It is your right to have access to good quality healthcare regardless of your age, gender, religion, skin colour, body size or physical ability. I incorporate evolving strategies of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility principles into my practice in order to make sure your experience with me, is as comfortable as possible.
1) First Do no Harm
If you cut yourself, that cut will heal in a few days. This is an example of how your body is naturally programmed to heal. Many symptoms are actually a sign that the body is struggling to heal and its using these symptoms to get your attention. My job is to translate what your body is telling you, so that we can support the bodies natural ability to heal as much as possible.
2) Facilitate the healing power of nature
I absolutely want to give you symptom control for whatever your concern is. But I also want to address the root cause of these symptoms. Typically, if we can address your symptom from multiple angles, you will see faster and more long lasting results.
3) treat the cause
As I mentioned earlier, I can talk! But there is a method to my chattiness. The goal is to explain the basic anatomy/physiology of your concerns and the potential impact treatment may have. I believe it is important for you to have this information so you can make informed decisions. The goal is to help you feel involved and empowered in the health decisions you make while we work together.
4) Doctor as teacher
In medicine, we typically like to break the body up into pieces and pretend that those pieces don’t interact with each other, when that just isn’t the case. Blood, hormones and neurotransmitters are constantly moving around the body communicating with organs, muscles and nerves. This is why you may get a nervous stomach before public speaking - because the brain and the gut are actually closely related and always communicating even though they don’t live in the same area of the body. In Naturopathic Medicine, we try to respect that every person is a unique combination of body, mind and experiences and that means tailoring a unique treatment plan for you alone.
5) Treat the whole person
Laughter may be the best medicine in some cases, but I’ll bet on prevention every time! We have ample research outlining which lifestyle choices will lead to better health later in life. Even small lifestyle changes today, can have huge impact on disease prevention, quality of life markers and chronic disease reversal. Many of my clients have seen family members struggle and want to prevent similar stories for themselves.
6) Prevention is key
"Health is more than just the absence of disease; it is a vital dynamic state which enables a person to adapt to, and thrive in a wide range of environments."
-Iva Lloyd, ND