About
Hi, I'm Michelle.
Founder of Areté Women's Integrative Medicine. Dual board-certified nurse practitioner. Western Slope, Colorado.
Michelle Mullins, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC
My Story
I spent the first decade of my career in some of the hardest corners of medicine, critical care, flight nursing through Colorado's mountain corridors, hospitalist medicine in an academic medical center, and primary and urgent care in rural Colorado communities.
Conventional medicine gave me the foundation I rely on: diagnostic rigor, evidence-based decision making, and the discipline of making careful calls when the stakes are high.
But I kept hearing the same story from the women in my life: fatigue that lingered, symptoms that affected their daily lives, lab results that offered no explanation and they were told they were fine.
They weren't fine. They were unheard.
I'd spent ten years learning to rescue people from acute crisis and almost nothing learning to prevent the slow, quiet decline that brings most women into clinics in the first place. So I started training differently.
Conventional medicine taught me to treat what's broken. I wanted to learn how to keep women whole.
I built Areté because too many women, running businesses, raising kids, training for what's next, or simply trying to feel like themselves again, are getting dismissed, rushed, or handed a prescription without anyone looking at the whole picture.
I built it because I'm one of those women too. I've trained for bike races and endurance adventures, and I'm a snowboarder, hiker, and climber. I know what it means to want a body that can do hard things, and a clinician who understands that "feeling fine" isn't the goal.
Areté is the kind of medicine I want for the women in my own life. Comprehensive. Root-cause. Built around the whole person.
Training & Background
Acute-care depth, functional-medicine lens.
Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Family Nurse Practitioner, Maryville University. Advanced Practice Fellowship in Hospitalist Medicine, University of Colorado Hospital.
I trained through the Institute for Functional Medicine and studied women's physiology, metabolic health, performance and hormone function with leaders in the field, including Stacy Sims and Heather Hirsch. I have also completed additional training through the The Menopause Society and maintain ongoing education to stay current with the latest evidence.
Pairing acute-care depth with functional medicine training is intentional, it's what lets me see women's health with both rigor and the wider lens.
Outside the Clinic
I live near Ridgway, in southwest Colorado with my husband. I love the mountains and being outside, and I want the kind of body that keeps doing the things I love into my 60s and beyond. The evidence-based strategies I recommend to my patients are the same ones I use to support my own health and longevity.
I've also done medical missions in Guatemala and Nicaragua, including independent women's health work in rural communities. That work taught me great care doesn't require a fancy office. It requires presence, listening, and showing up.
Want to talk?
The free 15-minute discovery call is the easiest way to find out if I'm the right fit. I'll learn about what's going on, what you're hoping for, and whether Areté is the right place for you right now. No pressure.