Dr. Erica Steele – Are you curious as to who can be an integrative healthcare provider? Tune in to find out. My name is Dr. Erica Steele. I am a holistic doctor in family practice. I hold six degrees in my field and they’re all in the natural healthcare space. I am a drugless doctor by choice, so let’s jump into it. So how do we know who can be a integrative health provider?
So medical doctors can be integrative health providers. Osteopathic doctors can be integrative healthcare providers. Chiropractors can be integrative healthcare providers. Naturopathic medical doctors can be integrative healthcare providers. Acupuncturists can be integrative healthcare providers. And then naturopathic doctors such as myself, can also be integrative healthcare providers.
And. What makes an integrative healthcare provider, and I believe that integrative healthcare providers are created because of the education and the experience, but more importantly, the practical application that they have. I believe that anybody can learn things in a book, right? And where in allopathic philosophy is more driven around the body being flawed.
The organs being separated and not being the whole person. It’s gonna take them a little bit more work to be able to make that transition and that big leap to the concept and the idea that the body is whole. Nothing wrong about that. I just wanna be clear. That when you believe or when you are cultivated as a provider, that the body is separated.
It’s really difficult to now go into this philosophy that the body is whole. That’s where I really believe the practical application comes in, because if a person has been an allopathic provider and they’ve had personal experience about how, this is broken down or that’s broken down and they’ve done that inner work, I believe that it really helps them when they.
Applying some of these various modalities because they have personal experience. Some of the integrative health modalities or tools that we use, let’s say Reiki, while it’s been studied a lot of times people can’t explain why and it takes somebody to be very open-minded and to be willing to.
Leave that Western medical model and go into some of the more Eastern philosophies of bio energetics. Whereas let’s say an acupuncture who has all that eastern theory and bio energetics, they have to learn how to make that leap over into allopathic western philosophy where they do look at the body and kind of isolate things out because if they don’t, then they may miss something from the patient because while yes, everything is energy.
Sometimes if there is a true health, not a true, but a, but an actual Integrative Health Providers emergency that needs immediate assistance, they may miss that and then not be willing or able to identify and refer to our allopathic medical providers, which I why integrative healthcare is so important. We have to be able to be open-minded, to be able to identify.
The things that may be a disease process that needs to be diagnosed and managed versus let’s say a lifestyle factor or an energetic modality or nutritional issue that we really can be able to support either nutritionally or through detoxification or some of our mind body modalities. I also believe, and this is my opinion, that if you do find an integrative healthcare provider, I really want you to encourage you to look at all of their training and education, for instance.
Nothing gets chiropractors. I love them to pieces and I’m not picking on them by any stretch cuz I know ton of amazing ones. But I find that a lot of times they will operate a little outs outside, outside of their scope of practice. They’ll take a, let’s say a. Workshop and let’s say acupuncture.
And so a weekend is not long enough to be able to really learn a modality and a skill like acupuncture. Yes, they could put the needles in and put ’em in the right positions, but to really be a master at that particular modality requires, a two to four year training. And so we really wanna, even though you can take, a seminar here, workshop here, while that is a.
Introduction into a particular modality. If you really want mastery on something, that’s where dedicating the time and the research and just the structure in an educational setting is really important. There’s certain nuances to practice that you learn. By not just reading, but practical hands-on experience, which is why it’s really important that all providers have a clinical residency as well to be able to learn and be able to grow.
I know for me personally, I learned more working with patients and putting that practical application than I did just reading the information alone. And then I still continued to take continuing education and continue to. My, my studies I’m working on my PhD right now in applied psychophysiology in how that mind and body work together as a team or in, sometimes they work separately, in a lot of cases, and so I think it’s really important that you find an integrative healthcare provider.
That matches your philosophies, number one, that has the education to be able to advise you. Number two, but also has a lot of those practical application skills and has some years worth of experience. I definitely believe that if you resonate with somebody on a deep level, I think all of that is an null and void, however, Just for everyone’s safety and their health.
I really think it’s important that you, number one, definitely trust your gut, but also look at those other principles that I was discussing earlier. So thank you so much for tuning in. My name is Dr. Erica Steele, holistic Family Practice, and we help families live naturally.