A Physical Goodbye, but a Vritual Hug

It’s been almost 12 years to the day that I opened the physical location for Dartmouth Naturopathic at 228 Pleasant Street. It’s with mixed emotions that I hand over the keys this week and move on from this chapter of my career. This little clinic was a true passion and gave me a deep sense of purpose; the privilege to work with so many people, allowing me to hold space for all the ups and downs that come with bearing witness to an uncountable number of health journey’s. But a change has been a brewing; from the landlord looking to sell the property, to starting a family & the birth of my beautiful little boy, to a changing healthcare scene in the province & my return to school to get my Masters in Physician Assistant Studies at Dalhousie. This truly feels like the right time for such a big move (literally).

Continue below for more details…

The Details…

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

You may be asking what will the future of Dartmouth Naturopathic look like with all this change and without a physical location?

I will be continuing a virtual practice!

MY VIRTUAL NATUROPATHIC PRACTICE

Dartmouth Naturopathic is just lonely old virtual me now, there are no other practitioners and no physical location.

• If you’re looking for contact info for other practitioners please reach out and I will provide you with that

• I’m still on maternity leave until the spring/summer however

• I will continue a small virtual naturopathic practice once I return from mat leave

• I will open up bookings a month in advance, you will be notified via email (like this one) and given a link to book in if you’re keen

• I am in my clinical rotations as a PA student as well, my available booking hours will vary as a result

• All supplements sales will now be through my online fullscript site or your preferred supplement stores

WHY I’M STUDYING TO BECOME A PA?

My intent is to continue a small consulting naturopathic practice as I transition into working in our provincial healthcare system as a PA (physician assistant). I feel a strong calling to help with our provincial health care crisis. After more than a decade working with patients to optimize their health as a naturopathic doctor, I have been seeing more and more patients come in without even their basic healthcare needs met. Lacking family doctors and long waits for specialists means I’ve been seeing more folks who’ve missed screening tests, basic blood work or whose conditions are deteriorating as they wait on appropriate care. Private healthcare is available, but it is also expensive, especially for those without extended health care benefits. The unfortunate reality is that naturopathic medicine is private medicine, and I feel a sense of duty to also help those who can’t access these services. Working as a PA will help meet this calling.

HOW I PRACTICE NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE

Along with my functional medicine training, I tap into the best of both the conventional and natural medical care systems as an ND and PA in training. I practice guideline based medicine. We can’t effectively optimize our health until basic medical needs are met. Looking to guidelines for care sets a high standard for safety and success. Together we can make sure no stone is unturned and that your care is safe and appropriate, building a super healthy base so that we can put a cherry on top. And that topping would be putting together a goal oriented plan to optimize areas of your health you’ve identified are key to living out the healthiest version of yourself possible.

My ongoing naturopathic practice will support patients in 4 key ways:

1. Making sure all baseline care is met: basic bloodwork, screening tests, disease prevention strategies, annual assessments etc

2. Implementing guideline based medicine: this goes beyond evidence based care, guidelines are set by experts after reviewing all current research to come up with the best steps for care in specific circumstances

3. Help with navigating our healthcare system: how to access the right care & free programs while making sure you’re baseline medical needs are met in good time

4. Incorporating health optimization strategies: this is the fun stuff where you set achievable goals for dietary and lifestyle modifications supported with natural solutions

FINALLY, THANK YOU!

I want to end this suuuper long email (congrats on making it this far!) with a sincere thank you to all my past patients, current patients, patients to be, family, friends and anyone who supported me in this journey so far. Closing down this physical business location is only opening up more possibilities. Being a small business owner with no business background was a challenging endeavour (especially through the pandemic!), and without the support of the people surrounding me, it could not have been possible. It feels a lot lighter to let the business side of my career go and focus in more deeply on patient care and other blossoming aspects of my life.

Dr. Tara Lapointe ND, Founder

I’d love to hear from you!

Are there any topics you’re interested in hearing about if I were to start a regular newsletter? Perhaps you’re wondering why things run a certain way in our healthcare system; are you getting the standard of care, how can you navigate things optimally? Or maybe you’re wondering about the validity of all these hyped up natural “cures” you’re seeing on social media; are they worth the time, effort and money? Maybe you want to know more about certain topics like perimenopause, SIBO, IBS, burnout, fertility, high cholesterol, fertility, anything at all. Let me know!