My goal as a naturopathic physician is to understand where you are at in your health now, and what is and isn’t working for you so that I can best tailor a plan for you to get you where you want to be. I’ve experienced the power of natural medicine first hand when I was in my early teens and I’d like to share it’s benefits to you as well.
My Practice
In my practice I am looking for people who are motivated to feel good. I look for people who believe that feeling good is the norm and any deviation from that – any lack of vitality, or obstacle to doing what you love to do – is the pathology to be addressed. My best patients are those who are excited about the journey to optimal wellness and willing to show up, do the work, and reap the rewards.
There are techniques that I offer in which I take the reins and work to retrain and educate your body or mind to behave in a way that is in alignment with optimal health, energy, and your goals. Think of updating your computer or smartphone or an app – I support your system so that the work that you do (with diet, exercise, supplements, stress management, etc) really help and affect change.
And there will almost always be advice and information on what you can do on a day-to-day basis to get you where you want to go but sometimes we need help turning good intentions into action. I want you to feel empowered about your health, your focus, and making choices for your greatest good!
“Doctor” means “Teacher” and I love that role, although there are times when “Healer” will be a more appropriate role for me to take as we navigate the journey from here to there together.
Optimal health is so much more than disease prevention. I want you to be invested in and in control of your life. If you spend a lazy afternoon (or weekend!) lounging on a sofa I want that to be because you choose to do that, and not because you’re too tired to follow your dreams.
I am a naturopathic doctor determined to help you maximize your health potential and to feel AMAZING!
Are you:
- Bloated, uncomfortable, and feeling un-nourished? Tired of feeling sick and tired?
- Doing all the right things in terms of diet, exercise and lifestyle but still feeling exhausted?
- Aware that something needs to change in your life but have no idea where to start?
- Scared for your baby but also scared of getting sick around your baby?
Ask yourself:
• What does health look like for you? For your child? For your family?
• What goals do you have with regards to your current symptoms, or illnesses in your family history that you would like to avoid?
• What is your lifestyle like and how willing and able are you to changing what needs to be changed? [Some elements may be unchangeable such as a high intensity, stressful school program, or a stint in the NICU! In these cases we may be focusing on damage control for a while before we can move on to proper healing. But that’s where the art comes in.]
• Essentially, who are you, who would you like to be, and how can I help you to get there?
Do you:
- Feel as though you are not behind the steering wheel of your own life?
- Lie awake at night revisiting the past or worrying about the future?
- Want to find work-life balance without giving up being type A, driven & motivated?
- Or do you want to find work-life balance without being type A?
We might be a good fit if you are ready for change and need support and guidance along the way!
More about me…
I’m one of the lucky ones. I feel so blessed to have discovered my vocation early in life.
When I was a little girl I told my parents that I either wanted to be a doctor, a teacher, or a ballerina when I was older. The ballerina thing didn’t work out due to a bout of rheumatic fever when I was 11 years old, which left lingering and severe joint pain from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.
I was the limping kid who worked in the school library while my classmates had gym class. But that door closing when I was young opened me up to become a naturopathic doctor.
My journey into natural medicine began when I was 13 years old with a summer job in the local health food store where my family shopped. They took a chance on me as I was too young for a SIN, but it was undeniably the most pivotal moment of my life. At 14 years old I had decided on a career in naturopathic medicine. I will always be grateful to the small, family run store in Toronto’s Bloor West Village that took me in and inadvertently gave me a direction and vocation so early in life.
Those days I had customers asking for help from me, the high school student with a part-time job and absolutely no formal training. I have always had a hard time with saying ‘I don’t know’. I’m okay with ‘I don’t know yet‘ while I get on with finding the answer so I took the time to learn what effects the various foods, herbs, and supplements had on health based on the questions asked of me each day. I would pore over books (no internet back then!) to find information that could help customers and summarize it like a book report.
Since then my passion for helping people to achieve optimal health continues to blossom. It’s such a wonderful feeling to guide people through their health concerns and to watch them thrive!
That’s the nutshell version behind my career choice. If you want to know more about me then feel free to read on.
I grew up in Toronto and had a childhood that was firmly entrenched in the arts. I sang with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus for many years and travelled to Vancouver, BC with them to perform at Expo ’86, with no idea that I would one day call Vancouver home. I went to the Etobicoke School of the Arts for high school even though I had already chosen my career as an ND, but the balance of zooming from math class to a dance rehearsal was so valuable for my sanity.
The balance between arts and sciences also proved helpful for my career: a strong understanding of sciences are essential in understanding physiology, biochemistry, and other aspects of medicine, but the actual practice of medicine is such an art. Each patient is a unique individual with personal vices and virtues, strengths and weaknesses, attitudes and genetics – and all of these components need to be brought into balance for true healing to occur.
My favorite quote from Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is that “it is more important to know the type of person that has a disease, than the type of disease a person has.”
I had always planned on doing my undergrad at McGill but as the time drew nigh I found that I wanted to move farther away for a truly fresh start away from home as a young adult. And let’s face it – the mild climate, mountains, and ocean access isn’t exactly a deterrent! I moved to Vancouver to attend UBC, and I earned my BSc in human nutrition…and somewhere along the way I decided to stay in BC. After graduating I worked full time for a few years in the natural health industry before starting at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in New Westminster.
After graduating I spent a year as Clinical Resident at Boucher, then as that drew to a close in late 2010 I started a private practice in beautiful Tsawwassen, BC and in 2011 I joined the team at Sage Clinic in Yaletown.
Between undergrad and Boucher I worked for two years as a sales rep for TallGrass Natural Health, a local company that distributes clean cosmetics, organic make-up, and wonderful supplements to health food stores across Canada. After I was licensed as an ND they brought me back educate health food store staff on their supplement lines. It’s wonderful!
The TallGrass company feels like family – they were the first to visit me in hospital when my son arrived three months early, bringing flowers, fruit, hugs, and support – and I get to associate my name with some high quality lines such as Botanica, MegaFood, and Host Defense. I use products from each of these lines in my practice but I don’t get a kickback at all, so there is no conflict of interest. I simply know the quality of these lines inside and out from an academic standpoint, and then my bias is deepened through the improvement noted in my patients who take the products I recommend.
A few years ago I had a baby at 26 weeks into the pregnancy…so my hubby and I spent 3.5 stressful months in the NICU willing our little guy to breathe all by himself. Our preemie son is amazing and growing so well with no health concerns (like I said, I’m one of the lucky ones!) beyond a strong tendency to croup that requires an ER visit every time for emergency meds to keep him breathing.
Before the preterm labour experience I had often said “If I’m in a car accident, don’t take me to an ND! I want to go to a hospital with monitors and medications” and sure enough, our experience of 2014 reinforced that notion. I’m forever indebted to modern medicine and its ability to save lives. But I’m also immensely grateful for my training as a naturopath as I was able to understand the hospital’s interventions (as terrifying as some of them were), and now I can use my skills to really optimize the health of my little boy. My Tsawwassen practice ended the day I went into pre-term labour. Now I see patients through telemedicine and Sina Health , and I still give local trainings for TallGrass.
Unwittingly, but very gladly, I now have a naturopathic medical practice in which I get to support the parents of premature infants, as well as parents and children in general. My daughter was thankfully a “termie” born at 39 weeks and on top of being grateful to dodge another NICU stay with her going to term I’m also incredibly thankful that I get to parent such a different child to my teeny-tiny preemie.
I love what I do professionally – “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life!” – but I also love watching my babies grow, encouraging my plants to grow, making time for yoga at home, doing crossword puzzles with my hubby, and playing in the kitchen. My first degree is nutrition, and I LOVE good quality food, so kitchen time is playtime. Lately I’ve been exploring the world of home fermentation starting with shrubs and krauts.
So that’s me. If we sound like a fit I’d love to meet you, get to know all about you, and discover how I can help you to feel better and function at your best!