Hi, I’m ANNA desmarais
Registered Nurse | Board-Certified Holistic Nurse | Board-Certified Integrative Nurse Coach | Nutritionist | Licensed Psychedelic Facilitator
I believe that healing should integrate the whole person: body, mind, and soul. My work blends clinical expertise with holistic, science-backed, and nature-based approaches to support people who are ready to feel better in their bodies, clearer in their minds, and more at home in themselves. I help clients reexamine their patterns, get honest about what’s working (and what’s not), and build sustainable change that actually fits their lives.
I don’t believe healing is about fixing what’s broken.
I believe it’s about remembering what’s already whole — and creating the conditions for it to emerge.
my approach
Some people come to this work seeking grounded, integrative coaching to support their health, habits, and life transitions. Others arrive feeling called toward deeper exploratory or psychedelic-assisted work and want support that is ethical, compassionate, and well-contained.
Wherever someone begins, the work is always guided by what is appropriate and attuned for each individual.
Depending on your goals and needs, our work may include:
Evidence-based lifestyle and behavior change support (nutrition, sleep, stress management, movement, mindset)
Integrative natural medicine, health education, and wellness consultation
Trauma-informed, nervous-system-aware coaching
Longevity-focused practices that support healthy aging and long-term resilience
Mind-body practices such as breathwork, mindfulness, and somatic awareness
Values clarification, life transitions, identity shifts, and meaning-making
Emotional processing and spiritual growth
Psychedelic education and facilitation (when appropriate)
As a registered nurse, I also help clients make sense of medical information — labs, medications, and provider recommendations — so they can feel more empowered and less overwhelmed.
I strongly support collaborative, integrative care and encourage clients to maintain relationships with appropriate medical and mental health providers. With consent, coordination with other professionals may be incorporated to ensure care remains supportive and aligned. My role is not to replace medical or mental health treatment, but to walk alongside you and help you build awareness, resilience, and sustainable practices that support your overall well-being.
how i work
My approach is integrative and deeply human. We focus on the foundations that are often overlooked in the pace of modern life — physical health, sleep, stress regulation, boundaries, and meaning — because these are the elements that truly move the needle in our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, while also making space for emotional processing, self-reflection, and growth. A core part of my work is educating clients on what the research shows and supporting them in consistently returning to these foundations.
This work is a partnership, and designed to be realistic and sustainable. There’s no perfectionism here, no “all or nothing,” and no spiritual bypassing. We move at a pace that is conducive to lasting transformation.
Sometimes the work looks practical and educational.
Sometimes it’s reflective and inward.
Often, it’s both.
who this work is for
This work tends to resonate most with people who are ready to participate actively in their healing.
Many of my clients are navigating burnout, chronic stress or illness, life transitions, identity shifts, or a sense that “something more” is asking for attention. Some are deeply analytical and want the science. Others have a deep spiritual practice. Most are somewhere in between. Regardless of where you lie, I will understand and speak your language.
What matters most is a willingness to be curious, reflect honestly, and engage in meaningful change.
An open mind and a readiness to participate in the process are all that’s needed.
My journey
My relationship with psychedelic medicine began over 30 years ago, as a curious teenager growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I later earned a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science from Michigan State University, and soon after, my love of travel and learning took me abroad. I lived in Florence, Italy for two years, where I learned that pasta must always be cooked al dente, before settling into a 16-year chapter in Seoul, South Korea.
While living in Korea, I began training in martial arts and eventually earned my black belt in ITF Taekwondo. I had the honor of representing South Korea at the ITF Taekwondo World Championships and later went on to open my own martial arts, yoga, and fitness center, which I ran for a decade. During that period, I was hospitalized for an acute flare of a chronic condition that could’ve taken my life. That experience led me to dive deeply into holistic health, nutrition, and Eastern medicine — and ultimately inspired me to return to the US to pursue nursing.
I graduated from the University of Miami and became a registered nurse, beginning my career in home health before moving into more acute and complex settings. I took on a role as a nurse within the Florida Department of Corrections, working in men’s prisons across infirmary, behavioral health, and hospice and palliative care units. These roles demanded steadiness and the capacity to remain grounded in environments marked by trauma, suffering, and systemic limitation.
I later transitioned to the ER, beginning shortly before the pandemic. During that time, I became increasingly disillusioned with the constraints of conventional healthcare and the toll it was taking on both patients and providers. I experienced burnout, moral injury, and a growing awareness that the kind of healing people were truly seeking wasn’t always possible within the hospital system alone. This realization led me to pursue board certifications in holistic nursing and nurse coaching, and to reconnect more intentionally with psychedelic plant medicine — an experience that helped me rediscover joy, meaning, and a deeper sense of alignment after feeling numb for far too long.
When it was time to leave bedside nursing and focus fully on integrative and coaching work, I left my role as a travel nurse in California and drove down the Pacific coast of Mexico. There, I had the rare opportunity to apprentice with local curanderos in plant medicine ceremonies. My training included facilitating ceremonies and retreats, supporting temazcal (traditional Mesoamerican sweat lodge) ceremonies, and participating in vision quests and ceremonial dances, including the Danza del Sol (Sun Dance). I also began facilitating psilocybin retreats for the non-profit organization Rise Up Journeys (formerly Right To Heal). I am forever grateful to my teachers and to the many people who entrusted me to hold space for them in ceremony. When one heals, we all heal.
In 2025, I wrote The Path Back: A Holistic Nurse’s Guide to Healing from the Intersection of Science, Spirituality, and Ancient Wisdom — a reflection of my own healing journey and the questions I’ve spent a lifetime exploring, informed by the stories and lived experiences of those I’ve had the privilege to support.
As legal pathways for psychedelic facilitation emerged north of the border, I enrolled in InnerTrek’s program and became a licensed psilocybin facilitator in the state of Colorado, receiving my license in 2025. I currently facilitate at licensed healing centers in the Boulder/Denver area, while also maintaining a private coaching practice and working virtually as a nurse supporting VA clients and individuals living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
All of these experiences — across cultures, clinical settings, ceremonial spaces, and personal healing — shape how I hold space today. My approach is grounded, ethical, and integrative, informed by both science and soul. I believe healing is multidimensional, deeply personal, and most sustainable when it honors the intelligence of the body and the inner wisdom each person already carries.
If this work speaks to you, I invite you to begin with a complimentary consultation.