It's been nearly an hour, but you remain patiently seated in the exam room. You saw every specialist leading up to this visit, diligently followed each instruction, and endured the recommended tests. No matter your discomfort, you swallowed the prescriptions.
"It was worth it," you think. You'll get answers today, and the road to recovery will begin.
When the doctor finally enters, it's only for a minute; he congratulates you on a clean bill of health. "You're good to go," he says before leaving. But you aren't.
We've all been there. The moment you realize you're in the wrong place, and after everything you've experienced, the lingering uneasiness is the most difficult pill to swallow.
Alex Strong, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, is changing the narrative, opening Forte Wellness off S. Calhoun Street in Fort Worth after nearly a decade in family medicine at Baylor Family Medicine in Weatherford. Forte Wellness is Strong's prescription for the broken healthcare system she saw from within, offering holistic, individualized treatment options with patient-driven results.
"I saw a lot of preventable things," Strong says. To her, the system was backward, relying too heavily on pharmaceuticals and treatments that appeased insurance companies, so she left it all behind, trusting her familial penchant for entrepreneurship would kick in.
"My father was an incredible man," she says. "He left home at 16 due to a difficult upbringing and ended up in Albuquerque at 18, working for a steel manufacturing company specializing in large hauling systems for construction and mining. It brought him success."
The story taught Strong that good things happen to those bold enough to act. Fittingly, she named her practice "Forte" (pronounced fôrt), meaning "strong" in Italian, a nod to her last name and Fort Worth, and worked out of a friend's med spa while she saved for an office.
Six months ago, Strong toured her space off S. Calhoun, and in February 2025, she celebrated a year of seeing patients her way. The whirlwind journey is one even Strong struggles to believe. On the office door is a bee, Forte's logo delicately transferred to the glass in gold, a symbol reminding her of her father and the power of his and her will.
"Theoretically, bees are impossible," she laughs. "Their wing size-to-body mass ratio defies physics; they shouldn't be able to fly."
The bee's resiliency also encourages hope, as many of Strong's patients find her after exhausting traditional healthcare channels. During the first appointment at Forte Wellness, Strong asks in-depth questions to comprehensively understand a client's health.
"My approach includes understanding the root of things," Strong explains. "Were they a C-section birth? Did they breastfeed or bottle-feed? What's their birth order? Have they experienced trauma? All of these factors affect health and development."
Strong emphasizes gut health as a foundation for overall wellness.
"Gut health is so important because it's how your body absorbs nutrients, minerals, and fluid," she says. "That's where the life of your body begins." The gut affects mental health as well, where Strong says there are 10 times as many serotonin receptors in your abdomen than your brain. She warns that antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria within the gut biome.
"People who take antibiotics have a 23% increased risk of developing depressive symptoms."
With the gut still in mind, nutrition is a key pillar of Strong's wellness philosophy.
"Most of the food we eat falls short of what our bodies need," she says. "It's overly processed, lacking nutrients, and contains fillers and chemical dyes. Without correcting this first, other interventions won't be as effective."
Accepting the effect of mental health on a person's physical health is another cornerstone of Strong's practice.
"Almost 70% of my patients when I was in family medicine had some sort of mental health condition," she says.
Strong acknowledges how the moving and integrated parts of health can become overwhelming for patients, so she tailors treatment to fit their financial and processing needs.
"I give my patients multiple options and implement whatever they feel most comfortable with," she says. "As long as it's a safe treatment plan." Her goal is to move away from over-reliance on medication and toward sustainable, preventive care that encourages overall health.
Insurance standards substantially dictated and restricted care options within the traditional healthcare system during Strong's tenure, so Forte Wellness operates outside of insurance. Out-of-pocket care may seem exorbitant to some, but Strong counsels, "Your Wellness is Worth It," referencing the Forte Wellness motto.
"So often we prioritize things before our health," she says. "But we can only put it off until our body forces us to prioritize it; that cost can be devastating. It's worth taking care of yourself now, even if that means sacrificing certain things."
Strong continues to expand her knowledge and skills, working towards a functional medicine certification that aligns with her wellness ideologies.
She encourages anyone feeling lost within the modern healthcare system to schedule a consultation at Forte Wellness.
"We will go through medical and personal history and devise a plan," she says. "I'll go down rabbit holes until I find a treatment that works. I won't give up."