Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing
Holistic Support for Anxiety, Stress, Burnout & Mood Changes
Emotional health is deeply tied to hormones, gut health, trauma, inflammation, and the nervous system. My approach combines naturopathic medicine, practical mental health tools, and psychedelic-assisted therapy when appropriate.
Conditions I Support
Anxiety and chronic stress
Burnout
Mood swings
Insomnia
Trauma-related symptoms
Emotional dysregulation in perimenopause
Nervous-system dysregulation
A Whole-Person Approach to Mental Health
Your care may include:
Nervous-system regulation
Lifestyle strategies
Targeted nutrition and supplementation
Hormone evaluation
Gut–brain support
Trauma-informed tools (BrainSpotting, TRE)
Ketamine-assisted therapy (KAP) at Zola Healing CoLab
I aim to help you feel more grounded, calm, and connected—not just symptom-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels during perimenopause directly affect neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. This is why many women experience anxiety, mood swings, irritability, and depression for the first time in their 40s — often without realizing it is hormonally driven. Addressing the hormonal root cause can dramatically improve mental health symptoms without relying solely on antidepressants.
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Often yes!When anxiety is driven by hormonal shifts, addressing estrogen and progesterone imbalance can be highly effective. Dr. Bantel uses a combination of functional hormone testing , targeted nutrition, botanical medicine, nervous system support, and lifestyle therapy. Ketamine-assisted therapy is also available for more persistent or treatment-resistant presentations.
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Psychiatry focuses primarily on diagnosis and medication management. Naturopathic mental health care looks for underlying causes — hormonal imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, gut-brain axis disruption, inflammation, and trauma patterns — and uses a broader toolkit including nutrition, botanicals, lifestyle medicine, and mind-body therapies. The two approaches can also work well together.
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Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) is a treatment option for people experiencing depression, anxiety, PTSD, or burnout that hasn't responded adequately to conventional or integrative approaches. It works by temporarily increasing neuroplasticity and reducing the brain's default thought patterns, allowing deeper therapeutic work. Dr. Bantel provides medical screening and oversight for KAP sessions held at Zola Healing CoLab in Tucson.
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Yes. Burnout involves dysregulation of the HPA axis — the stress response system involving the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. Dr. Bantel assesses cortisol patterns, nutrient depletion, sleep quality, and nervous system tone, and builds a recovery plan that addresses the physiological drivers of burnout alongside lifestyle and mind-body strategies.