I’ve always been interested in natural health and alternative healing. Especially as a teenager when I was having really painful periods and struggling with my hormones changing I wanted to know what was happening in my body and why I wasn’t feeling well. I wasn’t satisfied with the conventional medical model’s treatment plan for my issues (which was to use synthetic hormones to control my symptoms and an anti inflammatory medication for pain management). I would go on/off of the pill over the years and tried to limit the use of anti inflammatory meds but I wanted to help my body to heal and get to the root of the issue. I started seeing a naturopathic doctor in St. Catharines and spent my summers volunteering in her office to get more exposure to natural medicine. She became my mentor throughout my time at the naturopath college in Toronto and was especially valuable during my first few years of practice . As a teenager she prescribed me herbal remedies like Vitex for my PMS and cramping and we discussed my diet, lifestyle and stress management techniques at each monthly visit . Having first hand results of what was possible with naturopathic medicine and the benefits I found from it early on, lead me to pursue a degree in Biology to learn more about the body, medicine and health. My 9 years of training (once I finished the naturopathic program) was motivated partly because I wanted to continue to learn about hormones to help myself but I also because I wanted to let other women and young girls know about alternative options to empower them in their health decisions. I’ve been in practice for 5 years now and I love seeing success stories of women managing their hormones naturally (whether it’s cramping, pms or menopause) I’m always excited when we can get results with non invasive treatment options.