Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Brittany Petrick

We recently had the chance to connect with Brittany Petrick and have shared our conversation below.

Brittany, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I am being called to connect with our community. I have a tendency to isolate and spend a lot of time at home or in the comfort of the one-on-one deep conversations of a treatment room. I like to connect with an individual, help them feel better, and go home to my family, peaceful home, garden, and yard. I am feeling a push to get outside my comfort zone and connect with the Flagstaff community to network with other practitioners to see how we can support each other and our community in a deeper way.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am Brittany Petrick, acupuncturist, TCM herbalist, and owner of Harmonizing Healthcare: Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine Clinic. My journey in healthcare began in 2002, first as a CNA in nursing homes and later as a Registered Nurse for nearly a decade. Over time, I began to feel disheartened—frustrated with the limitations of the healthcare system and saddened that I wasn’t making the meaningful impact I had envisioned.

After much reflection, I followed my passion for a more holistic, patient-centered approach, earning my Master’s in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine ( the Traditional Chinese Herbal Therapy aspect of the degree). Since then, I’ve never looked back.

Every day, I’m grateful to walk into my clinic and connect deeply with each person who comes through the door—listening to their stories, supporting their healing journey, and celebrating their progress. It’s incredibly rewarding to witness transformation happen—whether through the power of acupuncture, the careful refinement of herbal formulas, or meaningful conversations about lifestyle and nutrition for those open to exploring them.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
I owe much of who I am today to my parents. I grew up on a farm just outside a tiny town in North Dakota, and without any brothers, my sisters and I shared both the outdoor and indoor responsibilities. My dad was out in the fields from sunrise to sunset, taking breaks only when it rained—and even then, only if there wasn’t broken machinery to repair. My mom was a dedicated home health care nurse, always caring for others. She even helped start an ambulance squad from the ground up to ensure our rural community had access to emergency care.

From them, I learned the value of hard work, the importance of serving something greater than yourself, and how vital it is for a community to work together for the good of all.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
One of the most defining struggles in my life was my own health growing up. I had multiple food allergies at a time when that wasn’t widely recognized or understood. As a child, the foods I ate—especially corn or wheat—had a profound impact on my mood, emotions, and behavior. Growing up in rural North Dakota, resources were scarce, and my mom often faced skepticism just for mentioning “food allergies.” Maintaining an alternative diet was challenging with such limited options, but it taught me early on to pay attention to how food affected my body—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I’ll admit, I was a slow learner. True healing didn’t begin until my 20s, when I committed to avoiding trigger foods, focusing on food quality, and healing my gut to address the root causes of my allergies. It was a long, self-directed journey filled with reading, researching, and deep self-reflection.

I often say, “Our biggest challenges are our biggest gifts, and our biggest gifts are our biggest challenges.” My experience with food allergies forced me to understand the deep connection between what we eat and how we feel—exploring everything from toxins, pesticides, hormones, and GMOs to processing, additives, and pathogens. That journey not only healed me, but also gave me the knowledge and empathy to help others navigate their own healing paths.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest misconceptions in the healthcare industry is the belief that health is simply the absence of disease. True health is so much more than that—it’s about balance in every aspect of life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Health means quality of life. It’s the ability to experience the full spectrum of emotions, feel them deeply, and allow them to move through you. It’s having a sense of community and meaningful human connection. It’s taking time to reflect on your internal journey.

Health is waking up each morning with purpose, inspiration, and energy. It’s allowing your body to experience and move through illness rather than suppressing symptoms.

Each person’s version of health will look different, shaped by their genetics, resources, support systems, and life experiences. The real work—and the real gift—is meeting people exactly where they are and finding ways to enrich their lives and improve their quality of life.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I truly feel like I’m doing what I was born to do. Growing up, I didn’t even know acupuncture existed—yet now, I can’t imagine my life without it. I love walking into the clinic each day, surrounded by wonderful people, and feeling deeply fulfilled by the work I do.

For me, it’s about more than just a career—it’s about contributing to a better world, making a positive difference, and helping people feel better in whatever way they need. I’ve always been drawn to the helping and healing professions because I genuinely care about people and hold deep compassion for the human experience and the journey each person walks.

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