Naturopaths training Naturopaths

#naturopathstrainingnaturopaths is a passion of mine. As a collective group we as Naturopath's are a pretty unique and interesting bunch! No one comes to this profession without a love of nature, huge respect and wonder at the human body and a desire to learn and care for people.

I was lucky enough to enter this field on the day I turned 18, beginning study at what is now known as Endeavour College of Natural Medicine in Melbourne.

To be a Naturopath, particularly in the past and early years of my study and graduation, you had to be ok with a dinner party conversation where no one knew what you were studying or perhaps worse they were looking for your dread locks, weed or cauldron!

I was none of these things.... I love science and I wanted to help people, a little shove from my Dad and I was immersed in the truly amazing world of natural medicine as brought alive by my college lecturers like Dr Lesley Braun, Nicole Bijlsma, Nicola Reid, Susan Pitcher, Dr Isaac Golden, Ondine Spitzer and so many more.

This education, continual learning and profession as a whole has helped me build a nearly 16 year career which I have loved every day as a Clinician and Business Owner.

As the science has grown - with the help of quality educational institutions like Endeavour College, high quality researchers like Dr Amie Steel and Janet Schloss, Professor Jon Adams and academics like Professor Kerry Bone, Henry Osiecki and Professor Jarome Sarris - our industry has lifted. Lifted in line with, or in front of, the growing health conscience of the Australian consumer or maybe Western society as a whole.

Either way its with a sense of pride and great pleasure that I now call myself a Naturopath when that all too common question "So what do you do?" comes up. I answer boldly and with confidence from my 16 years of development, more than half my lifetime if you count the 5 years I studied.

Confidence because I know we will change the health care landscape of our country in the years to come. Statistically and financially health care has to change. The chronic disease crisis that grips the West will lead consumers to take a closer look at their diets, lifestyle, stress, sleep, exercise, relationships, nutrition, belief systems and look for alternatives to the polypharmacy that in many cases is not making people more unwell. These are all the foundations of Naturopathy and Functional Medicine.

In my pursuit of wellbeing solutions I travelled to the mecca of the modern healthcare crisis and the growing successes of complementary functional medicine... the USA, home of the Institute of Functional Medicine. IFM had been developed by or has educated the names I saw changing our future healthcare choices in the biggest ways.... and what they said made sense. Meeting them - Dr Mark Hyman, Dr Jeffery Bland, Dr Lise Alschuler and Dr Kristi Hughes to name a few - had me feeling like an audience member in that famous Oprah giveaway episode.

As a Naturopath I feel like I have won the Oprah giveaway, the lotto even - my dream job, dream business and the dream life it brings my family. So with this in mind it is my absolute pleasure to be involved in training other naturopaths. Not in the formal setting of an educational institute like Endeavour, more like as a friend... if we can have conversations at conferences, chats online, phone calls to discuss cases, mentors with experience mentoring their colleagues, practitioners stepping forward... stepping up to share their knowledge and experience then we as a profession grow. #naturopathstrainingnaturopaths for the good of ourselves, our families, our patients, community and the countries health and wellbeing as a whole.

If you wish to improve your health and wellbeing book an appointment with a Naturopath... you won't see a dreadlock or cauldron in sight, but you will feel enlightened and empowered!

If you are a Naturopath or Naturopathic student and you want to be part of #naturopathstrainingnaturopaths buddy up with a Naturopath friend for a weekly chat, reach out to someone who you admire professionally or book in with some of the great mentors available including some of my favourites Tammy Guest, Keonie Moore, Charmaine Dennis, Rachel Arthur or Angela Hywood.

Or get in touch with me - take a look at my 2 Day Vitae Mosaic Naturopathic Functional Medicine Training Event or contact me for details on one-on-one and group mentoring. I want to enable you to confidently grow your practice and support your patients, with even the most complex and chronic health issues.

So if you are a fellow Naturopath cheers (with kombucha of course) to you! If you are a student I look forward to meeting you in the future. If you were one of my teachers, mentors or fellow colleagues Thank You.

AND if you are off to see a Naturopath for the first time, congratulations your health and wellbeing is in great hands.

Xx Carla