Trigger warning: sexual assault, trauma, mental health, and suicide
Born in Vail, CO, Katrina spent her first five years living on the side of a mountain. Raised by her mom and grandma, she comes from a family of strong women.
From 2013 to 2017, Katrina experienced a perfect storm of events that nearly ended her life. After college, she saved as much money as she could to fund six months of travel. She began in Ubud, Bali, where she had an intimate experience with a healer there. Bali captured her heart, just as it did mine. She did an internship to learn Reiki, which opened up a new door. A great follower of intuition, she said, “I think India’s next.”
It was incredibly challenging to travel alone in India. After the open atmosphere in Bali, Katrina had to learn how to put up boundaries traveling as a single woman.
She was drawn to a town called Tiruvannamalai, a pilgrimage site for Shiva worshippers. Katrina thought it would be a ripe place to begin exploring what it means to be a person on earth. She did a lot of meditation and had deep soul conversations. But first she was sexually assaulted.
India is rife with sexual assault problems. The police, doctors, and judges are insensitive towards victims, and 80 percent of victims never tell anyone about it. Terrified, she called a friend who jumped into action, connecting Katrina with an underground network of women who support sexual assault survivors. Even though what happened was horrific, Katrina found an amazing circle of new friends in this group. She stayed in India for another few months to work through her trauma.
When she returned to the US, she found the experience had changed her and disrupted who she was. She found it difficult to reintegrate into life with PTSD. Then in 2015, she survived a stroke. The stroke caused random panic attacks, depression, and personality changes.
A year later, she was diagnosed with a serious case of PCOS and doctors recommended a hysterectomy. She also was in an emotionally abusive relationship. It wasn’t until she figured out she’d rather be homeless than in that relationship that she finally found the courage to walk out the door.
Still experiencing migraines, depression, and PTSD, Katrina felt too ashamed to talk to her friends about her anxiety. Soon she began contemplating suicide so she checked into the hospital. They put her into a room with only a bed in complete darkness, and no one came to check on her for 12 hours. It was horrible and retraumatizing. After they finally came in to inform her they had found a bed, she called her mom, who flew from Colorado to help. On anti-anxiety meds, Katrina felt like a zombie. She knew the drugs weren’t helping, so her mom had to fight to get her out. Once you sign yourself in, it’s hard to get out, and that too was traumatic.
Katrina’s hospitalization lit a spark inside her. For the first time since she began experiencing depression and anxiety, she felt angry. After taking a ride through the mental health care system, she discovered how traumatizing it can be for people who are struggling.
Then Katrina started to reclaim herself. A few days after she left the hospital, she went into nature. She hiked into the woods, found an old growth cedar tree, and sat with the tree for five to six hours. Something shifted in her. Katrina found herself making frequent trips to the woods. She discovered that nature was a far better therapist (at least in her case).
Now Katrina is a certified nature and forest therapy guide, soulful mentor, and intuitive healer. Her business, The Nature in You, helps people navigate anxiety, depression, and stress. She still suffers from depression and anxiety, but they no longer control her life. Now she uses them as fuel to help others in a unique way that is effective and restorative.