THE HERBAL PRACTICE
Herbal and Naturopathic Medicine
Restoring health naturally
Herbal Medicine
Herbal medicine is a complete system of medicine for primary health care, steeped in tradition and established methodology. It uses plants with known medicinal actions to treat people's ailments and was the basis of all health care before the modern drugs industry replaced botanicals (plant medicines, known more commonly as herbs) with chemical drugs. Across the globe, there are various traditions accommodating local herbal practice and wisdom. I am trained in Western Herbal Medicine and its efficacy and validity is continually upheld by ongoing scientific and clinical research. It is particularly beneficial for chronic conditions. Herbal Medicine always treats the person as a whole, aiming for long term health improvement not just symptomatic relief.
Holistic Nutrition
Most food we eat today carries less nutritional value than it used to for a variety of reasons. This means the choices we make are all the more important if we want the best health benefit from our food intake. How food is prepared, cooked, which foods suit your personal life-style and constitution, and how to distinguish 'fake' food from 'real' food is part of the natural route to good health. A bespoke naturopathic and holistic nutrition programme can make significant changes to your energy levels, the condition of your skin and hair, strength of immune system, mood swings etc.
Specific foods and herbal supplements may be recommended. And for those willing to make the commitment, a stricter therapeutic diet for a specified period of time will give your body the holiday it needs to restore good digestion, reduce bloating, reduce acid reflux and a myriad of other niggling digestive ailments that appear when you are stressed and run down.
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Stress Management
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Stress is a necessary part of our lives. Its positive effects are to give us the extra burst of adrenaline needed to get through exams and job interviews, for example, and to escape danger. However, when stress becomes chronic, it produces many negative effects. It drains us of energy and erodes our quality of life. It eats away at self confidence as we become progressively less productive no matter how much effort we expend. It also has serious effects on almost all of the body systems, in particular, the digestive, cardiovascular, nervous and endocrine systems. Ultimately the body and mind give up with exhaustion and serious physical and mental ailments manifest themselves.
However, it is possible to learn to recognise negative stress and manage it before it becomes too serious. Stress management can assist you identify the particular stressors in your life and offer practical tools and support to help you deal with them. There are many herbs that have a relaxing and calming influence over the nervous system to help relieve stress, others that promote natural sleep and still others that are highly restorative to nerve function.
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Health Coaching
Looking after your health is one of the best investments you can make. Learning how to do this without becoming dependent on prescription drugs* and having to endure their manifold side-effects produces a long term positive improvement to your well-being, not just a short term fix. The 'way' you live your life affects your health. So finding a realistic balance of all the essential ingredients to a healthy life-style is the aim. It is a foundational tenet of natural medicine, that the human body has the capacity to move towards optimal health if given the right conditions. The overall goal is to teach you how to value and care for every aspect of your being, holistically, allowing innate homeostatic processes to re-balance you, enabling you to maintain your optimal health.
Consultations by appointment within one of the Price Plans
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Consultations in person, online or by phone
Telephone consultations - follow up appointments only
Home visits by arrangement, an additional fee to cover travel costs may be incurred
Fees as in the Price Plans
Payment in advance by bank transfer or cash on the day of initial consultation.
Contact me directly for bank details.
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Prices are subject to change.
Cancellation policy
Appointments can be cancelled up to 48 hrs before scheduled time. Thereafter, a cancellation fee of £30 is incurred.
Once started, Treatment plans cannot be cancelled.
Concessions
The Practice may accommodate this on a discretionary basis.
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Disclaimer
The Herbal Practice does not offer symptomatic diagnosis of clinical conditions, nor claim to heal a GP diagnosis. Naturopathic diagnosis and treatment is based on an evaluation of the whole individual, not a set of symptoms. It is the conviction of naturopathic practice that the body heals itself if it has the resources to do so. The natural health practitioner's role is to assist and manage this process towards the most positive outcome possible. Referrals to your GP or other specialists will be made where a herbal approach is unsuitable, for example, where the patient is too unwell to respond to such treatment.
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* The Herbal Practice does not recommend stopping any prescribed medicines without liaising with your GP, and recognises that some cases may require long term prescribed pharmaceutical medication.