Katie Hart, MS, LMHC, CN 

Founder, Mental Health Counselor and Certified Nutritionist

Katie has a passion for health and people; she works with helping people create sustainable health for themselves and for their families. Treatments use combined approach to health: mental and emotional wellness, helping people manage the challenges they face daily. Nutrition and mental health impact us all, families, parents, children, and individuals. HartsSpace is a place where understanding and healing can happen from the inside out!

Training /Approach

Katie’s academic background began at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science and Theater.

Years later, after many personal adventures and life experiences, she obtained a Master’s degree from Bastyr University, MSNCHP, in Nutrition and Clinical Health Psychology.

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Katie’s training encompasses a mind, body, spirit approach to mental health and nutrition. She believes that the power of nutrition and therapy can heal a person. Her background and passions have driven her to create a clinic where a person may grow using their own intuition and cultivating healing from a place within their own resources. She sees people as their own expert and uses techniques and tools to help people to better understand and create the change they desire.  Her unique approaches have helped many create sustainable change. Children also find a friendly space for healing, and a place to be seen using play. 

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Her goal is to make a mark on the health and nutrition climate working with patients to find better ways to manage their bodies, minds and spirits. She strongly believes that our systems and our beings are connected, and we cannot fully treat our wellness without taking into account all the aspects of a person's life!

For this reason she chose to create a practice model combining Functional Medicine Nutrition and Mental Health. This was the beginning of HartsSpace. Since 2008, she has seen a need for a farther-reaching approach for patients. In addition to one-on-one provider support, there is a deep missing need for interconnection with people and their health pursuits. We can do better when we are seen, heard, and accepted on our journeys; we thrive in community and also weather the struggles better.  

In 2022, in collaboration, HartsSpace launched Live Well, Eat Well and Be Well a FREE accountability group for wellness, and its add-on components of trainings, retreats, provider and peer support.

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"I vision the world and the people in the world like plants. What was put on this earth is here to nourish us mentally and emotionally. When we find the proper balance of nutrients to thrive, mental and emotional wellness and mindful approaches to balance we sustain ourselves we are in full bloom. Children too can blossom when given the nutrients and tools for success. Sustainable health is the key to future generations of better health.”

Michelle Benson, MS, CN

Functional Nutritionist and Eating Psychology Expert

A lover of psychology, biochemistry, neurobiology, and research, Michelle has been on a mission to understand how nutrition, eating, and mental health impact one another. Experiencing the incredible improvements in her energy and mood after changing her eating habits, Michelle fell in love with nutrition. Still, she struggled to make ideal food choices and had views of her own body that were far from ideal. That is when Michelle discovered the world of Eating Psychology; a life-changing approach that completely transformed the way she sees food, eating, and body image. Addressing her relationship with food became just as important as the food she was eating. She went on to train as an Eating Psychology coach in 2016 in hopes of helping others experience the same profound transformation. 

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Drawn into the science of nutrition and guided by the support of mentor, Katie Hart, her husband, a challenging pregnancy, a new baby, and a pandemic, Michelle finally took the leap into becoming a Functional Medicine Nutritionist, a natural progression after assisting in the health field for years. During her schooling she found incredible beauty in understanding the complex communications of immune responses to food, cortisol regulation, mitochondrial function, gut health, brain health, and more. Working with individuals from various walks of life keeps Michelle on her toes and always digging into the newest research. 

Michelle graduated from the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon in June of 2022, where she received her Master’s degree in Science (MS) in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. Her clinical approach involves evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle interventions as well as tapping into each individual’s past and current experiences and challenges with food. Being able to address mental health and nutrition allows her to address multiple levels of the individual leaving both her and the patient with a deep level of the contributing factors to symptoms and disease. 

Michelle conducts one-on-one patient sessions, helps lead retreats and courses, and is developing the Eat Like You Love Yourself Program- a 12-week intensive that walks groups of individuals through eating psychology and nutrition advice in a structured and community supported way. In addition to her work in Functional Nutrition and Eating Psychology, Michelle enjoys the outdoors and nature, reading, trying new recipes, and hanging out with her super cool kiddo. Her mission is to create an experience for her patients that leaves individuals feeling empowered and more understanding of their body and the powerful role food and lifestyle play in how we feel day to day. 

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"Every person deserves to be at peace with food and to feel their best. A personalized and well-rounded approach of nutrient-dense food, supplements, frame of mind, and psychology can help people get there."

Karin Lund, MS, CN
Now Accepting New Patients!

Functional Nutritionist and Women’s Health Expert,

specializing in hormone balance and food addiction.

Karin’s passion for women’s health and nutrition began while researching natural ways to relieve her own painful periods and endless quest to lose weight. At the time, she was burned out, anxious and overwhelmed, trying her best to be Super Mom, Super Wife, and a career woman. She discovered that as women, our biochemistry changes throughout our cycle and our nutritional needs change along with it. Armed with the knowledge that women have a unique physiological make up, Karin made gradual, sustainable changes to her diet and lifestyle, losing her excess weight, and healing her relationship with food and her body.

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She shifted her career in Health Care Administration to Functional Nutrition. Using food as medicine, Karin is dedicated to helping women treat the root cause of hormonal, menstrual and perimenopausal symptoms through evidence-based treatment and patient-centered functional medicine practices. Together, you will create your own personalized design for living that empowers you to partner with your body, make peace with food, and cultivate connection.

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Her clinical interests include PMS/PMDD and irregular menstrual cycles, endometriosis, PCOS, thyroid disorders, and perimenopausal challenges in addition to mood balance, adrenal fatigue, and food addiction. Karin works with women of all ages, to inspire them to live in balance, health, and peace.

Upon graduation in summer 2023, Karin will receive a Master of Science (MS) degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon. Karin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health Administration and has been working in health and wellness for over twenty years. More than a degree or certification, Karin knows firsthand a woman’s extraordinary capacity for natural healing when given simple and practical tools that align with her season of life.

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Karin is the author of the Becoming Fiercely Free Food & Gratitude Journal for women, a unique guide to living in harmony with your body.

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A firefighter wife, endometriosis warrior, and mama of four, Karin is a lover of words and early mornings. She lives for nature walks, dancing with her young daughters, and delivering treats to her girlfriends with the new moon.

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"As women, our needs are not static. They flow as our hormones shift. We simply do not operate within the same 24-hour clock that men do. Learning to live in a way that honors our natural rhythm as a woman, empowers us to say yes to what feels good and practice saying no to what holds us back."

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We are thrilled for Karin to build her practice with us here at HartsSpace, she is accepting new patients now!