Debbie and her husband, Bill, are the founders of Turning Tides, LLC dba Turning Tides With Dr. Hutch.
I come from a place where it is more important to allow people to see you in the raw, as a real person who truly understands the struggles of those who have experienced real life. So, first off, I am a mom of three, a grammie of four, and a GREAT grammie of one. I’ve been married to my husband since 1984. We are a retired military family; therefore, we get the rewards and struggles that accompany that life. I believe in treating all people the same, regardless of their race, religion, socioeconomic status, and/or life choices – I am not here to judge you!
I don’t base my performance and/or how I do life, personal or professional, on how much money I may get from it. I’ve lived with it and without it. Life is easier with it than without it because there is more opportunity to bless those in need. I know how it feels to be stuck, and not knowing how to get unstuck is quite a nightmare way to live. I believe in multiple streams of income; one day, I may be too old to support myself; therefore, I totally get the fact that investing in one’s future is a critical piece to living life.
I’ve had an alcohol problem and drug problem; I’ve seen firsthand how it can affect the person, the entire family, and the outside-social system of a person’s life. I’ve been a bystander and painstakingly watched alcohol destroy lives and families. You may say, well, that’s alcohol. Ok, fair enough; I’ve also watched people stick needles in their arms and look me in the face and not know who I was or who they were within a matter of seconds.
I’ve experienced and witnessed people struggle with mental and/or emotional health. I’ve seen the devastating side effects of what pharmaceutical drugs can do to a person’s mind and body. I’ve witnessed and experienced firsthand the medical system turning someone away who didn’t have the means to pay but desperately needed help. I’ve been that person and had to figure out how to obtain the funds to pay. So, I know how it feels when you are in need and do not have the means.
I hope you understand that everyone in this organization is here because we love people. We strongly desire to support you in your health journey in all the ways we can. Please respect the fact for us to do this; it does take money. We want to provide the best possible service and support to every paying client and those struggling financially. We want to give back to our community, whether in person or online. We have set up several advocacy projects to fulfill our hearts’ desire to give back and ultimately provide support to those less fortunate and those who have sacrificed through serving our military. We encourage each of you who have taken the time to read this to check out these projects so you, too, will understand how the money we are bringing in is being utilized to give back. So yes, we intend to make a profit (this is a for-profit company), so we that are here to support you and our community, can also support our own families and meet our needs.
My most favorite thing to do is to spend time with my family. I also love to read, ride my bike, jump on my rebounder trampoline (you should try it too).
As if you could not tell already; I love the ocean, it is my happy place, my meditation station, and my soul’s yearning desire for a healing sanctuary. I love community, I love people, and I love Jesus, and because of this my life is more meaningful with all these things than it is without them.
Thank you for your time, and God bless your health journey.
Debbie Hutchinson DCN, CNS, LDN, MS, BS-Psy, CHHC, IFMCP-c
Dr. Deborah Renee’ Hutchinson is a Functional Medicine trained Doctor of Clinical Nutrition. A nationally licensed Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (LDN), she loves learning and taking this knowledge back to her clinical practice and classroom. She goes beyond her academic training to learn more to stay on top of cutting-edge research and gain clinical pearls from her mentors. She is also an academic professor at the Huntington University of Health Sciences, where she teaches various nutrition, psychology, and business courses at the bachelor, master, and doctorate levels. Her interest is to help her clients optimize a personalized nutrition and lifestyle plan for recovery.
Her focus through academics as it allowed was to research brain health and addictions to support her clients in optimizing a personalized nutrition and lifestyle-focused recovery plan. She quickly discovered that brain health was a multifactorial body system problem, thus allowing her to dive deeper into all the possible pathways that may lead to probable root causes.
She graduated from the Maryland University of Integrative Health with a Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition centered on a functional medicine approach. Debbie graduated with a Master of Science in human nutrition with honors through the prestigious University of Bridgeport, where her course work was heavily centered on biochemistry and how micronutrients & cofactors impact critical metabolic pathways, which are known to influence behavior and drive addictions, brain problems, emotional struggles, and many chronic health concerns we see so prevalent today. She graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with an emphasis in addiction through Regent University.
She is a candidate for the Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner exam and case report, which is considered the Gold Standard of Functional Medicine training. It is a rigorous course of 7 modules, plus a screening process to be accepted to sit for the board exam. The board exam includes seven modules, a case report, and a 200-question written exam. Current annual membership and another written exam are required every ten years.
Her academic and extra training includes functional neurology, functional immunology, functional endocrinology, cardiometabolic, Functional gastrointestinal, hormones, bioenergetics, environmental, genetics, epigenetics, and nutrigenomics, among others.
She is a three time peer-reviewed published author and actively working on several papers to be submitted for publication with her colleagues and one of her own.
Her work is centered on an evidence-based approach that utilizes conventional and functional medicine labs and tools to help locate root causes influencing one’s ability to heal. Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is at the forefront of some of these important tools. Her work with her clients is comprehensive, and she highly recommends social support from families, loved ones, and the client’s medical support team.
She volunteers as a facilitator for the monthly Grand Rounds through The American Nutrition Association.
Founder of a non-profit: Astounding Victory Over Intoxicating Drugs
She is currently the secretary on the board of a non-profit supporting a functional medicine approach called True Paleo, Inc.
She is honored to be chosen as one of the Functional Medicine doctors to participate on the #Samehere Global Mental Health Movement website.
Dr. Hutch’s goals for the coming year are to obtain her certification through Dr. Dale Bredesen’s ReCODE and Dr. Shoemaker’s certification for biotoxin illness. Both areas have been a great interest of Dr. Hutchinson and ones she has taken classes for, researched, and worked with clients over the past several years.
For a comprehensive view of Dr. Hutchinson’s career, academics, and continued education, please click here for her CV.