Kari VanLanen
OTR
Kari has been an Occupational Therapist (OTR) since 2005.
During that time, she’s worked in acute care and inpatient rehabilitation, specializing in working with patients through coma recovery and brain injury. She transitioned to home health/mental health for many years before moving to Northwest Journey Day Treatment Clinic. There, she taught 8-18 year olds basic life skills, community reintegration, and therapeutic exercise/ activities with the goal to be able to return to the regular education population. Her most recent position is within the Howard-Suamico School District working as a Counseling Interventionist where she bridges the gap between counseling and behavior services, working with students who have difficulty managing within the classroom environment due to focus/attention deficits or emotional regulation needs. She recently became a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) through NASM and also became a Certified Trauma Professional.
Kari’s focus has always been on an Holistic approach to health care while addressing how the brain works and how to incorporate the use of therapeutic activities and exercise into self regulation for both physical and mental health needs. Kari believes that too often we “Bandaid” over our emotional needs without digging deeper into the core/root cause and that leads to improper healing both physically and mentally. Kari found Inspirit and knew it was exactly where she was meant to be to continue to work together and help our Community with their healing efforts.
What is she currently watching, reading, listening to?
Kari enjoys time spent with her husband and 2 teenage children.. Kari and her family love to camp, hike, travel, visit Disney and explore outdoors as much as possible. She is currently reading most books by Freida McFadden for leisure, Brianna Wiest for Personal Development and listening to a wide variety of music!