Our Mission
At Golden Wellness our mission is to nurture connection and encourage authenticity in every relationship. We offer a safe, compassionate space where individuals and couples can heal, grow, and rediscover the beauty of being truly seen and understood.
Samantha, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Background and Education
Samantha’s approach to mental health is shaped by both her clinical training and her lived experience. In 2016 she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Weber State University, followed by a Master of Science in Nursing with a focus in Psychiatry from Gonzaga University in 2020.
Early in her career, Samantha worked at a medical weight loss clinic, supporting patients facing both obesity and co-occurring mental health challenges. Her passion for psychiatric nursing deepened during her time at the Utah State Hospital, where she advanced from staff nurse to Unit Nursing Director of the Geropsychiatric Unit—one of the most medically and psychiatrically complex units in the facility. She later served as a Shift Supervisor in Nursing Administration, overseeing patient care and staff hospital-wide during night shifts.
Personal Journey
Having been diagnosed with depression, PTSD, and ADHD herself, Samantha brings a personal understanding to the challenges many of her clients face. She strives to create a therapeutic environment that is safe, supportive, and empowering. Rather than viewing mental illness strictly through a clinical lens, she approaches healing with empathy, authenticity, and insight.
Clinical and Holistic Practice
Though grounded in evidence-based psychiatric care, Samantha also draws on holistic modalities as a certified Human Design Reader and Reiki practitioner. As a splenic projector, she is especially attuned to emotional and energetic patterns that influence mental and emotional well-being. She believes true healing goes beyond symptom management, involving deeper exploration of generational patterns, lifestyle factors, and social context.
Therapeutic Approach
Samantha believes each person is the expert on their own life. She takes a collaborative approach, working with clients to explore how genetics, personal history, and environment shape their current experiences. Her work is grounded in a humanistic-existential framework, with an emphasis on Gestalt holism, which views individuals as integrated wholes—mind, body, and emotions functioning in relationship to their environment. She also draws from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which enhances emotional awareness and strengthens interpersonal bonds through secure attachment.
In addition, Samantha incorporates a psychodynamic approach to help uncover unconscious motivations and explore how they contribute to emotional dysregulation and relational patterns. This deepens the humanistic-existential work by offering insight into how past experiences shape present behavior, allowing clients to move from awareness into lasting change. Together, these approaches support both emotional integration and personal freedom.
These frameworks guide her commitment to present-moment awareness, authentic connection, and meaningful change. When appropriate, Samantha incorporates medication management to support and deepen the healing process.
Guiding Philosophy
Samantha’s goal is for every session to feel like a meaningful step toward greater self-awareness, connection, and hope. She believes healing is not only possible but deeply personal. With compassion, curiosity, and respect, she walks alongside her clients as they navigate their unique paths toward transformation.
Spencer, RN, PMHNP-Student
Background and Education
Spencer’s interest in the brain began with a fascination for neurobiology, which eventually led him to the field of mental health. Working with some of Utah’s most acutely mentally ill individuals deepened this passion and confirmed his path in psychiatric care. He earned both his associate and bachelor’s degrees in nursing from Weber State University and is currently completing a Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in psychiatric mental health at Gonzaga University.
Personal Journey
Spencer grew up believing that mental illness was a sign of weakness—especially for men. That belief led him to suppress his emotions, which resulted in years of isolation and emotional distress. A personal mental health crisis became a turning point, reshaping his understanding of vulnerability, strength, and healing. That experience gave him not only insight into the healing process but also a deeper sense of empathy for others navigating emotional pain.
Clinical Practice
Spencer combines psychiatric training with personal experience to support individuals through emotional crises. He focuses on building a calm, steady, and nonjudgmental presence where clients can feel safe and seen. He is especially attuned to the impact of trauma and early life experiences and brings patience and compassion to high-intensity situations. His goal is always to meet people where they are and help them feel understood.
Therapeutic Approach
Spencer uses a trauma-informed, person-centered approach that encourages collaboration and self-discovery. His background in neurobiology helps him understand what’s happening in the brain during emotional distress, allowing him to assess situations with empathy and precision. He helps clients explore difficult emotions, identify survival-based patterns, and begin to reframe those behaviors with compassion. When appropriate, he integrates medication management as a supportive tool in the healing process, always within the context of a broader therapeutic relationship.
Guiding Philosophy
At the heart of Spencer’s work are existential values like authenticity, personal responsibility, freedom, and the search for meaning. He believes healing happens when people are given the space to be fully themselves, without judgment. His role is to walk alongside clients as they navigate their emotional landscape, uncover their inner resilience, and create lives that feel more aligned with who they truly are.
To support this process, Spencer also incorporates principles from psychodynamic therapy, which help illuminate how unconscious motivations and early relational experiences shape current patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. This deeper understanding enhances existential work by allowing clients to bring hidden dynamics into conscious awareness—transforming insight into meaningful, lasting change.