What You Must Know

When you pursue functional medicine

As long as the sun exists everything has a shadow, and while that shadow contains that which we don’t want to look at, it also contains a wealth of unrealized potential. In my last piece I wrote about a the shadow of a particular practice style I frequently see amongst functional medicine providers. I focused on the ways I’ve seen functional medicine disempower and disappoint patients- but my intent was not to discourage you from pursuing functional medicine. It was to help you think critically about the kind of care you pursue and to stay empowered in the process.

In this piece I want to offer some tangible tips to help you maximize the benefits and hidden potential of functional medicine. 

In this day and age, labels are so limiting. We have so much access to information, healing traditions, online trainings with teachers around the world, and continuing educational paths, that the titles a healthcare practitioner uses to describe their work do not necessarily reveal what they do or how they do it.  I note that to encourage you to keep an open mind. Please don’t assume that the observations I shared in The Shadow of Functional Medicine reflect the work of every functional medicine practitioner out there.

When we’re seeking an aligned partner in our health, we need to get beyond labels and titles and attempt to find out what a practitioner believes about health and healing. Perhaps we need to understand why they chose the type of training they did, and why they chose the specific language they did to describe their work. 

I know conventionally trained medical doctors that are way more alternative than some of my naturopathic colleagues. I know nurses that practice more Reiki than the Reiki practitioners I know. I know biohackers that know more about human health than any medical professional I’ve every met.

All of this to say that it’s a confusing time to be on a healing journey and looking for a provider.