Meet Dr. Kate Nielsen
I didn't become a chiropractor because I wanted to fix people. I became a chiropractor because I wanted to enter their story right where they are. To be a guide, not just a provider. To walk alongside families through the seasons of their health journey rather than simply treating them and sending them on their way.
From the very beginning I knew I wanted to work in healthcare differently. Not in a model where I only saw people when something was wrong. Not in a system where the goal was to get them out of pain and out the door. I wanted to be the kind of provider who gets to watch families grow. Who knows your kids by name. Who is part of your health story for the long haul, not just the hard moments.
That's what Essence Family Chiropractic is built on. Relationships. Real ones. With real families navigating real life.
A Little About Me
I am a mom of four. Ezra, Elijah, and Eliana came into my life as my stepchildren and I love them as my own. Owen is my biological son, and his arrival into this world is a story that lives at the very heart of everything I do.
I had the most beautiful pregnancy. I credit chiropractic care and BIRTHFIT style fitness for helping it be that way. I moved my body intentionally, I trusted the process, and I chose a midwife who believed in me and in the wisdom of my body the same way I did.
When the night came, it was around 10pm. Our home was quiet and warm. Nothing sterile. Nothing clinical. Just our space, our people, and the kind of atmosphere where I felt completely held and completely free at the same time.
What I remember most is the feeling. Complete bliss. Something sacred and unhurried. I wasn't being managed or monitored or told what to do. I was working with Owen and with my own body, moving intuitively, instinctually, the way women have always done this. Every movement felt purposeful. Every moment felt like exactly what it was supposed to be.
My mom was there. Our midwives were there, present and skilled and beautifully hands off in the way that only the best midwives know how to be. And Atlas, our girl, our dog, was there too. She was completely calm the entire time, just quietly observing from her corner of the room. She gave what I can only describe as silent support. At some point I forgot she was even there, which felt exactly right.
Adam was calm in a way that steadied me. And then, in the most peaceful moment I have ever known, Owen was born into the water and into our hands. We just stayed there. Still. Taking him in. There are no words that adequately describe what those first few quiet moments felt like, so we didn't try to find them right away. We just held him and let it wash over us completely.
After a while Adam looked up and said something I was not expecting. It's a boy. I had been so sure he was a girl. I was wrong. And I have never been so happy to be wrong in my life.
That night shaped me in ways I am still discovering. It deepened everything I already believed about what the body is capable of when it is supported, trusted, and left to do what it was designed to do. It made me more committed than ever to the families I serve. And it reminds me every single day why this work matters.
Why Prenatal and Pediatric Care
This was always the path. I never questioned it.
There is something about working with families during the most tender seasons of life, pregnancy, new parenthood, infancy, childhood, that feels like exactly where I am supposed to be. The nervous system work we do at EFC reaches people at the very beginning of their health story. And when you can shape that foundation early, the ripple effects are extraordinary.
I became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant because I kept seeing breastfeeding challenges in my practice that were rooted in nervous system dysfunction, and I wanted to be able to support families more completely. I became a BIRTHFIT Coach because I believe that how a woman prepares her body and mind for birth matters deeply. I completed advanced perinatal and pediatric training through The Perinatal Experience because I never want to stop learning how to serve this population better.
Every credential I have pursued has been in service of one thing: being able to show up more fully for the families who trust me with their care.
My Credentials
Doctor of Chiropractic, Logan University
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)
Webster Technique Certified
BIRTHFIT Coach
Advanced Perinatal Training, The Perinatal Experience
Pediatric Certification, The Pediatric Experience (credentialed through Life University)
INSiGHT Certified Provider
What I Want You to Know
At the end of the day I am a mom first. And that changes everything about how I practice.
I know what it feels like to grow a human and wonder if you're doing it right. I know what it feels like to hold a new baby and want nothing more than for them to thrive. I know what it feels like to watch your child struggle and wish with everything in you that you could make it easier.
I also believe deeply that God is the ultimate healer. He designed these bodies to be self healing and self regulating. My job is not to fix you. My job is to remove the interference and dysfunction that is getting in the way so your body can do what it was created to do, heal from above, down, inside out.
That belief shapes everything about how I practice and how I show up for my patients. It keeps me humble. It keeps me curious. And it reminds me every single day that the work we do here is about so much more than spinal adjustments.
When you come into EFC you will be seen. You will be heard. Whatever you are carrying, whatever challenges your family is facing, you will not be judged and you will not be dismissed. You will be met exactly where you are by someone who genuinely cares about what happens to your family.
That is a promise I make to every single person who walks through our doors.
Dr. Kate Nielsen, DC, IBCLC, BIRTHFIT Coach
Founder, Essence Family Chiropractic
Oconomowoc, WI