It is not uncommon for me to receive a message, email or SMS asking for more information about what I do. So this will attempt to answer this question for you.
I see my role as to: CONNECT, EDUCATE, INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE you to better health. I do this by combining all of the modalities that I have experience and qualifications in. This means within a visit I can be drawing on General Nursing knowledge, Midwifery knowledge, Naturopathic knowledge, Nutritionist knowledge, Herbalist knowledge and Functional Medicine knowledge - I will share and use whatever is the best for the individual in front of me. The goal is to use lifestyle, dietary and supplementary tools to restore the body, mind and spirit to balance which is what our body is constantly trying to do.
It is a startling fact that 92% of Australians die of a Chronic Lifestyle preventable disease - so this means if we make changes to our lifestyle we can often, not only prevent disease but reverse ill health and restore vitality. Which is what we all want. We want to age well, be independent, vital and healthy and avoid chronic disease, surgery and medications as much as possible. Whilst making the most of our life!
If you imagine you are a 3 legged stool - and each leg represents one of the following:
1) Sleep/Stress
2) Diet/Nutrition
3) Exercise/Movement
You cannot have optimal health unless you have these 3 areas in balance. You could have perfect nutrition and exercise but be stressed and not sleeping and this will affect your health. Or you could sleep well and exercise but eat really poorly - again you will not have optimal health. Or you could eat well and sleep well but not move your body enough - this will also create health issues.
So in a consultation I address all of these areas and make recommendations based on the latest evidence we have (I am constantly studying and attending education sessions).
Who I see? Well being regionally based means I see everyone! This can be from a week old baby who had antibiotics at birth to a 94 year old man with gall stones and everyone in between. As long as you are motivated to improve your health I think I can help you.
At the end of the day it is the client who does the healing and my role is to direct to the changes that will best facility this. In my functional medicine training we were taught to look for 'never well since' in a clients history and always try to get to the 'root cause' of the imbalance which very often begins in the 'gut'.
Another way to explain this approach is if you were sitting on a chair with drawing pins sticking into your bum it would take a lot of pain relief to 'relieve' your symptoms but it would not relieve the cause of your pain would it? And if you took half of the drawing pins out of your bum it would not necessarily relieve 50% of your pain would it? So functional medicine approach is to look for the cause at a much deeper level than just relieving the symptoms.
I also often address spiritual/stress/emotional/relationship issues as sometimes the cause of our physical aliments is an emotional issue that has not been addressed. I have been working via Vasta Retreats and seminars for over 5 years to gain a wealth of insight and knowledge in this mind/body/spirit connection which I use in clinic as needed.
For a first consultation allow 1 - 1.5 hours and Follow up consultations are around 45 minutes. How many times and how often I see someone is completely individual. It can be as little as 2 visits or some clients have been with me for over 10 years now and enjoy regular maintenance visits. I do now offer phone consultations if needed.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions - but I also believe that people find me when they are ready and if I am the right person for them at the time.
Cheers Heather Musgrove
