12.12.2012

Get to know our resident Naturopath, Kimberly Parsons - Part 1



With so many of you showing such a keen interest in our newest Well4ever member, we've decided to put our resident Naturopath, Kimberly Parsons through her paces and come up with 10 questions for her to fret over. Here is part 1 and be sure to tune in next week for part 2...

We hope you enjoy getting to know her a little better. Here is what she had to say...

How did you get into Naturopathy?
I knew I wanted to be a Naturopath from the age of 15. I did toy with the idea of training as an Osteopath for a while but there was always something that brought me back to Naturopathy. As a child I was brought up with Naturopathic health care. I remembered my mother with her spoonful of cod liver oil every morning at breakfast and dissolvable vitamin C supplements as we left home for our day at school. I was always the kid at school with the 'weird' lunch box; instead of crisps and cheese sandwiches, I had containers of chickpeas, nuts and seeds and half an avocado!

What is Naturopathy exactly?
Naturopathy is an umbrella term used to describe a natural health practitioner who is trained to use a range of natural therapies. Naturopath's understand the traditional use of remedies as well as recent biomedical research and will implement modalities such as herbal medicine, clinical nutrition, homeopathy, iridology, manual techniques such as massage or reflexology, acupuncture and dietary and lifestyle modifications to treat and diagnose their patients.

Each practitioner differs in the modalities they choose to treat with but each will fundamentally focus on treating the underlying causes of disease by assessing and treating the patient as a whole. A Naturopath believes health and wellbeing are affected by multiple external and internal factors, some of which lead to functional disorders and chronic disease. A Naturopath sees their role is to educate the patient, develop preventative practices and reduce the incidence of relapse.

What is your education?
I am a registered N.D. (Doctor of Naturopathy). To obtain this accreditation I studied a Bachelor of Health Science in Naturopathy at the renowned Southern School of Natural Therapies, in Melbourne Australia. SSNT is a private college with 50 years academic excellence in the field of Naturopathy, SSNT has played a leading role in the development of complementary medicine both in Australia and internationally. My qualification was an intensive 4 year degree, encompassing subjects such as western herbal medicine, clinical nutrition, homeopathy, iridology, counselling studies, pharmacology, clinical studies as well and providing all base subjects such as biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, psychology and pathology. I loved my time at SSNT because of its incredibly well rounded curriculum, and the education I received gave me a great springboard to continue in my own way.

There is no statutory legislation for the registration for Naturopaths in the UK at the moment, although the legislation is slowly changing. I strongly advocate registration and have chosen to become a registered member of the General Council and Register of Naturopaths.

How can you help me?
I am hoping to bring a fresh perspective to helping people make the link between food, nutrition and their health; Educating the Well4ever community on how food and its nutrients impact our health. More specifically, I specialise in women’s health. In the areas of infertility, pre-conception care, pregnancy, and menopause.

What health practitioners do you visit regularly for your own health?
I visit a Chiropractor each week to keep myself aligned and in tune. I'm a big subscriber to a healthy spine, a healthy mind and a healthy diet being the key to happiness and longevity.
The philosophy behind Chiropractic care is very similar to that of Naturopathy in that both believe the body possesses an innate intelligence where if kept in check with good nutrition, a healthy mind, lifestyle and regular spinal re-alignment the body will maintain its own equilibrium and live without dis-ease.

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