A system of healthcare that uses herbal medicine, nutritional medicine, dietary change and lifestyle strategies, and that treats the person rather than the symptom in isolation. A consultation is longer than a GP appointment because taking a full history is most of the work.

Is naturopathy a replacement for seeing a doctor?

No, and your naturopath here will tell you the same. Naturopathy works alongside conventional medicine. Diagnosis of disease, prescription medication and acute or emergency care all belong with your doctor.

Are naturopaths registered?

Not in the sense that doctors and nurses are — naturopathy isn't regulated by AHPRA and there's no government register. Practitioners are qualified and belong to professional associations that set standards. The naturopaths here hold Advanced Diplomas or Bachelor degrees and are members of ATMS, ANTA or the NHAA.

How long before I notice anything?

It depends entirely on what you're presenting with and how long it's been going on. Your naturopath will give you a realistic sense at the first appointment rather than a promise.

What Naturopathy Is | Naturopath Melbourne, Brunswick West

Naturopathy is a system of healthcare built on a fairly simple idea: look at the whole person, work out what’s actually driving the problem, and support the body’s own capacity to function well.

In practice that means herbal medicine, nutritional medicine, dietary change and lifestyle strategies — chosen for you rather than applied from a template.

What a consultation is actually like

Long. An initial appointment is 60 minutes, and most of that is your naturopath listening.

They’ll go through your health history, your current symptoms, what you eat, how you sleep, your stress, your digestion, your medications and what you’ve already tried. That history is where the useful information is — the pattern across it usually matters more than any single symptom.

From there they’ll set out a plan, which may include herbal or nutritional prescriptions, dietary changes, and testing where it’s clinically appropriate.

What naturopathy is not

It isn’t a replacement for medical care, and any naturopath who suggests it is should be treated with suspicion.

Diagnosis of disease, prescription medication, imaging, surgery and acute or emergency care all belong with your doctor. The naturopaths here work alongside conventional medicine — several of them explicitly, and one of them (Carmen Farrugia) is an AHPRA-registered midwife and nurse as well as a naturopath.

It also isn’t instant. Chronic patterns generally took time to establish and take time to shift.

On regulation, plainly

Naturopathy is not regulated by AHPRA. There is no government register, so “registered naturopath” is not a meaningful phrase and you should be careful of anyone using it.

What does exist is qualification and professional association membership. The four naturopaths here hold Advanced Diplomas or Bachelor of Health Science degrees in naturopathy, and are members of the ATMS, ANTA or the NHAA. Those associations set standards for training, continuing education and professional indemnity.

That’s a weaker guarantee than a government register, and it’s better to say so than to imply otherwise.

Where to start

What happens at your first appointment, or the services offered here.

Naturopathy as a way of living