You are treated as an individual rather than just a number. You have the opportunity to voice your concerns and have a say in the treatment process. The consultation takes a completely holistic approach to encompass all aspects of your physical and health consultation for mental health to uncover the root cause of your health issues. The treatment plan created from a naturopathic consultation is fully tailored to your goals and needs.
How does the consultation with a naturopath take place?
A naturopathic consultation gives you the opportunity to discuss all of your health concerns in a private, comfortable consultation room. This type of detailed and comprehensive consultation allows the naturopath to provide the comprehensive care you deserve. The practitioner is then able to extract information about your health that is often forgotten, overlooked or misinterpreted, in order to identify the root cause of your problem. A number of physical exams (including a blood screen, blood pressure check, tongue scan, and zinc test) are also used to help determine the underlying causes of the condition.
Based on the results, you will receive a detailed treatment plan tailored to your specific needs. No treatment plan is the same. Naturopathic medicine believes that you are a unique individual and therefore requires a unique approach to improving your health.
The benefits
If you are looking for an alternative treatment plan to conventional medicine or are simply looking for a natural way to improve your health and well-being, a visit to a naturopath may be the answer for you.
1. Naturopathy offers a holistic approach to health care
Holistic medicine is a mode of healing that addresses the whole of a person, including physical illnesses as well as mental or emotional problems. A naturopath offers treatment that focuses on the root cause of the disease rather than the overt symptoms. Having identified this cause, it is less likely that the disease will return after stopping treatment.
2. Naturopathy is a natural practice
A naturopath will recommend a treatment plan that relies on the body’s ability to heal itself. Treatments are natural, safe, gentle and can be customized to individual client needs. A naturopath may use herbal medicine, hydrotherapy, dietary and lifestyle counseling, homeopathy, flower essences, iridology, and a range of other modalities to compose a treatment program. Naturopathy uses a natural healing philosophy, which means it does not share the same side effects as conventional medicine. In general, a naturopath can tailor a treatment plan to suit people of all ages and backgrounds and achieve beneficial results.
3. Overall health
You don’t necessarily need an illness to visit a naturopath. If you are in good health, you can visit a naturopath to have a complete analysis of your health. A naturopath may use modalities such as blood work for a general health evaluation to determine areas that need improvement. A naturopath will be able to recommend tips or perhaps supplements to help you maintain and encourage your good health.
Role of the naturopath
A naturopath, unlike a doctor, does not treat illnesses or make diagnoses. He can work in collaboration with this one, but has a very different role, which is complementary. Many doctors also refer some of their patients to a naturopath after seeing them.
The naturopath will seek to maintain or restore health by natural means by seeking in particular to implement the self-healing capacities of his clients. To do this, he will first have made an overall assessment of the health factors, to estimate the level of vitality and any deficiencies of the person who comes to see him. He will therefore ask many questions to find out about his client’s lifestyle, he will seek for example to know if he plays sports, if he has a stressful job, he will try to learn more about his type of food, etc.
Depending on the answers obtained, the naturopath will position himself as a “health educator” and will give advice with the aim of his client regaining or maintaining his state of heart care specialist.