FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions - Naturopathic Medicine

I view naturopathic medicine as a clinical framework, a foundational principle that  prioritizes the body’s inherent capacity to regulate, repair, and recover through homeostasis. Rather than treating isolated symptoms or organs, I focus on how systems interact—neurologic, hormonal, immune, metabolic, and structural—and how those interactions shape pain, illness, and healing.

Vis Medicatrix Naturae refers to the body’s innate ability to heal and maintain balance irregardless of  conditions.  Homeostasis is not passive—it is adaptive. The body adapts to sustain a balance that is compatible with living organism/ life. We compensate, conserve, and “make do".  At the cellular level this appears as using resources such as minerals from bone to maintain critical balance like blood pH. These adaptations keep us alive, but they can carry downstream costs. My role is to identify when adaptation has become strain and to support a return to more sustainable regulation and recovery.

My role is to identify what is interfering with that adaptive capacity and to support conditions that allow regulation, repair, and recovery to occur.

No. Supporting the body’s healing capacity does not mean withholding appropriate medical care.

It means choosing interventions thoughtfully—whether diagnostic, procedural, or therapeutic—based on whether they support function, reduce unnecessary strain, and help restore balance rather than override it.

Symptoms are meaningful signals, not enemies. They often reflect how the nervous system, immune system, or metabolism is responding to stress, injury, or imbalance.

Instead of suppressing symptoms in isolation, I look at why they are occurring, what systems are involved, and what obstacles are preventing resolution.

Pain is rarely just a local issue. It is influenced by tissue injury, nervous system sensitization, inflammation, stress history, and prior medical experiences.

By addressing these contributors together, care can be more precise, better tolerated, and more effective—often with fewer interventions over time.

Trauma-informed care recognizes that prior injury, stress, and medical experiences can shape how the body responds to treatment.

This aligns naturally with naturopathic philosophy: safety, pacing, choice, and collaboration are not optional—they are essential conditions for healing and regulation.

No. Modern science increasingly confirms what systems-based medicine has long recognized: health emerges from interaction, regulation, and adaptability.

Advances in neuroscience, immunology, and systems biology continue to illuminate how interconnected the body truly is.

People can expect:

• Care that prioritizes safety and understanding, with time to assess how symptoms connect
• Thoughtful evaluation rather than automatic referrals for each body system
• Interventions chosen to support recovery and long-term function, not just short-term symptom management 
• Practical tools and insight that remain useful beyond the visit and support ongoing self-care
   

My role is to assess, guide, and suggest interventions as appropriate.

The patient’s role is to participate, ask questions, and make informed choices.

Healing is not something done to a person—it is something supported with them.

Naturopathic medicine is not defined by herbs, supplements, manual therapies or diagnostics. Naturopathic medicine is a system of medicine based on observed patterns inherent in living organisms.

At its foundation is Vis Medicatrix Naturae—the recognition that living systems have an intrinsic capacity to sustain life through adaptation. This is not a belief or intervention; it is an observed property of organisms.

That capacity is carried out through homeostasis: the coordinated physiological mechanisms that regulate balance across the entire organism—body, nervous system, metabolism, immunity, structure, and cognition. When balance can be maintained, life continues. When balance cannot be maintained, systems fail.

In this framework, healing is not about adding remedies, which modality or intervention has the most success or evidence. Healing becomes understanding how balance is being preserved, cost to the system, and what interferes with and impinges with more efficient regulation.

 How an individual supports restoration of balance is a matter of informed choice. Nutritional support, botanical medicine, and other therapeutic approaches are among many ways the body can be assisted in maintaining homeostasis. 

Naturopathic medicine is a systems-based medical discipline that recognizes Vis Medicatrix Naturae as an observed principle and homeostasis as the core mechanism through which living organisms maintain balance and survive.