The first visit goes like this…
Most don’t know what to expect when they visit a Naturopathic Doctor for the first time. They think they’re going to get some ideas on how to heal their physical symptoms. Maybe they’ll get some nutritional advice, run some labs, or be prescribed some supplements or herbs.
At the start, it’s like an investigation. We work together as detectives. We ask. We re-ask. And then we ask some more. It’s not comfortable to be asked a lot of in-depth questions about your body and life by a stranger, even if that stranger is a doctor.
The healing path isn’t a comfortable one. There are small pockets of discomfort we find along the way. If we don’t find them all, true healing is less likely.
The importance of getting to know the root issues
Dr. Neale and the nuHealth Clinic Process
Like most Naturopathic Doctors I ask a lot of questions; some that obviously relate to your primary reasons for seeking care and some that don’t. In order for me to truly be an effective healer I have to gather data about you. I ask you to walk me through a day-in-the-life of you so I can understand what it’s like to walk in your shoes. It helps me to know what your daily input and output is, and not just the physical input and output either.
A few of the areas we explore are:
- What are your daily demands, struggles, habits, norms, obstacles, and pain points?
- How does your body feel as you walk through your day?
- How does your mind function?
- What emotions get the most air time?
- What type of processor are you?
- How do you approach change, navigate cause and effect, and integrate new information?
- How do you seek information, manage emotions, and what motivates you?
I want to understand you, to know your story, to hear you, to not miss important details that paint the picture of how you got to where you are, to your presently dis-eased state.
Change Can be Daunting…
…and this might seem extremely invasive to you, but for a professional interviewer in the field of healthcare this is the art and skill of my practice and I love using my expertise. The importance of the interview cannot be understated. This is why I make sure each new patient visit is at least 1.5 hrs long, I have a lot of subjective and objective data to gather in that window of time.
It's Time for a New Perspective!
At nuHealth we know that you want to get back to being the creative core being that is your true self, but in order to do that, you need a doctor that wants to treat the whole you.
The Healing Process Can be an Emotional One
Starting Down the Naturo-Path
Some of those pockets of discomfort hold emotion, many find tears as they recount their story to me. Why? They are suddenly seen and they feel heard…perhaps for the first time.
Okay, back to the discomfort. Some of those pockets of discomfort hold emotion, many find tears as they recount their story to me. Why? They are suddenly seen and heard. When they finally take 1.5 hrs to be witnessed and seen, and not just by me, a neutral non-judgemental witness, but much more importantly, by themselves, they are confronted with their “real,” it’s front and center on display, and often this evokes emotion.
Distraction, it’s a root cause of dis-ease. Life, for most, is virally busy and living distractedly is the norm. Distracted from what? From who? From their core being, from their inside truths, from their body’s language and cues. They are disconnected from their emotion, so much so that their emotion surprises them.
They didn’t expect to cry. I often hear “I’m sorry, I didn’t think this would be a counseling session.” Those initial tears are medicine and an important breakthrough. It’s like striking gold when mining for it. Tears aren’t comfortable, most try to dry them immediately.
I ask them to let them flow for a minute, releasing some ill and that’s the goal. Healing can literally start right there in that moment of release and acknowledgment.
Starting to Develop New Skills That Promote Change
Developing a Plan that Leads You Back to You
Most don’t have enough functional silence in their life to reflect and experience themselves, to experience and process how they feel, and to ask themselves if their day-to-day is working for them. They don’t have enough intentional mindful time to decide to do something, even a small thing, differently.
The decisions feel overwhelming so they avoid making them. Most are already in a state of decision fatigue, adding more decisions, especially hard-to-answer ones, is a non-starter. They know that something is not right though and they cannot keep living like this, they can’t keep pushing their way through life, struggling, and enduring. Their symptoms have become unbearable.
They are tired of being tired and overwhelmed. They are tired of not feeling alive and well or like themselves. I often hear, “I want to feel like me again.” The answers their MD has provided are not the ones they are looking for. They’re ready for direction. They’re hungry for hope.
They want someone credible and educated with experience that they can trust. Someone who, after a careful interview of their individual presentation alongside lab data and a comprehensive understanding of who they are, will be able to say, “I suggest you do this and here’s why, it will help in this way, and here’s how to do it. Start here, at this accessible place. You’ve got this. We’ve got this.”
Traveling the Path to the New You
Putting the Plan Into Action
From there, once we’ve laid out the plan, we’ve gotten you one step closer, we part ways for 4-6 weeks, generally speaking. You get to try out step one. We meet again to observe. To see what worked, what challenged you, what you had to face, who you had to face, and how the change changed you.
The goal is to help you begin to speak the language of your body. Visit two is fun! We get to integrate in the objective data we pursued, i.e. imaging or laboratory diagnostics. At this point we’ve introduced basic foundational steps that you’ve played with and then we get to begin building on that foundation based on the most indicated next steps.
The treatment is carefully tailored to what we’ve found and need to address. Here is where I am able to give you a more informed timeline of what your commitment will look like over what span of time based on how many systems we will need to nurture back to full function.
Here you get to choose what pace you want to move at, what is realistic for you to say yes to, not just re time and effort commitments, but also based on your budget and primary goals.
Then we’re off to the races. It’s go time.
…you get to choose what pace you want to move at, what is realistic for you to say yes to, not just re time and effort commitments, but also based on your budget and goals.
You’re Tired of Being Sick & Tired
We get it. We understand it. We've been there ourselves. Real change, though, only comes through commitment to doing something different — something new. If you're ready to take that step then we're here to support you. Schedule your consultation and get on the path back to being your best self.