Dr. Erica Steele – So today many people are looking for integrative health practitioners, so I’m gonna make it easy to be able to identify one. My name is Dr. Eric Cast Steele. I’m a holistic doctor in family practice. I hold six degrees in my field and they’re all in the natural healthcare space, ranging from psychology to natural healthcare sciences, alternative medicine, natural medicine, public health, and I’m a board certified naturopathic doctor.
Hundreds of certifications, which I won’t get into. So how do you identify an integrative health practitioner? Okay, so first things first, you want to check their education. So where did they go to school? What’s their primary education? Are they a medical doctor? Are they an osteopath? Are they a chiropractor?
Are they a naturopath? Are they a naturopathic medical doctor? What is their original. Base training that’s gonna help you understand kinda where they’re coming from in the beginning. Like I’ve said in other videos, allopaths have a little bit of a difficult climb, in my opinion coming from that baseline training that they learn, the body’s kind of separate to learning that the body’s integrated, so you know that’s fine if they have that train that.
Initial baseline training, but they’re definitely gonna want to have additional certifications on top of that to be able to learn. And also those certifications need to be more of, natural health modalities. So let’s say acupuncture or homeopathy or herbology or functional medicine or integrative medicine.
Some of those types of trainings to help them to really understand how this body works together as a team. Because they’re taught in their initial program that the body is not a team. It’s isolated like little islands, you’ve got the heart over here, you’ve got the digestive system over here, you’ve got the bloodstream over here.
And so teaching them that it’s a whole, sometimes can be a bit of a challenge and. There’s that if the provider is a chiropractor then again, they’re [00:02:00] gonna need that additional training because they’re taught that this, the spine has the subluxations in it, which can interfere with the nerve function, which then impacts all kinds of things.
So their baseline training is really about adjusting on a physical level. And so now we’re looking at deeper mental emotion. Physical, imbalances, detoxification, nutrition. So we wanna make sure that they have some additional education in those areas of specialty as well. Same thing goes for like physical therapist as well.
This, the other thing with acupuncturist is they’re gonna need to have that western. Medical training because their training traditionally is gonna be more eastern. They’re trained in the bio energetics of the human not necessarily in the biochemistry. And so integrative health, they really need the biochemistry.
So just some things to consider in terms of their baseline training. I’m a naturopath, so we are definitely. Trained all in nutrition, detoxification, mind body components, emotional components we’re trained holistically. And then I’ve deci, I went off into psychology and various different aspects of psychology and trauma healing and all of those aspects as well as in integrative healthcare to understand how I integrate with allopathic doctors.
Functional medicine and being really skilled in functional medicine and homeopathy and all different modalities. So I’ve done a lot of training in a lot of areas to really be able to give a big, I have a big toolbox to be able to offer my patients Here’s a way to identify a good provider for you.
So they are they open-minded? That’s really important. So even if they don’t understand it, even if they don’t agree, they’re patients that come in and they talk about, oh, I wanna. Do an alkaline diet. I don’t agree with an alkaline diet. I’m not opposed to it, but I subscribe to macros, your proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
However, I’m open-minded enough to educate that patient and meet that patient where they’re at. Are they willing to listen? Number two, are they willing to listen? So they need to make sure that they can listen to the patient, even if they don’t agree and also be able. Actively listening to hear what’s going on with the individual.
Are they willing to be open to the patient and to the discovery? So are they willing to be open-minded and see where the patient’s coming from, and then maybe slowly lead them into a healthier direction so that they can underst. What’s going on? Are they also able to be creative? Are they going to think outside of the box?
Are they gonna just be pretty standard? It’s not just about throwing supplements at patients. That drives me bonkers. When patients come in and they’ve been to an integrative health provider who’s done nothing but run a whole bunch of expensive lab tests on them and given them a whole bunch of supplements, that absolutely drives me nuts because it’s not just.
Supplementing. You have to address the diet. You have to address the emotional issues around the diet. You have to address, what is ailing the person in their mindset. If you don’t address those issues, then you’re not gonna gain traction with the patient. You’re just gonna be replacing a pharmaceutical for a nutraceutical, which just doesn’t work.
A supplement is there to supplement, it’s there to support. It’s not to do the body’s work for it. It’s really important that, and then do they have various educational philosophies? I think that’s really important too, because if they’re truly an integrative healthcare provider, then they will have stepped outside of whatever their traditional practice is and learned other modalities to help, because as you’re actually treating patients, And you’re realizing that human beings are so complex, you tend to wanna put different tools in your tool bag.
That’s how I started. I started out as a massage therapist and started working with patients and then realized, wait a second, my people aren’t getting better, so let me start, looking at nutrition and I did some. Certifications in N R T and then I was like, wait a second, I just don’t wanna do a whole bunch of supplements with patients.
And that’s what got me into functional medicine and, so I just kept going back to school, going back to school, getting education and deepening my understanding. Of natural medicine so that I could be able to really help my patients in a big way. So looking at your integrative healthcare provider what is their baseline training and do they have open-mindedness, willing to listen?
Are they open to the patient experience and to the discovery? Are they creative? Do they think outside of the box? And what is their educational background? And lastly, this is the most important part. What’s their practical application like? What are they doing on the day-to-day? If they’re not actually living this holistic lifestyle, then they can’t advise you on the real, because there’s certain things that happen when you’re trying to integrate.
One lifestyle into another lifestyle. So if they can’t give you shortcuts and tips and tricks, et cetera, then they’re not really living this holistic lifestyle and they’re just selling something. And so you really want somebody that you can relate to that’s on your level that you can communicate with, and that you feel comfortable and safe.
That’s ultimately, I think, number one, that you are able to open up, feel safe, and also feel heard. That’s really important. So my name’s Dr. Erica Steele. I’m a holistic doctor in family practice. Thank you so much for tuning in and hopefully that helps you to find an integrative healthcare provider that works for you.