phone consult with her here.