Of course, I’m biased and there are a lot of great reasons to work with a holistic health practitioner, but I believe, here are the top seven reasons to find one:
1. Offer support for clients that want to stop taking prescriptions
The majority of my clients are ultimately wanting to stop taking, or get lower dosages, of their medications. Unfortunately, it is difficult to go off some medications cold turkey (e.g. heartburn medications), but as I’ve heard from my clients, frequently many medications create new symptoms over time.
There are numerous practitioners that can help you start taking medications, but very few that support clients that want to cease taking them. To support these clients, the first step is addressing the original root cause that created the symptom which is being medication and then offering support if clients elect to discontinue the medication.
2. We really want to hear your whole story – and dedicate time to it
I want to hear every client’s story. Our stories and histories are so important and I believe we rarely have an audience that wants to hear it word-for-word and even asks for more detail. I love this part of my 2-hour initial consultation as it really gives me a better understanding of my client and her perspective. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-c-senelick-md/patient-care_b_1410115.html
I’ve even noticed an interesting trend in my practice in which a key piece of information comes out at the 1 ½ hour mark. I get things like ‘oh, I had open heart surgery’ come up an hour and a half into our initial consultation which suggests to me that our own ‘normal’ gets sometimes gets minimized unless someone is curious and encouraging it.
3. We benefit from hearing your whole story
The benefit of hearing your whole story is that it frequently can answer some outstanding questions of what is going on and why. I love to draw myself a timeline during the story and when clients say ‘I haven’t felt good for 10 years’, I get to ask what significant life events happened 10 years ago. Sometimes, the client hears themselves say ‘I started or stopped a certain medication’, ‘I got a divorce’, or a milder symptom had already started. http://epiphany-health.com/holistic-health-appointment/
4. We do ‘pre-diseaseonal’
I know pre-diseaseonal is not a word, but a friend of mine who is a nurse came up with it to describe why she thinks naturopathy has an important place. Naturopaths and some holistic health practitioners look at the iris of the eye, whites of the eye, tongue, face, hair, nails and do muscle response testing among other assessments. These tools can help to identify weakness / issues in the body before they become a disease state. Typically in conventional medicine, a condition must progress to a disease state in order to be identified. I would rather stop its progression before it ever gets there.
5. Programs are customized to the individual
As a holistic health practitioner, I don’t have any standard protocols that I can give to everyone with the same symptoms or diagnosis. Everyone is an individual with unique genes, blood type, life experiences, tendencies and beliefs. Therefore each program is customized to the individual and I can confirm that no program is alike (just as no 2 people are alike).
6. I’ll meet you where you are
I tend to be a pragmatist and don’t always eat right and exercise. Similarly I have clients that don’t want to change one thing about their diet, or stop smoking, or lose weight, or any number of other habits that we each have for so many reasonable reasons.
I am happy to meet each client where they are and am pretty good at the give and take program development in order to help them meet their goals within their parameters. I once had a client mention an item from a 12-step program which states that ‘you’re only as sick as your secrets’. I am not even close to perfect, and am carrying extra weight and have a weakness for potato chips, so I’m happy to meet my clients where they are and just want them to be authentic and honest as I have no room to judge.
7. You get to keep your clothes on
I don’t know about you but stripping down into a hospital gown is pretty intimidating and just makes me feel flustered. I am especially uncomfortable when asked to change even before I’ve talked to the doctor (especially a new one).
As a holistic health practitioner, I will certainly ask to see your bare feet, any tattoos or scars, or varicose / spider veins but my clients get to keep their clothes on – which works for both of us.
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