What is it you do, exactly?

"What do you do?" It's a common social question. It gives a lot of information in a few words. People say, "I'm a nurse; I'm a plumber; I'm an administrative assistant; I'm a mechanic; I teach second grade," and the people asking the question form some sort of idea about the person they asked based on their vocation.

That is not necessarily true with a naturopath. "I'm a naturopath," often gets met with, "Do you mean osteopath?" "No, I mean naturopath." "What's that. I never heard of it." 

So I thought I would take a few minutes to answer the question, "What do I do?"
First of all, I am philosophically committed to as many people as possible living a holistically healthy lifestyle. Good food, good water, good environment, good movement, good enzymes, good supplements, good air. I'm really sure there are other components than those.

So, I problem solve, and I teach. Well, first I assess people to find out what's going on with them. Naturopathic assessments are pretty comprehensive. I need to get a series of "snapshots" about a person's current wellness status, and that takes some time. So, there's a questionnaire. Everything goes more smoothly if it gets done and submitted to me at least 24 hours in advance so I at least have an idea about what direction we need to go together on the client's wellness journey. Then I take a pretty comprehensive look at how the client's body and emotions are functioning. So, I do some biometric measurements and other physical assessments. I don't treat medical issues, and if the biometrics uncover, for instance, some really high blood pressure, I'm going to say, "See your medical practitioner." I can still make adjunct recommendations to go along with that, but I can't treat, for instance, really high blood pressure. Blood pressure on the low end of "high" very often responds to lifestyle changes, and that is completely within my scope of practice. I'm going to look at a client's eyes, tongue, skin, gait, a variety of things. I also want to at least look a person's urine and saliva and check for some specific markers there. Sometimes, I want to look at some blood tests, as well. As it turns out, I am a pretty proficient phlebotomist, and once I get a new contract with a direct lab, blood can be collected right in my office. And, as I said, however, all this takes some time.

The first appointment will last an hour and a half to two hours. I know, grueling, right? But here's the good news: the second appointment, which is where we develop a plan to proceed together in supporting the client's wellness journey, takes about an hour - some people take an hour and a half - and it's free. I figure I owe a person one for taking so much time for the first appointment.

We typically look at the three most important issues for the client. This is the client's wellness journey, after all. The body is a whole unit, not a collection of parts, and when we address the three things that are most important to the client, we often find that other things start to fall in line "just because" - because the body is a whole unit, not a collection of parts. I made some educated recommendations, we negotiate how that will work for the client, and in the process we develop a plan the client can actually live with and stick to. A plan a client isn't going to follow does no one any good whatsoever.

Now wait, that doesn't mean a client gets to just continue doing things the same way s/he's been doing them, expecting different results. Remember when it was said that that's a definition of insanity? Well, it is. And that doesn't mean a client and I aren't going to occasionally have a come-to-Jesus conversation. I had one of those with a grossly obese pastor who was convinced that God would protect him from the consequences of his really unhealthy lifestyle. I ragged on him for a while, he sheepishly told me, "My wife says all those same things." I know the Bible pretty well, so I told him, "God gave her to you for a helpmate, not for a servant. When she's telling you these things, she's fulfilling her role as your helpmate. You need to listen to her." I don't know how he turned out. I didn't see him again, and I was OK with that. I hope he thought it through and changed his lifestyle and had a decently long life.

Does that sound a lot like coaching? It is. In fact, it's similar enough that I obtained training in Life Coaching and Women's Wellness Coaching, and I'm currently studying to become a Certified Integrative Health Functional Medicine Coach.

I have a lot of overlapping credentials. It's how I practice legally in the United States. My primary credential is that I am a Board Certified Naturopathic Doctor - a traditional naturopath. I used to be a counselor. I gave that up and obtained the natural wellness credential for mental health: Certified Integrative Mental Health Practitioner. I get to do the fun, adjunct stuff with people to support their emotional wellness with that credential. During COVID, I studied hard and obtained a Doctor of Sacred Religious Healing. Does that make me a faith healer? Eh... not yet, anyway. Maybe later. I am, however, ordained as a healing minister. With those credentials, I can put essential oils on people, and recommend food changes in every state. Believe it or not, there are states that won't allow a naturopath to use essential oils or tell people that some foods and types of water are better for them than others.

I am trained and certified to do a variety of body work and energy work. This kind of work is so important in natural wellness! Why? It generally triggers the relaxation response which is a healing response. I typically like to have my clients experience more than one type of body work and energy, to learn to know their body well enough to come in and say, "I think I need reflexology today," or "I think I need acupressure today," or "I'm upset, I really need to do some tapping today, " or to identify some other modality they need that day. I find that I schedule a specific modality a week or two out, that might not be the one they need when they show up.

Let's talk about insurance. Most states to not allow traditional naturopaths to bill insurance. I know - not fair. But it is what it is. The insurance industry rules the world, and you'd better believe that one. Some ERISA plans will reimburse for certain types of naturopathic services, some will cover some naturopathic services under their HSA account provided the client comes in on referral by an approved provider. That is all very individualized to both the insurance company and the specific plan. Young Living Health Plans typically reimburse a portion of naturopathic services. Once I become a Certified Integrated Health Functional Medicine Coach, more insurances are willing to pay for those services.
    
That, in a nutshell, is what I do as a naturopath. It doesn't cover everything. For instance, I didn't even mention homeopathic remedies or Bach flowers, and they can be very powerful adjuncts to other forms of treatment.  

 There's still another thing I do: I teach BLS/CPR/AED/FA and Narcan and Universal Precautions. Why? Because, nothing is more natural than breathing and having a heartbeat.