WorkING With Me
My practice is virtual, so I work online with clients from all over. Location and travel are no barriers.
Functional Medicine looks to achieve good health and prevention through food, lifestyle and environment. We look for root causes and connections instead of focusing on one symptom or diagnosis.
I am one of only 25 nutritionists in the UK to-date who have completed the training and passed the rigorous exam to become a Certified Practitioner (IFMCP) with IFM – The Institute for Functional Medicine.
And I want to help you improve your health.
benefits of working with me
In-depth
My approach is thorough and looks into your health and habits over a lifetime, family history, past medical tests as well as what’s going on now.
Evidence based
We say “test don’t guess” – this helps target your programme and speed up progress. Otherwise, it’s just educated guessing on what’s going wrong.
Personalised
My Process
I work in a programme structure because implementing changes and seeing results takes a little time. It’s likely that your health concerns have been going on for a while. My programme will help you take back control of your health.
Clarity Call
The very first step for any potential client is a 20-minute free clarity call with me to discuss what’s going on, what they hope to achieve, what they’ve done so far, what’s worked, what hasn’t worked. We agree on what kind of support you may need and agree a programme for you.
Getting Started
The next step is to have you send me results of any relevant previous tests you have had, fill in some questionnaires which give me a good overview of your health both current and past as well as enlighten me about family history, medications, medical procedures etc that you’ve had in the past. I review all of this before we even have our first session. This ultimately saves time. I start mapping this information out on a functional medicine matrix and timeline.
Your initial session
This is typically a 75-minute session where we go through what I’ve mapped out on your matrix and timeline. Fill in any gaps and answer any questions I may have had around your responses in your questionnaires and from previous test results. We talk about what it all means – how symptoms relate to one another and what we will do next.
Collaboration
This is a collaborative process – I don’t just hand you a meal plan and send you on your way. If you’re not up to lots of major changes, then we work on smaller incremental changes. If you can’t swallow tablets easily, then I work hard to find as many supplements in powder or liquid form for you. This is a totally personalised, bespoke process and will differ for each client. I will then come up with a protocol for you incorporating diet, supplement, and lifestyle changes. This is about you learning to live better.
Supplements
If I do recommend supplements, they will be professional level quality and I typically recommend them via the Natural Dispensary or Amrita as I am able to pass on a discount to clients through these companies and they both offer a type of one-stop-shop for the top brands of supplements.
The reality is most people benefit from supplementation of some kind. No one eats a perfect diet. (I often get told – “I eat a pretty clean diet, I just have all these symptoms”: what does that tell you???) Life is often stressful. Our environments are often polluted. Farming methods mean that food now isn’t as nutritious as it was in our grandparents’ day. Or honestly, some people are just so depleted that having supplementation helps speed up their recovery to good health.
Functional Testing
I may recommend a functional test(s) to get to the bottom of your symptoms and enlighten us as to your current nutritional and metabolic status. This might be a stool or breath test to investigate gut health or a saliva test for stress or genetics or a urine test for organic acids (metabolic and nutritional markers) or hormones. It entirely depends on you and your needs. My top programmes offer some testing included in the fees; others the cost of testing would be extra. If there are some tests which I think you may be able to get free through your GP, I will tell you.
Holistic
Health is a multi-faceted beast. There are times when I think someone would benefit from another mode of treatment – whether that be acupuncture, talk therapy / CBT, hypnotherapy, massage, osteopathy, etc. If I think it will benefit you, I will recommend you look into it. And if I am able I will personally recommend another practitioner to help you. And indeed, if I feel there is an issue that needs to be further investigated or supported by your GP, I will say so.
Consultations
Depending on the type of programme we’ve decided on for you and the level of support you need, consultations are typically 30 minutes. We will go through how you are doing and feeling. What’s changed? What else needs to be worked on? Where do you need more support? We will review your current protocol and make changes as necessary.
Continuing Support
I often get asked, how many sessions will I need? The answer is – I don’t know for sure. Literally – everyone is different. Some people respond to changes easily and well. For others it takes more time and effort to make progress. My initial programmes are 12 weeks long but if you’ve come to the end of your programme, and you need further support, we will discuss what’s right for you next.
Check-ins
I’m interested in your long-term health. I do have clients who pop back for a check-in sessions. Perhaps life circumstances have changed or something has happened and they feel that they need a review of their situation. This is totally normal and in these cases I offer health reviews for past clients.
Programmes start from £600.
Your health is worth the investment.
Functional testing
Functional laboratory testing is used to find out what’s going on for you now. With an analysis of specific markers, it can be invaluable in short cutting the time needed to find out what actions to take instead of trying to guess and try out a few different things.
You may be wondering: what’s the point of doing labs with a nutritional therapist, when you could go to your GP? NHS labs are often different to the labs that the functional medicine practitioner offers. Both are useful but typically GPs won’t test a wide range of markers unless symptoms warrant it (and frankly by then you may be feeling pretty poorly indeed). The benefit of private functional testing is that you have control over what is tested and you can choose more thorough tests and/or things which are never considered by your GP to test.
Because the functional medicine practitioner has a holistic approach to you and your health, a test like the GI (gastrointestinal) comprehensive stool test is great because it can pin point what may be going on for you and there may be multiple issues.
Functional laboratory tests may be recommended such as stool analysis, hormone or nutrient profiles to provide useful further information to steer your programme, or genetic testing to determine how your body uses nutrients.
Here are some examples of tests:
DNA health and wellbeing profiles
Organic Acids Test (OAT)
Food intolerance and sensitivities
Total thyroid screen
Female hormone panel (DUTCH test)
Adrenal stress test
Blood tests
Comprehensive Stool Analysis
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) breath test
How?
Many of these tests are ones you can do at home – urine, saliva, or finger prick. Some other tests may require a blood draw from a phlebotomist and therefore an additional fee.
How much?
Prices for these tests vary from test to test and lab to lab, so if you have any questions about any of these tests, please do just drop me a line. If there is the possibility of having a test done through your GP, then I work with you to request that.