Alumni Spotlight: Cassie Christopher, MS, RDN

Cassie Christopher, MS, RDN, sat down with us to reflect on her journey from business undergrad to passionate wellness advocate, speaker, and workplace well-being strategist. A Bastyr University alumna, Cassie brings heart, humor, and a systems-thinking approach to the field of nutrition and employee wellness, particularly in the high-stress world of first responders.

In this conversation, she shares how Bastyr’s holistic curriculum and strong counseling foundation shaped her work, the lessons she’s learned building a career in both startups and public service, and why slowing down and tuning into joy can be just as important as clinical knowledge. Now leading wellness initiatives at the Everett Police Department and collaborating with fellow Bastyr graduates, Cassie is helping shift how organizations think about health, from counting steps to cultivating real cultural change.

So why did you choose Bastyr? 
One part was the emphasis on natural health and understanding ways to improve health more holistically. The holistic focus is important when it comes to nutrition, because if we're only focusing on food, we're missing a lot of important pieces for someone's health and the pieces that influence what they eat.  The other reason was that Bastyr's program had several counseling classes.  For me, when I was comparing curriculum across several programs local to Washington, I valued the emphasis on helping someone change their behaviors with the counseling piece as opposed to just telling someone what to do or, you know, having more of the research angle.

What was your educational trajectory? 
Before I came to Bastyr, I got my undergrad in business at the University of Washington and came in with a focus on entrepreneurship as well. The idea of having my own business doing my own thing was certainly something I was interested in. Then I came to Bastyr and totally drank the proverbial nettle tea. I loved everything about how our bodies reach their fullest potential when we're caring for them in specific, aligned ways so my education at Bastyr led me to a Dietetic internship that had a focus in worksite wellness. I found that I really enjoyed the ability to have an  impact on a larger number of people.  I saw the ways that work negatively impacts people's health.  
After that, I started working for a couple of startups right out of school and learned new ways of using technology, new ways of using data and then adding in the behavior change piece. 
My Bastyr background was really prized in that context because I understood how the body worked together, the system approach. 

What was your career path after you completed your degree and dietetic internship?

Both the startups I worked for closed for various reasons so I started working for myself. I really focused on emotional eating, and I worked with a lot of post-menopausal women. That was an area that I also felt like I uniquely could understand because of the holistic training I received. Emotional eating really has nothing to do with food. It's an avoidant coping strategy.

Then I got the bug to get back into public speaking and worksite wellness was really the way to do that. When I was at Bastyr, we did some public speaking.  I started going to regional worksite wellness gatherings and HR gatherings and built my business. As a contractor providing wellness services in local organizations, it was so fun to meet these employees who are so passionate and  interested in health. And then, I'd never see them again or only see them quarterly or twice a year as I continue to do repeat events. I saw an opportunity to provide more and different types of support in the workplace.
 

There's a lot of really great data that's come out and I think COVID specifically influenced a lot of studies on how to keep workers well because burnout is unprecedented.  People are not well, there is a mental health crisis, loneliness epidemic, so many things.  Corporations and local governments are recognizing that all of these factors are influencing their profitability and efficacy. For example, law enforcement is losing their ability to retain people because workers are stretched thin.  These entities are understanding in a new way that wellness is really important and needed and people are thinking about investing in a new way.  But we have to think beyond the traditional “give everyone a pedometer” and see what happens – we need organizational change to improve well-being, Policies and procedures, management styles and culture change, all these things can make such a big difference for wellness. 

I found that I really wanted to spend more time with one population and get to see their change over time . An opportunity came up with the Everett Police Department where they were essentially looking for someone to design a holistic well-being program.  So, I came on and started doing that in June of 2024. 
 

Opportunities in this field and networking.

In the field of wellness there's opportunity for innovation, and research. I also foresee lots of opportunity with police and first responders specifically in the near future. If worksite wellness is of interest, It's important to learn how to network and partner with  organizations.  In the first responder field, many organizations want wellness programming but they may not know how to find someone that has the skill set

Regarding the broader term of networking,
the really cool thing about government work, specifically with first responders, is that they are so generous to share their knowledge.  For example, I just had a call with a gentleman in Colorado who works with a Sheriff's Department.  They have a model policy where they allow people to get help for substance abuse, alcohol abuse, mental health treatment, etc.  Their policy includes assurances again negative repercussions for their career.  He was so generous to share his experience of how this policy is supporting their staff, and that’s just one example of the knowledge sharing that happens in this field. I also recommend people attend and apply to speak at conferences, we all get to learn from each other. If anyone's interested in police wellness or first responder wellness more broadly, networking with people doing this work is a great way to learn about opportunities. 

Since I began working in this role, we received grant funding to provide nutrition counseling to our staff. We went through a formal procurement process and a Bastyr graduate, Alexa Halling, won the contract and she is doing a fantastic job. And really, it's been a successful program.  A lot of her success is because of her willingness to understand the culture and really become culturally competent in law enforcement.  She provides one-on-one services, and she's also doing nutrition group trainings for our Regional Training Academy, which includes most municipalities in north Snohomish County, she reaching more people, our staff are getting a holistic approach to nutrition. Plus, we're having a lot of fun. 

If you could go back and talk to yourself as a first-year nutrition student, what would you have told yourself, knowing what you know now?  Would you have done anything differently?

I got hyper focused on my studies and my time at Bastyr was stressful, as only 50% of graduates got into internships nationwide at that time.  What I would tell myself, honestly, is to “cool it”. The pressure made my life difficult personally, on my health, etc.   More recently, I won a storytelling competition through the National Speaker Association, where I talk about having a panic attack my second year of school. It was a stressful program for sure, so all of that to say, I would have told myself to “cool it” and I would have recommended I take better care of myself. For those struggling, I would encourage them to be present. There is so much to learn while at Bastyr, so much interesting stuff is coming at you.  Pay attention to the things that seem most interesting and exciting to you.  At every job, I took it because I thought I'd learn something.  Each opportunity has taught me something different. Letting myself be led in a direction that feels compelling and fun, has led to a really interesting and exciting career.