Naturopathy uses a holistic treatment approach which targets the whole person – body, mind and spirit.
We base our healing outcomes on 6 main principles:
First do no harm – Naturopaths have a role in facilitating the body’s ability to heal itself naturally by providing non-invasive treatments, avoiding suppression of symptoms and prescribing gentle and complimentary doses of medicines so that the body can follow its path to healing.
The Healing Power of Nature – the body has an intuitive and complex ability to maintain health and heal itself by working with nature (air, earth, water, sun) in order to regenerate and restore. By combining with a healthy diet and lifestyle advice along with other Naturopathic treatment modalities the body has the innate ability to heal itself.
Identify and Treat the Cause – Understanding that every illness has an underlying cause is key to being able to fully treat a person. We need to identify and remove this cause to enable a full recovery. Signs and Symptoms allow us to do this and they can occur on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. By evaluating all these areas and identifying the root cause we can move forward to healing.
Treat the Whole Person – Naturopathic physicians treat the whole person by taking into account the complexity and interplay between physical, mental, emotional and spiritual factors. A comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment enables strategies to be health focused and long term.
Doctor as Teacher – Whilst the Naturopath is the catalyst for a positive and healthy change, providing motivation for the patient to become responsible for their own health and outcomes, it is ultimately the patient who has the power to heal themselves.
Prevention – Naturopaths support the principles of ‘disease prevention’, analysing risk factors through detailed case taking, constitutional susceptibility and genetic tendency. Appropriate interventions may be introduced to avoid further harm or future disease risks to the patient. Naturopaths want to prevent disease in the future and so educate their patients to support them in this goal.
