Kerstin Helgason, PMHNP
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified ​​
I am a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Psychotherapist. Psychiatric nurse practitioners are similar to psychiatrists and can prescribe psychiatric medications, diagnose mental health problems, and provide psychotherapy.  I provide mental health care that is individual to each person's healing process and body, with a sensitivity to how a person experiences mental health medicine and their possible side effects.  I enjoy working with people who are sensitive to mental health medications and finding medicines that work for them.  I can see adults and adolescents anywhere in California or Arizona over telehealth and especially enjoy working with adults and with ketamine, a new treatment for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. 

​Join me in the work of healing as we open our hearts to ourselves and to the world around us. 

Services

  • Prescribe psychiatric medications for adults and older adolescents.  For ADHD treatment with stimulants, neuropsychological testing is needed. 
  • Provide Ketamine or Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.
  • Provide psychiatric evaluation, including diagnosis of mental health conditions and recommendations for treatment options for adults and older adolescents. 
    • ​​Common problems include: depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar, and complex PTSD.
  • ​Psychotherapy for adults.​​
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Waterlilies from my garden

About Kerstin

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Dahlias and Lavender
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Caramel, the Gorgeous Husky Monster
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Lovely Willow
Healing comes from almost anywhere, including our own hearts and the many people, animals or pets, places, and experiences we hold most dear. Healing treatment helps ground us in the beautiful souls we already are and release our burdensome, old wounds.  Healing is nurturing, compassion, openness, authenticity, empowerment, and love.  

Mental health medications, psychotherapy, and ketamine or ketamine assisted psychotherapy can all move us towards healing.  I can prescribe mental health medications, including in office ketamine. I have experience with a variety of therapies: Shame, Mindfulness, and Compassion therapies, somatic, poly-vagal, and parts based therapies, as well as Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and enjoy working with people with complex PTSD and childhood abuse or neglect based trauma. 

I have a Master of Nursing degree as a PMHNP from Oregon Health and Science University and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology degree as a psychotherapist from Pacific University. In addition, I completed the Master Psychopharmacology Certificate, through NEI (Neuroscience Education Institute) and Integrative Psychiatry Institute's Ketamine Prescriber Certification for using ketamine for treating mental health conditions. I also do ongoing Continuing Education to continue to grow in my field. 

​I also supervise Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Students in their clinical experiences so that we have a future of bright Nurse Practitioners available to help alleviate suffering.  My collaborating physician is Kenneth Wulff, MD, a lovely child and adolescent psychiatrist.  I'm bit quirky and a childhood abuse survivor myself. In middle age, I am finally finding my own voice, an ability to say no, a sense of my own being and presence, and a hug (compassion) that holds and soothes the past trauma.  A long time ago I was a violinist and music teacher and am still a quilter, sewist, and gardener and trying my best to heal my old wounds, too.  Join me in healing. We all deserve it. 

Books I Love

  • How To Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan, Humans, psychedelics, and the potential for healing. 
  • Waking the Tiger, Peter Levine.  Trauma and it's effect on the body and mind and using the felt sense for healing. 
  • I Don't Want to Talk About it, Terrence Real, Great book on understanding depression in men. 
  • The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, Kristen Neff, PhD and Christopher Germer, PhD. A must read for trauma survivors. Beginner's guide to mindfulness, shame, grounding, and trauma concepts. 
  • Radical Acceptance, Embracing Your Life with the Heart of the Buddha, Tara Brach, PhD. Introduction to the concepts of Radical Acceptance and Mindfulness.
  • The Courage to Heal,  A Guide for Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Ellen Bass and Laura Davis. Explains impact of childhood sexual abuse, including social dynamics that allow for abuse to happen, as well as specific activities for healing.
  • The Body Keeps the Score, Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD. Explains impact and process of trauma on the body and mind.
  • Braving the Wilderness, The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, Brene Brown, PhD​. Shame and how it affects just about everything.
  • Dare to Lead, Brene Brown, expands on Braving the Wilderness with more detailed explanations and examples. 
  • Victims No Longer, The Classic Guide for Men Recovering from Sexual Child Abuse,  Mike Lew. Introduction to healing for men who experienced childhood sexual abuse. 
  • The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation,  Deb Dana. Explains how the body and mind respond to trauma and how to re-pattern the nervous system away from trauma responses. 
  • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Interventions for Trauma and Attachment, Pat Ogden and Janina Fisher. Connecting the body and mind with attachment and healing concepts. Especially helpful with dissociation. 
  • Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey. Stories of learning to be in the moment with one's own heart felt truth.
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Gilroy Office

8339 CHURCH STREET,  SUITE 114,  GILROY, CA 95020
Phone 408-767-2337   Fax 415-376-4572
[email protected]
​Gilroymentalhealth.com