I went into nursing in 1970 and have always been “called,” if you will, to the healing professions. I started out in conventional medicine but always felt an interest toward allowing and fostering the body/mind and spirit to use methods to turn on the body’s natural healing. I became a nurse-midwife in 1976 and, during that career, naturally got drawn into the use of botanical (herbal) medicine and eventually homeopathy, which then led to Naturopathic Medical School. I have been a naturopathic doctor since 1997 and hope to be in practice for years to come because I am so passionate about the healing potential with this knowledge. The word “doctor” in Latin is “docere,” which translates beautifully into “teacher.” That I feel is the essence of who I am. I am happiest when I can help teach and inform others as to their choices for healing and help them gain access to that process; to help them unlock their intuitive healing wisdom.

To honor this process and truly believe in it, I feel is the highest calling possible for me in this lifetime.

So many people today have extremely difficult illnesses which can and should be addressed also by conventional medicine, but what often is missing is seeing the individual as a “whole” person and not just his or her dis-ease (and, yes, that word makes more sense hyphenated). Dis-ease is rarely just on the physical or emotional or mental or even spiritual level but usually a combination of all of who we are. This amazing medicine or healing process takes all of who you are into the equation for re-establishing health and even bringing being okay into being truly healthy.

I came into this stage of my professional life rather late but it brings me such health that I can practice it well into my even later years.