Naturopathy
Meet Melissa McDonald
BHlthSc (Naturopathy)
Melissa McDonald is a degree qualified Naturopath and Nutritionist who is passionate about bringing balance back to your body and mind. Melissa uses a gentle holistic approach that is up-to-date and evidence based to assess and uncover the root causes of your health complaints.
Melissa fell in love with Naturopathy through visiting a naturopath herself for health issues such as acne and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). She believes that herbalism is such a gentle, yet robust art that plays a critical role in modern society and that preventative medicine is far more important and a more reasonable health care offering than we give it credit for.
Melissa studied her Bachelor of Health Science (BHSc Nat) at Endeavour College of Natural Health in Sydney and is a member of the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA).
On days that Melissa is not consulting with all her clients, you will always find her outside in nature. She enjoys surfing at her local break with her community, bushwalking in new places around Australia, and driving to new camping spots with her partner in their Hiace campervan.
What is Naturopathy?
Naturopathy is a health care system and philosophy that encompasses a variety of modalities such as functional nutrition, food as medicine, herbalism, flower essence therapy and iridology. Naturopathy is used to assess and uncover the root cause of your health complaints, placing emphasis on the connections between each organ in the body and how they work with each other.
Our philosophy is to treat the whole person, which reduces symptomatic treatment and focuses on resolving the root cause of illness. Naturopaths solely focus on using nature to cure, as the human body is designed to endogenously heal itself. Naturopaths seek to remove the disturbing factors that cause disease, allowing health and mind to be restored.
Our treatment approach incorporates a wide range of evidence-based modalities to support your health. This includes nutritional and herbal medicine, a food-first approach with specific dietary/lifestyle modifications to suit your goals/needs, and recommendations and advice to help you restore and maintain your health long-term.
Melissa has a special interest in mental/emotional health and stress, women’s health and hormonal imbalances, chronic digestive disorders and chronic skin conditions. She believes that the gut is the root cause of all disease, and so there is a special focus on education regarding digestive health, and how important it is for ongoing health and wellbeing.
Melissa has a special interest in treating:
- Digestive health and the gut microbiome: IBS, IBD, Diverticular disease, Coeliac disease, bloating, chronic constipation and ‘The Gut Brain Axis’.
- Hormonal health across the lifespan
- Mental and emotional health
- Skin diseases: Acne, eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, fungal infections etc
- Metabolic health, weight management & sports performance.
Melissa also has experience in treating conditions such as:
- Female hormones inc: thyroid disorders, PCOS, post-pill management, PMS, PMDD
- Skin complaints inc: acne, allergies, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis
- Digestive health inc: parasites, gut infections, IBS symptoms, reflux, food intolerances, bowel disorders
- Mental and emotional health inc: depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue, PTSD, mood disorders
What can I expect in a Naturopath Consultation?
- You will receive a whole body analysis and have someone who listens to you for a whole hour and will help you in achieving your health goals so you can feel your best.
- You will receive continued support and encouragement to help you on your health journey.
- A range of functional pathology tests are also available to investigate the functional, biochemical, nutritional, metabolic and hormonal status for a better understanding of what is happening in the body.
- Access to practitioner therapeutic bioactive herbs and supplements for the healing and restoration part of your treatment plan.
- Personalised treatment plan using diet, lifestyle, food as medicine, natural medicine and herbs.
- Custom made prescriptions.
- The ability to regenerate your health, happiness and vitality