We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful MIchelle Clay. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with MIchelle below.

MIchelle, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Many years ago, when I was working in the ICU, I cared for a patient for a couple of nights who was very ill and not allowed to eat or drink. One night he was so parched that I gave him a peppermint candy just so he could moisten his mouth. It was such a small thing, but he was incredibly grateful. After he was discharged, he sent flowers for the whole unit and a box of chocolates just for me.

A few weeks later, I stopped by his room on the medical floor to check on him, and we had a nice visit — he was one of those patients I just really connected with. Then, about two years later, there was an unexpected knock on my door. It was him — standing there with a small wrapped box. He told me that he had started a nursing scholarship at the college I attended, in my honor. It was one of the kindest, most humbling things anyone has ever done for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Michelle Clay, a Family Nurse Practitioner and founder of Balanced Health, where we help people uncover and correct the root causes of why they don’t feel well — whether that’s hormone imbalance, metabolic issues, or other underlying factors that often get overlooked in conventional medicine.

My journey into this work started in conventional healthcare, where I saw patients constantly being told that “everything looks fine,” even when they were clearly struggling. I realized how often symptoms were simply being managed instead of understood. That disconnect is what led me to functional medicine — an approach that looks at the whole person and asks why the body is out of balance, rather than just trying to silence the symptoms.

At Balanced Health, our goal is to help people restore health from the inside out through a mix of advanced lab testing, personalized nutrition and lifestyle guidance, and — when needed — targeted prescriptions such as GLP-1s or hormone replacement therapy. But everything we do starts with listening. We take time to truly understand each person’s story, identify what’s driving their symptoms, and create a plan that helps them feel like themselves again.

What I’m most proud of is how personal and effective our care has become. We’ve helped over a thousand patients lose weight, balance their hormones, and regain their energy — and many of them tell us it’s the first time they’ve ever felt heard by a medical provider.

What sets us apart is that we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all medicine. Every plan is customized, every dose is intentional, and our focus is always on healing the root cause. At the heart of it, our mission is simple: to restore balance so your body can do what it was designed to do — heal itself.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Other than knowledge and training, I think the most important quality for succeeding in this field is understanding and compassion. Patients don’t just want a diagnosis — they want to feel heard, validated, and cared for.

In functional medicine, we see people who have often spent years being told “everything looks fine,” even though they know something isn’t right. If you can approach those patients with genuine empathy and curiosity — really take the time to listen and understand their story — that’s where true healing starts.

Compassion changes everything. It allows you to connect, to see patterns that might otherwise be missed, and to create a plan that fits not just a person’s lab results, but their life. I think that’s what separates a good provider from a great one — the ability to combine medical knowledge with real human understanding.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Absolutely — I would choose the same profession again without hesitation. When I decided to go into nursing right out of high school at 18, I honestly didn’t even fully understand what nurses did. Thankfully, it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

What I love most about nursing is the variety — there are so many different paths and specialties you can take, but they all share the same core purpose: helping people. Over the years I’ve had the chance to do so many different things in healthcare, and each one has shaped how I care for patients today.

Becoming a nurse practitioner was simply an extension of that purpose — another layer of being a nurse. It allows me to combine the science of medicine with the compassion and connection that first drew me to nursing in the beginning. I truly can’t imagine doing anything else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.michelleclayfnp.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleclayfnp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelleclayfnp
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@michelleclay3535