Katherine Ricossa, PhD, MS, RN, PHN
Director of Professional Development
HeartMath® Certified Trainer
WCSI Caritas Coach®
KP CCEP Faculty
Katherine Ricossa, PhD, MS, RN, PHN is currently the Director of Professional Development, at Kaiser Permanente (KP) in Santa Clara, CA. In her role, she oversees education and training supports technology outages, policies, and procedures, Falls and HAPI Prevention, Research and Innovation and Caritas in Action.
She has been in nursing for more than four decades. Kathy held a variety of positions in nursing: clinical practices in ortho/neuro, associate faculty at community college and university. She has had many opportunities to gain experience and flourish in her nursing career which has enabled her to have such a varied skillset.
Her journey with Caring Science began in 2010 when KP Northern California brought in the Theory of Human Caring to each facility. She fell in love with Jean Watson’s work and decided to use her underpinning as her theoretical framework for her dissertation. Dr Watson’s work had come alive and embodied all the characteristics of caring that was not defined in her practice. With the educational opportunities she obtained, this work became clear as a science. She was able to communicate practices through caring literacy. She became a Heart Math Trainer, Certified Caritas Coach, led the Caritas in Action Committee at KP SCL, applied Caring Science to all projects within the facility, and sponsored evidence-based self-care activities featured during Nursing Week at the Parade of Posters. She has presented at many conferences about her work in Caring Science. In 2023, KP Santa Clara was honored to be the first KP nationally and third internationally recipient of the Lotus Award. Kathy considers herself incredibly fortunate to share the Theory of Human Caring with you as you embark on this life-altering journey through the Caritas Coach Education Program®.
To balance out all of her energy practices Susan pursues being in nature, hiking and rock climbing.