Apr 18, 2022 | ND Spotlight, Blog
Dr. Tim Warwick currently practises at Vive Integrative Health Group in Calgary, AB. He graduated with distinction from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Science degree. Inspired through his studies in biochemistry, nutrition, and physiology, he continued his education at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine. He is currently a registrant in good standing with the College of Naturopathic Doctors of Alberta and is an active member of both provincial and national professional associations.
With over 10 years of clinical experience, Dr. Tim has been fortunate to work with a wide variety of patients with an even wider variety of health concerns. Dr. Tim takes an integrative approach when assessing and treating his patients, which results in conscientious and well-rounded care. He is a strong proponent of ethical, unbiased, safe and effective treatment strategies.
Dr. Tim devotes many hours every week to continuing education and research in the integrative medicine field. He has received advanced training and certifications in prescriptive authority, emergency readiness, intravenous nutritional therapy, chelation therapy, acupuncture, naturopathic oncology and various injection therapies.
He is especially interested in cardiometabolic health, chronic infections, autoimmune disease, environmental factors in illness, and longevity medicine.
You might stumble upon Dr. Tim hiking or fishing in Kananaskis, playing ice hockey at Winsport, cooking (mostly) delicious meals using his home-grown vegetables, or playing guitar for country/rock artist “Garrett Gregory” at the Calgary Stampede. He is fortunate to have a vibrant personal life and enjoys meeting new people, travelling new places, and challenging himself with new activities.
Stay connected:
www.vivehealth.ca
403-984-3538
contact@vivehealth.ca
Mar 21, 2022 | ND Spotlight
I am a licensed naturopathic doctor located in Calgary, AB, providing virtual care for all Albertans and mobile (in-home) services for South Calgary and surrounding areas. My clinical focus includes fatigue, stress, mental wellness, addictions, weight loss, physical injuries, hormonal health, digestive health, and auto-immunity.
I get to the bottom of my patient’s concerns and provide effective treatment plans that suit their lifestyle and vastly improve their quality of life. I practice as an evidence-based naturopath and favour practicality over complexity.
When I first began my practice on Vancouver Island, I decided to shift my focus towards mental and emotional health. Today, I use my background in both physical medicine and mental wellness to be a truly holistic practitioner.
While away from the office, my personal interests and activities include music (guitar, songwriting, singing, percussion), sports (martial arts, golf, ultimate frisbee, darts), various forms of philosophy, and cooking! There were several years between my undergraduate degree and doctor’s degree when I worked as a corporate professional in the energy sector. My educational, professional, and personal background allows me to relate to a wide range of patients which I believe leads to better treatment outcomes. I am committed to helping patients regain their autonomy and I personally practice what I preach.”
Fun facts about Dr. Anderson:
- He’s a co-host of a podcast called The Wellness Dojo
- He’s a Former competitive black belt martial artist
- His cat plays fetch, goes on leashed walks, and can do 10 different tricks
- He was a finalist in the Calgary Folk Festival songwriting competition
Stay connected:
825-365-3434
www.naturopathyyc.ca
hello@doctoranderson.ca
Sep 1, 2021 | ND Spotlight
Dr. Karlee Tario, ND – Calgary, Alberta
Dr. Karlee Tario, ND studied Medical Biochemistry at UBC and graduated from Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in 2019. Becoming an ND has been her biggest achievement to date, one that she has been working towards since she was 15 years old.
Karlee’s greatest areas of interest in practice are hormones and digestion. “Growing up having experienced these issues myself, I have a passion for helping others with these same ailments. I have been in their shoes and understand the frustration on trying to figure out what was going on with my own body”. Even though she thought she was doing everything right, she still wasn’t feeling her best and was not given any answers. Furthermore, her passion for hormones and digestion stems from the fact that these physiologic functions are quite related; she often observes connections in practice. She also enjoys treating skin conditions such as acne and eczema, as well as delving into anti-aging medicine “to get people looking and feeling their best”! Her greatest inspiration are her patients. “When I see how far they have come from when we first started and how much dedication, time, and work they have put into optimizing their health, it motivates me to continue helping patients reach their goals. It makes me incredibly happy to see people feeling better.”
A typical day in the life of Dr. Tario, ND involves waking up and having morning coffee, followed by a walk with her little pup Penny, working at the clinic, going to an F45 workout, and spending time with her loved ones. She is usually very active and enjoys going for an evening bike ride or rollerblade. On her days off, she loves to hike or hit up the mountain slopes.
Work/life balance is something Karlee takes very seriously, because “life can fly by so quickly and I believe we should enjoy every second of it”. She only works 4 days per week and will pick up a Saturday shift every other week. This gives her time off to spend with friends and family, go hiking, camping, or snowboarding, but also provides patients more flexibility when booking appointments. “As a new grad picking up that extra Saturday has been great for building my practice. Having the 4-day work week also allows me to have a patient research or prep day when needed… Making the time to do the things I love is super important for my own health and wellbeing. As (naturopathic) doctors, we can get so busy taking care of other people that we forget to take care of ourselves. Having a good work/life balance helps me be better for myself and for my patients.”
Her advice for future NDs is to shop around and find a clinic that is going to be a good fit for you. Making the decision on which clinic to join was her biggest challenge upon entering the profession. “Reading contracts was stressful and confusing at times; I highly recommend hiring a lawyer to go over it, and don’t be afraid to negotiate, as some contracts are outdated.” Furthermore, she recommends making sure the contract doesn’t go against college standards. Her recommendation is to start out at two different clinics “to get your foot in two doors” and then switching over full time to the one that feels like the best fit.
– Interview by Annick Meckes, July 2021
Aug 3, 2021 | ND Spotlight
Dr. Jayelle Haavaldsen, ND – Edmonton, Alberta
Dr. Jayelle Haavaldsen, ND studied biochemistry at UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna before she earned her ND title at Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in Vancouver. She has a passion for mental health, the mind-body connection, and emotional wellness. Her interest in hormonal, reproductive, and menstrual health was piqued a little bit later, “once I started my practice some sort of raging feminist emerged from deep inside of me – so now I’m also very passionate about that!”. She also has a significant interest in metabolic disease, as she has an extensive family history of diabetes and has seen firsthand how this affects lives. “I have a very curious brain, so I get interested in anything quite easily.”
Dr. Haavaldsen, ND lives by Brené Brown’s motto: “The goal is to be authentic, not to fit in.” She explains, “I used to deal with a lot of anxiety and fears around being likable and making everyone happy. This quote really stuck with me and helped me learn to embrace who I am and show up earnestly.”
She draws inspiration from her husband, who has an infectious adventurous spirit and inspires her to live fully: “I’ve climbed more mountains and biked more trails and jumped into more lakes than I ever thought possible thanks to him.” In line with the naturopathic philosophy, she also finds herself very inspired whenever she is in nature – the forest, mountains, lakes, rivers, and in her garden.
In order to maintain a healthy work/life balance, Dr. Haavaldsen. ND stopped attaching her worth to her productivity and started setting boundaries. “Seriously, this was a big challenge for me – I used to burn myself out because I wanted to be ‘the best’. I had to re-wire my thinking so that I now see my rest time as a priority, not a luxury or a reward for hard work.”
When asked what she hopes to gain from the AAND community, she responded: “Exactly that -a sense of community. I’d really love to connect with more NDs in Alberta! Being a new grad, I found it challenging to go from a situation where I was with my peers/colleagues all the time to suddenly having very little interaction with others in the profession. It was very isolating.”
Her experience as a new grad during a pandemic was unique with a strange combination of highs and lows, but she is thrilled to finally be a working professional and have an income. At the same time, the reality of how expensive it is to be an ND has also set in. “I think being an ND is extremely rewarding and the days are filled with tiny wins, but [when I first started] there were many moments of self-doubt and feeling like I had no idea what I was doing.”
Her advice to new grads entering the profession is: Don’t compare yourself to others, especially not those who have been in this profession for much longer. “Just keep focusing on you (and your patients). It will come with time.”
Interview by Annick Meckes, July 2021
Dec 2, 2020 | ND Spotlight
Dr. Anouk Chaumont, ND, Grande Prairie/Dawson Creek
Dr. Anouk Chaumont ND graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in 2005. She is a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), as well as board member of the Lyme Disease Association of Alberta (LDAA). Dr. Chaumont is licensed in Alberta and British Columbia and practices in both provinces.
“In high school, I wanted to become a conventional medical doctor. I ended up going into psychology instead and worked as a parole officer for two years while doing my master’s in criminology. I soon realized that criminology wasn’t for me. During this time, my mother (a registered nurse) started studying homeopathy. Through this, I was exposed to a whole new way of doing medicine and went back to my initial passion (medicine) except with a more natural approach.”
“Initially, my clinical area of focus was naturopathic oncology (cancer support). However, my area of special interest over the last 5 years has been chronic infections, specifically Lyme disease and co-infections. I began focusing on this because my husband went fishing in Northern Alberta one day and came home with Lyme disease. I needed to learn how to treat it so that I could help him. All of a sudden, after this incident, a lot of patients started showing up at my clinic with strange symptoms. The one thing they all had in common was undiagnosed chronic Lyme disease. So, I shifted my clinical focus to mold toxicity, Lyme disease and co-infections. Unfortunately, very few naturopathic doctors know how to properly treat Lyme disease. This condition is much more prevalent than people think. A lot of patients are misdiagnosed.”
Rather than a strict separation between conventional and naturopathic treatment, Dr. Chaumont ND finds that “the best treatment results come from a combination of antibiotics and botanical medicine with other additional tools from Naturopathic Medicine.” As naturopathic doctors do not have prescription rights in Alberta (and legislation varies by province), Dr. Chaumont ND decided to obtain dual licensure in Alberta and BC in order to provide full care to her patients. “I would consider the process of getting my dual licensure one of my biggest challenges, but also greatest accomplishments.”
“It is a huge frustration to not have prescription rights in Alberta. This means having to separate my practice among two different provinces. My main office is in Alberta and I travel to my BC office every second Friday. When an Albertan patient needs complementary antibiotic therapy, they have to travel all the way to my BC office, so that I can address that portion of the treatment there. It is a real challenge for the patient.”
A typical day in the life of Dr. Anouk Chaumont ND looks as follows: “I enjoy my morning coffee with puppy snuggles before leaving my house, then I typically see about 10-15 patients/day usually beginning with blood draws in the morning. I stay about 1-2 hours afterwards to finish any paperwork. Sometimes I stop by the gym for a training session after work and go for walks with my three dogs. My personal project currently is to get back into competitive shooting. I am redoing my certifications and like to take part in competitions through the IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation). It is highly tactical, a social activity that I like to do with friends, and it is a good stress release.”
Nov 4, 2020 | ND of the Month, ND Spotlight
Dr. Eric Arrata, ND, Elite Sport Performance, Calgary
Dr. Eric Arrata completed an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Calgary and worked at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal before moving to Seattle to study Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University.
“Since my early teens I knew that medicine was in my future and I’d be interested in maintaining health in the simplest ways possible. Most of this derives from the understanding that the body is self-correcting and connected to the larger natural world, though this understanding and awareness has largely been lost. A return to health then resides in our ability to remove the challenges to health that we’ve imposed, personally and societally. For the majority of people this is a simple, though not always easy, process. What we eat and drink, how we move and rest our bodies, our exposure to contaminants or toxins, and the health of our relationships all impact how vital and strong we are. So, at the end of the day, my clinical focus centers on lifestyle habits, emotional health, and identifying and removing known toxins or insults to the body.”
“My inspiration arises from being alive and becoming aware of the beauty and wisdom all around us. This may seem trivial or excessively dreamy, yet the truth is that things are always as they are and life isn’t complicated, just our understanding of it is. Knowing that we are all of nature and connected inspires me to aid others in being reminded of this. Then health can follow.”
For Dr. Arrata’s, the most rewarding aspect of his career as an ND is “having a patient arrive concerned about their pain, energy, digestion, mood or what have you, and then leave with a sense of how these symptoms relate to how they have lived their lives. This brings a smile to my face. I feel the saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” reflects what we do in our clinics daily. You provide people with a mirror and it’s up to them to accept the truth of the image or not.”
When it comes to work/life balance, Dr. Arrata feels that it is important as an ND to practice what you preach. “Teachings are most effective when they come from experience. One cannot know what it feels like to swim on a mountain stream until one has done so. So, in order to explore altering perspectives and changing one’s habits with patients, I should have had this experience myself. Early on in my career I discovered the things that support me and those that don’t, and I incorporated as many supporting factors as I could professionally and personally. These related to having a schedule that is never too busy, simplifying the various ways in which patients can reach me, maintaining boundaries around my cellphone and social media use, and remembering that family always comes first. I can’t really preach what I don’t practice.”
“Challenges are always plentiful in practice, yet the one that I most need to be aware of is not stretching my knowledge too thin. There are a great many areas of interest I have, that I often need to reel myself in to focus on a select few. I try to enhance those areas that are my “bread and butter” and leave topics that “stretch” the clinical envelope as smatterings, to keep things interesting. This has and likely always will be my greatest challenge since “connecting the dots” is a game I love.”
