We have reached that time of year again; it is Naturopathic Medicine Week! To kick it off, I will reiterate the 6 basic principles of naturopathic medicine, highlighting the couple that are most important to me. 

My favorite principle, that I feel truly sets our type of medicine apart is our desire to identify and treat the cause. As Naturopathic Physicians, we strive to not treat symptoms, but focus on determining what is causing those symptoms in the first place. This means we are treating the whole person (another principle) to make sure we are correcting for the imbalances in an individual’s determinants of health. I also love that we view the doctor as a teacher. I’ve been to traditional doctors before, and they will tell me to do something, and I’m a lot less likely to do what they say if I don’t know why it is important. With Naturopathic Medicine, it is important to make sure the doctor educates the patient so they understand why everything is being done or recommended, and can be involved in their own health care.

Last year, National was awarded the Golden Avocado for winning the most points for doing various activities on campus, in the community, and on social media sites to raise awareness for Naturopathic Medicine, while competing against the other schools in the country. The goal is to keep the trophy, and once again win the contest. As such, we are having a lot of fun activities throughout the week. Here are some of the highlights:

On Monday, we had a recent graduate, Dr. Michael Robinson, come talk to us about life as an ND in the first year of practice. Later in the week, there was a plant talk with the homeopathy club, lots of yoga sessions, a meditation class, and a potluck picnic! There were many other activities during the week, but way too many to mention. Fingers crossed that the Golden Avocado stays at NUHS!