I grew up in a small town in Southern Ohio where a large part of my identity was showing Quarter horses. Out of school, I was offered an equestrian riding scholarship at Midway College where I had decided to go to pursue my education and dream of being a doctor. I had always thought in the back of my mind that I would be a veterinarian.

Two major turn of events occurred during my time at Midway that made me ultimately decide to become a chiropractor. During my second year at Midway, I was captain of their nationally ranked equestrian team and was riding in the open division. I was taking a horse over a jump when he refused it and sent me flying through the air. I landed on the jump and realized I couldn't move.  As it turns out, I had a major disc herniation and likely wouldn't walk without surgery. I had never been to the chiropractor before but my coach had suggested it. I was willing to try anything to be able to ride again and not lose my riding scholarship.

For the next several months I had intense, on going chiropractic care. I am happy to say that I now walk (and ride) pain free and never had to have surgery.

I guess I am a little hard headed because even this turn of events didn't convince me to change my career path to chiropractic. This didn't happen until a year later when one of our horses kept going lame (wouldn't take his right lead). The barn manager had at least 6 veterinarian's out to the barn to diagnose and treat this particular horse. Nothing seemed to be helping. As a last resort, the barn manager called an equine chiropractor to see the horse. It was after that person treated the horse and it loped off sound that I was convinced that I would be changing my career path from Veterinary Medicine to (at the time) to Equine Chiropractic.

After graduating from Midway College in Midway, KY with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry, I enrolled and graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, MO. At Logan and on my internship, I fell in love with patient care and decided to practice on people too. After practicing on people for a year in Dayton, OH, I decided to go to animal chiropractic school at Options for Animals in Wellsville, Kansas. This is an 8 month program dedicated to teaching Chiropractors and Veterinarians how to properly diagnose and treat animals with chiropractic care. I became certified in animal chiropractic through the International Veterinarian Chiropractic Association and then moved to Charlotte in 2004. That year I opened Walraven Chiropractic and Omni Animal Chiropractic. Four Years later, in 2008, I opened Omni Wellness Center because of my love of the lake life and need in that area.

My simple goal is to help as many people and animals as possible through chiropractic. I am results driven and love to see the change chiropractic can make in the lives of our patients. Because of my small town upbringing, our office prides itself on our small town feel and family-like relationships with our patients.  We strive to deliver excellence in care and work hand in hand with the medical practitioners in our area in an attempt to deliver a higher level of care to our patients than what was ever anticipated by anyone.

I met my husband in 2005 and we got married in 2007. Since then I have become enamored with my two boys Henry Holt and Paxton Jay. Because of the need to balance work and family, I sold Walraven Chiropractic in 2010 and now happily serve out of my two existing clinics. We currently live on Lake Norman with our precious Australian Shepherd, Dakota and are happy to have recently fulfilled a lifelong dream of purchasing a small tract of land where we will spend the next few years building an equestrian facility, small animal treatment facility, and home in Weddington, NC.

Because my professional life and home life tends to be very physical, I personally get adjusted two times per month to avoid any sort of flare ups of my old back injury. I check the boys regularly and am happy to say they seem to stay healthy and cold free all year long!
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