Profile

Howdy! My name is Karen Wall Ed.D., LMFT, RN-BC, BSN, OFS

I am a LMFT and an RN. I have been in private practice as a LMFT since 2017, and have been a Registered Nurse for 29 years (Psych Nurse for 28 of those years), having been trained in the US Army, from which I retired in 2005 after 23 years of service as a commissioned officer (Inclusive of a deployment in 1991 in support of Operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm) and with the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) in acute inpatient behavioral health, Mental Health Nurse Educator, and Dementia Care Coordinator from which I retired.    I am board certified in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing and Gerontological Nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).  

I was raised in a military family with a long history of military service. My Irish-mixed father, and veteran of WWII-Korea-Viet Nam, was in the US Air Force, and met my Japanese mother in Japan during a tour and they were married and I was born there. I have two sisters and three brothers (one deceased). As with all military families, I was raised in different places; however, I spent the majority of my childhood and teen years in Hawai'i, so I call Hawai'i my home state, and my brothers still live there, one being a sheriff, and one being a firefighter. My sister works for the state of Alaska.

My skills and areas of interest for practice and research include Geriatric Mental Health and Neurocognitive Disorders (dementia, TBI, etc.), PTSD (especially combat related- I am also a combat veteran), Complementary and Alternative Medicine for the treatment and support of psychiatric illnesses and dementia, social robotics (the use of the Joy For All Companion pets), Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), resiliency, education and curriculum development, and telebehavioral health/mobile app technology. My experience includes both inpatient acute and outpatient behavioral health services. My goal is to combine my nursing with my MFT license to provide what I call “full-service” therapy for my clients. I feel blessed to have my medical background to be able to provide a more in-depth education to my clients about topics like medications, neuro-anatomy, biology, and metabolic issues, to name a few. I do a lot of work with veterans living with dementia, particularly teaching and mentoring healthcare staff how to care for these patients safely and compassionately. I have a longtime interest in the spiritual and religious aspects of psychotherapy and mental health. My Doctoral Dissertation was titled: “A Qualitative Exploration Of Counselors’ Feelings Of Comfort And Competence With Discussing Religion And Spirituality With Clients”. I am very active in my Catholic faith as a Professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS), and a member of the choir at Saint John XXIII Catholic Community in Albuquerque, NM.

Some fun facts about me and my interests:

1. Travel: I love going on cruises and trains especially, and I enjoy airports and airplanes
2. Writing: poetry, professional papers, extemporaneous writing, editing people’s books and papers, writing real letters to people
3. Anything with animals: advocacy, Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), service dogs, social robotics with the Joy for All Companion Cat and Pup use with dementia care, just being around animals. I have a Service Dog named Shadow.
4. Social media, computer use, technology (especially in behavioral health, and especially mobile apps)
5. Watching TV and cinema: I especially love British TV and cinema; classis movies, religious movies, YouTube
6. Spending time with family and friends, especially going home to Hawai’i regularly to visit everyone
7. Anything that has to do with nursing, behavioral health, military and veterans, medicine, etc.
8. And last but not least: Doing absolutely nothing! “La dulce fara niente” is an Italian phrase meaning doing absolutely nothing, and I really learned to appreciate this during a trip to Italy.
9. I am a recent devotee of arts and crafts, thanks to my “sis” and one of my dearest friends. I love to make ornaments for holidays, paint things, weave, cross-stitch, just being creative- Who knew???!