Our mission is to connect and build trust with families by using dialogue and language that is understandable and conversational when we talk about children’s health conditions. We work hard to never be exclusive or pretentious, never judging a family for a health decision they make for their child. We aim to give parents a safe forum to encourage and support one another in their child’s health and healing process.
The internet is full of well-meaning writers dispensing natural health advice. Though much of this advice is benign, some posts are misleading or even downright dangerous.
Our vision is to reduce childhood illnesses by teaching families how to be proactive about health. In so doing, we aim to prevent many of the chronic diseases that currently plague this country – many of which are preventable by reversing the disease process in childhood. Lastly, we aim to bring some source of sanity and trust back to the scary world of the internet!
Naturopathic physicians are licensed healthcare providers who are specialists in the natural treatment and prevention of disease.
Naturopathic physicians attend four-year graduate schools that are nationally accredited by the Council for Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME). The CNME is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, which classifies the ND degree as a Doctorate-Professional degree, on par with MD and DO. Currently 6 schools in the US and Canada are accredited through the CNME to provide naturopathic medical education.
The naturopathic program consists of at least 4 years of study with over 4,100 clock-hours in the classroom or clinic. A minimum of 1,200 hours are spent in clinical education with direct patient contact under supervision.
(Not including undergraduate premedical training)
(on average)
(time spent in direct contact with patients)
(total. That's a lot of hours of medical school!)
The main difference in education between a naturopathic physician (N.D.) and a medical doctor (M.D.) is in the the area of specialization. By definition naturopathic physicians are specialists in natural treatment of primary care conditions. While MD students do rotations in specialty fields in their 3rd and 4th years (like Oncology, Obstetrics, Surgery, etc), ND students do clinical work in naturopathic primary care, learning huge volumes of natural health material, including medical herbs, manipulation techniques, nutrition, vitamin/mineral supplementation, and more.
Also, naturopathic care differs from conventional medical care in that we tend to avoid the use of pharmaceuticals and major surgery unless absolutely necessary. Our training includes the appropriate use of these tools, but we prefer to save them for times of absolute medical necessity.
The goal of a naturopathic physician is to determine why someone became ill in the first place. This is why a naturopathic physician typically spends 2-3x the face-to-face time with patients as does a conventional medical doctor. To treat the underlying cause ND’s use tools like counseling, botanical medicines, nutrition, homeopathy, naturopathic manipulation, vitamin/mineral supplementation, hydrotherapy and more.
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In the United States: 25 jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands all have laws regulating naturopathic doctors. Check with your state association for specific regulations and requirements regarding scope of practice.
States currently offering licensure or registration to naturopathic physicians:
For more information on licensure in the United States, please visit the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians website.
In Canada: Five Canadian provinces regulate naturopathic doctors. Check with your provincial association for specific regulations and requirements regarding scope of practice.
Canadian provinces currently offering regulation and registration to naturopathic doctors:
For more information on licensure in Canada, please visit the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors website.
Scope of practice regulations vary among licensed/regulated states and provinces, as do the parameters and restrictions for practitioners located in pre-licensed locations.
The above information is from https://aanmc.org/licensure/