Naturopathic physicians are trained to do primary care, meaning an ND can serve as your first point of contact for a new health concern, as well as offer ongoing care for chronic concerns such as managing blood pressure, asthma, digestive concerns, mental health, sleep disturbances, etc. Our doctors take an integrative perspective, offering conventional medical standards of care (such as lab work, prescriptions) as well as perspective on where alternative medicine options such as lifestyle change, herbal medicines, and supplements may be helpful. And more. In the context of our current GP shortage this is a primary focus for our NDs.

Please note naturopathic physicians cannot refer to specialists, however they can support and guide you in navigating the conventional medical system and accessing the care you need. NDs are able to send for lab work and to refer for imaging (i.e. ultrasound, MRI, etc) as private pay only, not MSP covered.

Our NDs are happy to work collaboratively with your conventional medical team. We value great patient care more than we value any particular tool or philosophy of approach. We can offer a second opinion or holistic lens to complement your care with your conventional medical team.

Naturopathic doctors are extensively trained in nutrition, which can take the form of everything from:

• Exploring the basic principles of a good diet to more targeted questions and strategizing, depending on the patients needs

• Guidance regarding specific therapeutic diets for particular health conditions

• Recommendations for supplements/neutraceuticals - i.e. they can help differentiate what is effective, what is worth the money, versus what is just marketing, poor quality, or potentially harmful.

Herbal medicine is a primary tool our doctors use in patient care. There is great potency and efficacy in the constituents found in nature, particularly plants. In Western culture we tend to be biased towards drugs (or at least something in a pill form) as the most reliable remedy, and have forgotten or lost much of the knowledge about how to use herbal medicines, Our doctors draw on both traditional knowledge about plants as well as current research to inform their practice and help their patients achieve positive health outcomes.

Herbal medicine offers an empowering, safe, and accessible way of supporting your body with the dynamic, wide-ranging healing properties of plants. Herbal remedies can be soothing to an irritated gut, highly effective antimicrobials that work where antibiotics don’t, or potent anti-inflammatories and pain modulators for chronic joint inflammation, to name just a few examples.

We are proud to share that the medicines in our botanical tincture dispensary are all organic and/or ethically wild-crafted. In our comprehensive apothecary you may even recognize several familiar, locally-found medicines such as usnea, plantain, oregon grape, and mullein. Keep an eye out for our clinic garden, as well, where you will find growing many types of medicinal plants that bring beauty and life to the land!

Acupuncture and the philosophy of Traditional Chinese Medicine are foundational parts of naturopathic medicine. Acupuncture is a potent way to stimulate healing by working with the subtle and energetic body. It activates or moves qi (pronounced “chi”, meaning life force) to balance one’s constitution by assessing the flow of energy in the meridians of the body, and removing blockages as needed.

Acupuncture can be helpful for fertility, balancing the menstrual cycle, stress, digestion, muscle tension, and back pain, amongst many many other concerns.

Our doctors use both traditional acupuncture methods as well as physical medicine acupuncture (i.e. targeting trigger points) techniques.

Intramuscular stimulation acupuncture involves needling directly into a tight bundle of muscle fibres to mechanically break up the tissue. This is a highly effective technique for resolving muscle tension.

We include this as modality of healing to honour that medicine is not always the pill you get from your doctor (whether pharmaceutical or nutraceutical) but also the daily choices you make at home. Your doctor can help you strategize where and how you can most effectively improve your habits. For example, did you know that exercise is shown in research to be more effective than medication for depression? Good air, water, breath, movement, and connection to nature are essential aspects of health. 

The word doctor comes from the latin “docere” meaning “doctor as teacher”. Your doctor will always explain what and why, help you interpret your labwork and learn about your body along the way, and share with you health information in a way that is empowering and educational.

All naturopathic doctors are trained in basic counselling skills. Not so they can replace your counsellor, because they can’t, but so they are able to meet and sit with you wholly and fully, in all parts. It is powerful to have a doctor who is comfortable enough in themselves to hold and meet your grief and anxiety and depression and all the darker sides of this multifaceted thing we call life. It’s powerful to have a doctor who recognizes and honours that your digestive issues are related to gluten intake, for example, but also to your fraught body image history, or to a specific set of life events and emotions you are holding in your belly. As an example. The process of unpacking, understanding, and sitting with these aspects, with your doctor as witness and partner in the journey, is an essential element of the healing path.

Naturopathic doctors in BC have prescribing rights, meaning they can and do use pharmaceuticals as part of their holistic toolkit. This may include hormone replacement therapy or thyroid medication, to name a few. In the current context of a GP shortage on Salt Spring Island, our NDs often offer medication refills and continuation of blood pressure medications, antidepressants, asthma medications, etc. Our NDs also often do more progressive prescribing, using treatments such as LDN (low dose naltrexone) or personalized thyroid prescriptions (including desiccated or T3 therapy as alternatives to synthroid, as is needed and best tolerated by the patient). Naturopathic medicine is about providing options without judgement - our doctors all take the time to discuss the pros and cons of the spectrum of options you may have for any specific health concern, so you can decide what is right for you.