Erin-Marie Kernan

Nurse Practitioner

Erin-Marie Kernan is a ANCC Board Certified Nurse Practitioner who received her degree from Dominican College. Ms. Kernan provides clinical care from an organic place of self, tailored to the patient’s individual personal history. Her belief is that the human condition is multifaceted, and answers are hardly ever straightforward. Her patients have trust in her intuitive assessments and feel comfortable in revealing the facts about their deepest feelings. She conducts her assessments based on the latest prevailing information and formulates an efficacious plan utilizing a holistic and medical approach.
She began her career as an intake specialist at Planned Parenthood while attending nursing school. It was during this time she was convinced she would specialize in women’s healthcare. Once she became an RN she was offered a position in case management. At this time Ms. Kernan was a single mother working both as a case manager and night shift nurse. She understood the pace of her life was unsustainable, therefore she returned to school to become a nurse practitioner. At this point, she was developing and managing a telehealth clinic for a non-for-profit organization. The exposure to various areas in healthcare had left Ms. Kernan perplexed, “It was like I had all the puzzle pieces, but I still couldn’t see the image.” During her master’s program she had completed clinical internships in HIV/AIDS, adult and adolescent medicine, and women’s health. She was offered a position as a clinician in the women’s health clinic; however she was also offered a position with an epilepsy organization. The epilepsy group had a significant interest in Ms. Kernan as she had a wide range of expertise within the business of healthcare. Ms. Kernan was reserved with making this decision, but after meeting with the provider she would be collaborating with and being offered a salary that would be life changing for her and her children, she took the position. She worked side by side with one of the top epileptologist in the area. He trained her in reading VEEG’s, medication management of various seizure conditions and best approaches to managing psychogenetic non-epileptic seizures. It was then that all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Once COVID hit, life took a deep dive into what felt like an apocalyptic war field. She was at the forefront of the pandemic having to be the clinician to report brain death due to fever of unknown cause. Collogues had become patients, and she herself had endured the long COVID ailments. However, she had to continue working, she had three children, and her partner at the time had lost his job. Six months into the pandemic, her position was cut due to insurance politics. This was when she enrolled in her doctorates with a focus on psychiatry. She also took on a short-term contract as the Director of Health services for a private university who needed a well experienced COVID guide to re-open their campus. Her plate was full, but her spirit kept her afloat. Her students were suffering with mental health crisis day in and day out. She saw the burnout in her nurses’ eyes, and it became clear our hearts had become hardened as a result of this virus. MS. Kernan completed her contract and re-directed all her focus strictly on mental health.
The puzzle was completed, the image she saw was disturbing. All areas of healthcare Ms. Kernan worked in had the same construct, an algorithmic, evidence-based program that kept all beings in line with only logic. The body had become torn into sectors of monetary gains, with very little room for the full story of the individual. A necessary need to optimize the most efficacious approach towards repairing a medical condition, but perhaps there is a chance we could do better. It was the case manager within her, that piece of the puzzle, that gave her the idea to integrate a whole mind-body approach towards well-being. Not a new concept, just one that aligned with her mission.
Ms. Kernan spends her time running her own practice and contracting with the virtual clinic Joyous. As a single mother to three tenacious children, she has developed methods to manage life’s suffering and is endlessly embracing new knowledge. She grounds herself by running in the woods and meditating. Most of all Ms. Kernan adores spending time with her children and family. “My dream was always to be a mother and have a big family, but also to be of service.”