Who I Am And What I Do

My Story

My journey to naturopathic medicine began like many others. I was sick, and conventional medicine could not figure out what was wrong. I was frustrated and I wasn’t ready to accept there was nothing I could do. It wasn’t until I saw a Naturopathic Doctor that I felt listened to, and that I had more options than to just live with it. I then decided I wanted to do this as my career and help others the way I was helped, and every day is more rewarding than the last!

One of the things I love most about naturopathic medicine is the focus on the root cause of health concerns. The ultimate WHY of a condition or concern is the most important puzzle piece in finding a sustainable and effective treatment for an individual. For example, 5 people can have fatigue for 5 different reasons. One person may have fatigue from a B12 deficiency and another may have fatigue from chronic inflammation and mitochondrial issues. A successful treatment must match the cause of the issue in order to have results. It’s also important to ask why someone developed that issue in the first place. Why does an individual have a B12 deficiency (especially if they eat meat?), or why did they develop chronic inflammation? My long term goals for patients is to address these ultimate root cause factors and prevent the issue from returning in the future.

I love, love, love data! The more data we have the better treatment options we can pick. An important piece of this puzzle is lab work. If you have access to your lab work through My Alberta Health or have copies from your doctor, I strongly encourage you to bring them with you on your first visit. Even your routine blood work can have important patterns in them that can indicate things like nutrient status and inflammation. If you don’t have access to your lab work, we can discuss in the appointment how to get them and how to run new lab tests if it’s necessary!

Health is journey that lasts your whole life, so don’t wait to start. I hope that together, we can work so that you feel empowered and in control of your own health journey!

My Passions

Women’s Health

Women’s hormones and therefore health can be complicated, and while puzzles are fun to solve they aren’t fun when you’re the puzzle. Many health conditions in women affect or are caused by hormonal imbalances. Our hormonal imbalances can show up anywhere from skin and hair, to weight and energy, to periods and fertility.

My own experience with endometriosis and PCOS inspired my interest in this field, and I know first hand how frustrating these issues are. I also know from experience that symptom management is totally possible, even if it seems hopeless at first.

Fertility in particular is a special interest of mine. Whether you haven’t tried to conceive yet and are still in the planning stages, you have already started trying, or you’re currently undergoing fertility procedures, naturopathic medicine can help. Fertility is one of the most exciting areas of research in the alternative medicine world, and so much of what naturopathic medicine has to offer has been shown to be safe and effective, alone and in combination with conventional approaches. 

Pain and Injury

I have been a registered massage therapist (RMT) since 2008. It was my experience in this field that led me to researching better and more holistic pain and injury management options. Some patients would be doing everything right; stretching, massage, chiro and physio, but still nothing would improve. What these modalities lack is addressing systemic issues that contribute to pain and injury like inflammation, ability to create collagen, ligament health, and nervous system health.

Every person is a puzzle, and I enjoy trying to find the ultimate why for each patient.

Empowerment is a large part of this therapy as well, and most of my appointments include educating my clients on how their body works and ways they can improve and prevent musculoskeletal issues at home.  To further help patients dealing with chronic injury and pain, I now offer regenerative injection therapies (RIT) to stimulate tissue repair when it’s needed.