Orka Coaching Team
Clinical Nutrition Coach, Registered Dietitian, Parent Coach, and Spiritual Director
Clinical Nutrition Coach,
Paige Francis, MS
Food is the way we fuel our bodies, but it’s also so much more. Paige believes food can be a tool for healing, a source of pleasure and joy, and a way we can connect to and support our bodies through changing periods of life. If you are searching for a way to improve your physical or mental health, heal an underlying hormonal or inflammatory condition, or simply look for a way to eat that connects you to your body and the world around you, Paige is here to help!
With firsthand experience using food to heal burnout, hormone health issues, anxiety, and depression, Paige is intensely aware of the way we eat and how it can influence these conditions. She loves working with adults and teens who are interested in creating habits that connect you to your body and support mental health. Her specialties include women’s hormone health, teen health and teen sports nutrition, GI disorders and concerns, weight loss, chronic inflammatory conditions, autoimmune diseases, thyroid disorders, and especially nutrition for mental health.
If you are looking for a nutrition coach who will support you in making science-informed food choices, look no further. With a Master’s degree in Applied Clinical Nutrition from the Northeast College of Health Sciences, Paige is excited to offer virtual nutrition counseling, including assistance in making meal plans, supplement recommendations, and habit coaching.
If you are already working with an Orka therapist Paige offers collaboration in treatment plans to help you feel your best. Especially if food is a difficult topic for you, you can be sure to find a gentle and encouraging coach in Paige.
When she’s not reading or talking about food, you can find Paige enjoying the outdoors or at home with her partner and two iguanas, Mango and Kiwi, who help remind her to enjoy lots of veggies and sunshine!
Family Nutrition Coach, Sarah Travis, RD
Food is our source of energy for life. We all know healthy eating makes us feel better, but sometimes it seems like a chore to plan and execute meals daily. Let Sarah help! Sarah Travis is a caring and skilled Registered Dietician driven to positively impact children and families through teaching healthy food habits.
When her mother was diagnosed with cancer at a young age, Sarah’s family went on a quest for a healthier life. This is what fueled Sarah’s love for eating and cooking “real food.” As a child she remembers salad bars being her favorite and filling her plate with cherry tomatoes and bacon bits. Sarah is passionate about family meals and incorporating kids into the kitchen to learn. Good food choices can become a reflex, not a struggle, with a little intention and a lot of JOY in the kitchen!
With a Bachelors of Nutrition from University of Minnesota, Sarah has been a Registered Dietician since 2006. She has had the privilege of working with families in the community primarily focusing on nutrition concerns from pregnancy through childhood. She has experience treating high risk children as well as pregnant and postpartum mommas. From breastfeeding education and support, introducing first foods, cooking for a toddler or tackling picky eaters Sarah would love to make a family food goal with you! She is excited to offer individualized hands-on cooking sessions and virtual nutrition consulting.
Sarah has personal life experience planning and executing balanced and tasty meals for a busy family of six. When not chatting about food, Sarah joyfully serves with women’s and children's ministry at her church; and depending on the season, you will often find her with her husband at a baseball field, hockey rink, soccer field or gymnastic meet cheering on one of their kids.
Parent Coach
Megan Thorp, MA, Certified Parent Coach
If you are a parent you know that parenting is not easy! It brings up many challenges and we often don't have the right tools in our toolbox to face those challenges. As a parent coach, Megan's desire is to come alongside parents and help them gain confidence and equip them to lead their family. She will help you create an environment in your home where everyone feels valued and connected, and skills for you to build a relationship with your kids that will last long after they leave your home. She strongly believes that you are the expert of your child and she would love to walk with you as you bring more peace and joy into your home.
Megan has her Masters in Counseling Psychology from Bethel University and is a Certified Parent Coach through Connected Families. She loves to spend time with her husband and 3 kids and build community connections at the church where she works part time at.
Spiritual Director, Patty Lee, MA, MSW, MPH
Patty has been employed as a hospital and hospice chaplain serving patients, families and staff for over twenty years. She was first drawn to chaplaincy through her love of people and life stories. She has found opportunities in chaplaincy and spiritual direction to create sacred space for deep listening, thoughtful and courageous conversation and the healing that is possible through thinking aloud with another. Patty brings her own grounded spirituality to her work as a spiritual director, along with genuine warmth, compassion and care for people. She also offers an open heart and a non-judgmental presence.
Patty often uses the term “spiritual companion” to describe her role of walking alongside her clients as they seek to explore their relationship with God. Her understanding of spirituality is expansive as she meets her clients where they are on their journey. She is warm and welcoming and uses her skills to create a safe place for clients to share their stories and feel heard and understood.
When she meets with her clients, Patty often imagines that she is holding a flat, African basket on her lap. Her clients pour their stories, hopes, fears and concerns into her basket, and then she and her clients together sift through what is in the basket, seeking new ways to understand, learn, and grow.
As a health care chaplain, Patty has worked in palliative care and hospice, oncology, intensive care units and emergency departments. Her areas of experience include grief and loss, living with chronic illness, death and dying and life transitions. Patty has skills working with individuals to make sense, meaning and purpose in these challenging experiences. She has the ability to create brief therapeutic relationships as well as supportive relationships that may last months or years.
Patty completed Spiritual Direction training at the Center for Spiritual Guidance in St. Paul. She has a Masters of Arts in Theology from Luther Seminary, Masters Degrees of Social Work and Public Health from the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Augsburg University.
When Patty isn’t working, she spends time outdoors in nature with her family running, cross country skiing, hiking, biking, camping and traveling. She loves spending time with friends and extended family around the dinner table in good conversation. And she will never turn down an offer of chocolate or a good cup of coffee.
EMAIL