Dr. Heather Hamilton specializes in the treatment of psychological conditions that affect our mood, behaviors, relationships and wellness. She holds a PhD. in Clinical Psychology, 2 Master of Science degrees in Psychology and Mental Health Counseling, and a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Science.

Her approach to wellness integrates evidence-informed practices with compassion, education, insight development and (at times) humor.

Born in Bellingham, Heather grew up in a commercial fishing family. Her father began salmon fishing in the Northwest, before creating an adventurous job for himself developing commercial fishing industries in developing countries world-wide. Heather grew up in Peru, Chile and Brazil eventually attending elementary school in Vancouver, Canada. She spent all her summers on Orcas Island and became an avid sailor and kayaker. She was admitted to an unusual high school aboard Te Vega, a tall sailing ship and ultimately graduated in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Following graduation, Heather joined her father in Dutch Harbor, learning to run Storm Petrel, a Marco 123-foot combination crabber / trawler. Heather remained in the fishing industry for several years until 2 life-threatening accidents challenged her to consider her longevity and explore other career opportunities.

After vocational assessment and some counseling, it was suggested that (with few other qualifications) Heather become an airline pilot. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. After a series of jobs flying med-evac, scenic tours, search and rescue flights, as well as instructing, she was eventually hired by a major airline. Fairly early in her career she was asked to work in the training department and joined a diverse team focused on accident prevention, cockpit communication training and other safety initiatives. Her deep interest in human factors (how people think and behave) and accident prevention took root. She received training in numerous other aviation related areas including Critical Incident Response Management, Accident Investigation (NTSB) and Operations Document Development and Compliance (NASA). Progressively Heather held a series of manager and director-level positions in pilot training, fleet acquisition, regulatory compliance and ultimately airline safety at the executive level. 

Shortly after reaching this position and implementing airline-wide joint training programs (an industry first), Heather suffered a serious back injury. On the advice of her flight surgeon, once again she had to consider career options. This time around, the psychologist suggested Heather simply become a clinical psychologist. With no other suggestions, Heather earned a Master’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling, and a PhD. in Clinical Psychology. Invited to work at Talbott Recovery in Atlanta, Heather was afforded the opportunity to work with a highly integrated psychiatric, medical, and psychological team in a supportive and intensive inpatient environment. Her work at Talbott  focused on dual diagnosis (concurrent treatment for mood, addiction, personality, family systems and behavioral health challenges) where she held various positions including young adult (18-26) case manager, group and individual therapist. During this time she co-authored Personality Disorders In Recovery From Addiction.

For family reasons, Heather moved from Atlanta back to Washington late 2013 and joined a women’s medical practice focused on metabolic health, women’s health through menopause, and non surgical weight loss. Here she studied metabolic and lifestyle medicine under the guidance of a brilliant OB-GYN. Heather focused on the intersection of mental and metabolic health conditions with the goal of relapse prevention. In 2015 the physician retired but Heather continued to pursue this field of study.

Heather soon began facilitating in-person groups focused on mental and metabolic health recovery while writing the first draft of BreakThrough! The Premier Course for Mental and Metabolic Health Recovery. In 2017 she was invited to present a 6-hour continuing education workshop at the 2018 American Counseling Association national conference in Atlanta. This was followed by professional education presentations to Obesity Canada, NADAAC, the World Obesity Conference, ACLM and others. With the onset of the pandemic, Heather and her team transformed the BreakThrough! program into the virtual video-health environment. This was designed to offer flexibility and inclusivity, particularly for under-served clients living in rural areas. 

While Heather’s interest and depth of experience in mental health recovery is considerable, the benefit to you as a participant is that Heather dedicates time every day to remain current with the latest research, as well as advances in evidence informed practices. Relevant to mental and metabolic wellness, she transforms challenging scientific research articles, as well as technical jargon into everyday language, practical insights, skill development and action-oriented recovery. 

If you get a chance to meet Heather, you’ll meet a woman with passion, intuition, humor, and unrelenting curiosity. She can be serious, playful, and at times wildly creative. The most important quality however, is that she takes the time to listen to her clients. She credits her clients as the source of her inspiration and motivation to continue to produce and leverage cost-effective resources to address gaps in structured mental and metabolic health care.