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What Is Mental Health? 

Mental health is taking care of your mental and emotional wellbeing.  It’s being conscious of your thoughts and feelings and being able to navigate those thoughts and feelings in a healthy way.

Having unpleasant feelings or thoughts sometimes is normal, especially if you are having to navigate tough situations in your life. When it starts impacting your life in a negative way it’s important to reach out for help. 
"Having unpleasant feelings or thoughts sometimes is normal, especially if you are having to navigate tough situations in your life. When it starts impacting your life in a negative way it’s important to reach out for help.  "
Even if you have your head above water, if something has happened that is challenging in your life, you don’t have to do it alone. Struggling until you feel like your head is now not so much above the water line is understandable, it’s hard to see what is happening in the moment sometimes, but it’s also ok to say whoa, not sure where this is headed but I feel like I need support.  If you feel like the frequency is increasing and the feelings & thoughts start to intensify, It might be a good time to get some mental health support.
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What You Need to Know About Mental Health 
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Mental Health Is For Everyone

Getting mental health support should be normalized and taking care of your own mental health sets an example for others to do the same for themselves.  Sometimes our thoughts and our feelings can be amplified and get pretty intense and stressful with life events.  It’s ok to get help with these thoughts and feelings when they become difficult to navigate or make sense of.  Getting some professional help is sometimes exactly what we need to cope and get through life challenges.

Some Important Things To Know...

#1 - Mental health issues can be lonely and this can compound mental health challenges further. It is important to reach out for help and let a nonjudgmental trusted friend, family member, or counsellor know how much you are struggling. It may take some courage to find a safe person to connect with but finding a support system can be really important.
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Mental Health Is Included Within The Mind Body Spirit Model

Mind Body Spirit medicine includes mental health awareness as an important pillar of holistic medicine. You might go so far as to say that Mind Body and Spirit makes up its foundation and if you didn’t consider one aspect of that foundation whatever you build on that foundation could become unstable pretty quickly. 
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The gut brain connection is a great example of how seemingly unrelated body parts affect one another.  Your digestive health can affect your brain and mental health and vice versa.  There are even researchers that have given significant evidence for connections between the endocrine, immune, and neurological systems, on psychology and the brain.

Some Important Things To Know...

#2 - Sometimes it takes a while to find a counsellor or mental health professional that is a good fit. If you find someone who is not a match it can be frustrating and disappointing, especially if it felt really challenging to reach out in the first place.  While you are going to want to pace yourself if you find searching for a therapist to be tough or triggering. A good therapist that is a good fit for you is out there, don't give up!
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People With Chronic Health Conditions Have A Higher Risk Of Mental Health Conditions

Inflammation has a pretty big impact on mood and the brain. The stress of having the chronic condition can also be stressful and that can also add to mental health challenges. Left unchecked it can create a cycle of the stress and the physical and mental conditions all fueling each other. 
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Mental Health Symptoms To Look Out For
  • Feeling constantly sad, empty, numb anxious, restless

  • Feeling hopeless or more pessimistic than usual

  • Decisions becoming difficult or overwhelming to make

  • More irritable, quick to feel frustrated or overwhelmed

  • Intense and persistent feelings of guilt, like you are worthless or not good enough

  • Interest wanes in activities that historically has brought you joy or pleasure

  • Feeling low energy or like you are living in slow motion

  • Lost interest in socializing with friends or family that you usually would enjoy
     
  • Decisions becoming difficult or overwhelming to make

  • Changes to your sleeping habits, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping

  • Thoughts racing when you are trying to go to sleep

  • Changes in eating habits such as appetite or changes in weight

  • Digestive issues, headaches, pain or general aches that you have had assessed for a physical cause and they do not resolve or reduce with treatment. 
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  • New memory, concentration issues 
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Naturopathic Mental Health Treatment

Naturopathic medicine has many natural options for treatment. Naturopathic approaches sometimes use vitamins, supplements, botanical medicines, homeopathy, or Chinese medicines as part of the treatments for mental illness. When we look at the body holistically we look at all the different causes of symptoms that patients may be experiencing.  Sometimes there are physical or pathological causes to mental health and when we take care of those issues and address them from the root cause, mental health can improve.  This can be as simple as a nutrient deficiency or digestive or dietary impacts. If your health care professional also has additional mental health training or expertise beyond their basic education in medical school, they may be able to integrate counselling practices into this model which can be very beneficial as they can help with both the mental and physical aspects of mental health together.
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Mental Health Medication Management

Patients are often unaware of the medication interactions with nutraceuticals, supplements, and botanicals and I am able to help with managing these prescriptions safely. Some medications can have adverse reactions or should be used cautiously with certain supplements and need follow up and regular monitoring to make sure that patients are on the right dosage of medication.

Supplements can sometimes increase or decrease the way a drug works and some supplements can do the same for drugs as well. I can help with managing medications.  Some patients want to discontinue their  medications, some might need their dosage increased or decreased, and sometimes patients don’t work well with one medication over another so sometimes changing medications altogether improves outcomes.
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Some patients want to come off their medications and struggle to do so because of side effects and withdrawal and often patients don’t have enough support to come off or reduce their medications safely. Sometimes using supplements or changes to diet can be supportive with discontinuing or reducing medications.  I assess each patient to make sure that is the best treatment plan for them and as I am equipped to help patients come off their medications, where appropriate, I help them do so safely at their own pace

Some Important Things To Know...

#3 - If you feel intimidated by the thought of combining mental health with naturopathic care, it is OK to ask for the treatment plant to be broken into smaller bite sized pieces, to request a slower pace, a more financially viable treatment, or to even change your mind about what you are willing to do or not do. It's actually important for the therapist to know what your unique needs are.
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Some Important Things To Know...

#4 - Mental health conditions or challenges are not a weakness! If you find you have a harder time containing or unpacking emotions when you are stressed, you are not alone. Often as stress rises our ability to cope can lower. This is a very human response that can also feel pretty distressing. It is also a sign that a support system and counselling could be helpful for you.
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Mental Health Research 
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Research Related to Counselling and Health

Counselling psychotherapy has been rigorously researched over decades and shows an overwhelmingly positive impact on mental health.  In most research, counselling has been shown to be equivalent if not better than medication in the treatment of anxiety and depression.  There is strength of evidence that shows that psychotherapy is effective at preventing relapses of anxiety and depression as well.  Counselling seems to have better long term outcomes over medications, or in conjunction with medications and are usually preferred by most patients

In patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), counselling reduced anxiety and depression.  Psychotherapy seemed to reduce the psychological burden of having the symptoms of CHD and reduce cardiac-related deaths.  This is a direct example of how mental health impacts physical health and puts emphasis on how supporting mental health leads to improved physical health.
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How We Can Help
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How to work with me and why you might want to!

 I am a trained counsellor as well as a naturopathic physician. I recognized that patients needed more than just physical treatment interventions when I noticed some of  my patients started to improve with some basic reflective listening techniques that I had learned while getting my naturopathic education. I focused on really hearing them and offering a supportive ear and even with that it transformed the way I was relating to patients. 

I had also been attending some counselling myself, both one on one and in immersive group therapy workshops. As I benefited from this work myself and watched many people from all different backgrounds benefit as well,  it opened my eyes to practicing medicine in a different way. As I navigated the various counselling workshops for my own personal growth and mental health, along with starting to see more complex cases in my practice, I realized that I needed a much more robust training in counselling and psychotherapy than I had originally received while completing my training as an naturopathic physician. These unique situations led to me completing a 3 year counselling program. 

I know first hand how challenging and sometimes stressful seeking counselling can be, I have been there. I used to think  that counselling was great for other people but wasn’t for me. It took a really tough situation in my own life to give me the nudge I needed to get help. Counselling has completely changed my life both professionally and personally and I feel extremely passionate about providing a safe, unbiased, nonjudgmental space for patients and clients to explore freely.
If you are feeling intimidated but you resonate with this message, reach out for a complementary meet and greet by clicking here. My main  objective with all my patients is making sure we are a good fit to work together because everyone deserves to have a counsellor that you feel safe with and can explore what you need to at your own pace, so there will be no pressure to book with me whatsoever.

Some Important Things To Know...

#5 - It is so important to normalize mental health stigmas by talking about it! Getting treatment for your mental health is just as important and valid as receiving treatment for any other condition. The false assumptions that people make about receiving mental health care can be dangerous and further isolating for people who are already struggling.  If you can not bring yourself to talk about mental health to others that is OK, you can come to it when and if you are ready, or you can also participate quite effectively by supporting social media or organizations that are advocating for mental health.
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