Over 90% of serotonin, a hormone that regulates mood and contentment, is produced in the gut, not the brain, says Dr. Lynn Horton, a family practitioner with nearly  40 years of experience.

She says many good hormones are produced in the stomach, so without proper food and gut health, the brain lacks the overall hormone balance for one to have good metabolic health.

Horton is focusing on this whole body approach to open her new business, Wisdom Health, on Wyoming Avenue, and using her extensive background in health care to combine a focus on metabolic health, lifestyle medicine and mental health, to help adults in Park County become their best selves.

“At this point in my career, I felt the need to partner with patients, carefully listen to their questions and concerns about their health, and explore the underlying or root cause of their symptoms,” Horton said. “My practice will prioritize spending the time patients need and deserve to educate them in order to help them achieve optimal health and wellness.”

A mental health advocate

Horton decided while working as a family physician for the Indian Health Service, on a reservation in South Dakota, that she wanted to do something different with her time.

Shortly after, she packed her bags and returned to the Powell area last December.

As a family physician for nearly 40 years, Horton was treating patients within her extensive education and training in acute, emergency and urgent care settings as well providing medication to outpatients. 

When it came to chronic illness, however, she wanted to be able to treat the root causes. 

After returning to Powell, Horton began focusing on what exactly her practice would entail.

“I wanted to really focus on some things that I have not been trained or educated on … things that I felt were really, really important for healing people,” Horton said.

So she began taking several training programs that would help her within her practice.

Horton is an integrative psychiatric provider, graduating last June from the Year Long Fellowship in Integrative Psychiatry administered by the Integrative Psychiatry Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

She is passionate about focusing on her patients’ nutrition and lifestyle in order to positively change their metabolic health, she said. While she will be providing integrative mental health care to patients, Horton wants to collaborate with her patient’s primary care physician.

“I’m not here to compete, but to partner with the patient’s medical provider,” Horton said.

She also completed a course, Fast Like a Girl, where she learned a combination of intermittent fasting and nutrition for women that matches their particular hormonal phase.

Horton believes there are many aspects that carry great importance in being a healthy, thriving adult. But most importantly she values caring for her patients and herself.

“I can be the best physician or practitioner
for my patient if I’m also taking good care of myself,” Horton said. “I prioritize my own self care, because how can I really be a good model for patients when I’m asking patients to make some changes to their behavior and their lifestyle when I’m not doing the same.”

Lynn has a rather important goal when bringing her business to Park County, “I think my business is going to be a positive addition because I think that I am addressing the health care needs that either are not being addressed or are not being addressed enough in our community.”

Wisdom Health

Horton plans to open her doors May 27, and has big plans for when the time comes.

She will see both men and women and said, “my goal is to meet the patient where they are.”

Whether the patient has chronic anxiety, trouble sleeping through the night or even low energy, Horton has the ability to match a plan to each patient she sees.

“It goes beyond diagnosing someone based on their symptoms and then offering them a tool box,” Horton said. “It looks at a more in depth evaluation of someone, for example, with their particular lifestyle, and addressing that and seeing if that could be part of what is causing their anxiety or depression.”

This will be a different experience from seeing a psychiatrist.

“In the medical system that I was educated under, you diagnose … and then after that you essentially prescribe medications,” Horton said.

But the goal Horton wants to focus on root causes.

“What is your body saying … not just in a group of symptoms, but on a cellular level,” she said.

So she plans to use metabolic health, focusing on lifestyle medicine, to broaden the treatment plan instead of prescribing medications.

During the meet and greet at Wisdom Health, Horton will ask her patients to keep a log of the things they have eaten, how well they’ve slept and to keep an eye on their screen time.

“But these things take time, you know, really looking at someone’s lifestyle, looking at their sleep pattern, looking at what exactly they are eating, what is their nutrition? Do they have any vitamin deficiencies? Do they have any hormonal issues going?” Horton said. “It takes a lot of time to investigate, but it’s also a lot more rewarding, because it’s really impacting their health over the long run and also the quality of life.”