Sonya Barrs, APRN, FNP-C, is an American Academy of Nurse Practitioners board-certified family nurse practitioner working with adults and children over the age of five. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Rhode Island in 1998 and her master’s degree in nursing from Chamberlain University in 2018, holding membership in the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Sonya is a native Southeastern Connecticut resident going back at least five generations, with a strong investment in the Stonington/North Stonington/Westerly community, where she was raised and where she and her husband have raised their adult sons. She has a great deal of experience in both emergency medicine as a nurse, working in the Westerly Hospital Emergency Department for 20 years, and family medicine as an APRN provider with Country Doc Wellness in North Stonington for six years.
Sonya's approach as a provider is common sense: incorporating evidence-based practices along with patient-centered goal-setting strategies in hopes of optimizing wellness and addressing concerns. Her patients have said that her greatest strengths as a primary care provider are attentive listening to patients to address their specific needs and relying on years of experience and intuition to combine with up-to-date evidence to provide competent and compassionate care safely and effectively. Aside from her dedication to her family, Sonya's patients are her priority, and she makes every attempt to remain on schedule, as well as being respectful of the experiences her patients bring to the therapeutic relationship. She is a life-long learner as well, taking continuing education seriously, learning every day from patients and colleagues, and passing on her knowledge to the next generation of care providers in the APRN and Physician Associate roles, serving as a clinical preceptor for multiple NP and PA programs.
Sonya's goal for her patient partners is empowerment: to develop a team with patients and families and to strive to meet patients wherever they are in their health journey, realizing that health solutions are not one-size-fits-all. She sees her role as a guide through the healthcare system, providing you with well-thought-through options regarding your health and wellness so that you ultimately make the best, most well-informed decisions for yourself and your family.
