Darla was born and raised in Southwest Minnesota, with family members still residing in southwestern and central Minnesota.  Joining our MWI team in March 2020, Darla has lived in Ohio for the last 25 years with the exception of 2 years practicing in Willmar and Morris, MN.  She graduated from Mercy College in Toledo with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and then went on to Wayne State University in Detroit to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

Darla has been a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner since 2015 and has worked in a mental health urgent care facility with both inpatient and outpatient clientele with a wide range of diagnoses, from depression and anxiety to severe mental illnesses. She believes that mental health treatment is more effective when the patient is given tools and empowerment to heal their body, mind, spirit, and emotions, and she focuses on treating each patient as a person and not as their disorder. Darla is seeing patients via telehealth and on-site at Windom Area Health in Windom, MN, as well as assisting Dr. Pavlis with Veteran Psychiatric Reviews, and she joined our team in March 2020.