Medicine that begins with listening

My first career was in hospital nursing. I loved the science and the people, but I kept meeting the same patients again and again, a little more worn down each time, treated for the same symptoms without anyone asking why they kept returning. That question would not leave me alone.

It eventually led me to naturopathic medical school, four more years of training, and a clinic of my own where appointments are measured in conversations rather than minutes. Fifteen years later, the question is still the center of my work: not "what will quiet this symptom?" but "what is your body trying to say?"

When I am not in clinic you will find me in the garden that supplies our dispensary teas, on the seawall with my terrier Alfie, or attempting sourdough with mixed results.