My career has certainly not been linear, but on reflection has always had supporting people to optimise their potential at it’s core. This fits with the principles of Naturopathy perfectly of course, however my belief in the power of Naturopathy comes from personal experience.

Living in London years ago, I was living life to the full (or so I thought). This effectively meant driving myself to the point of collapse. I had a challenging career, socialised hard and played sport (self funded) to a relatively high level and between this, travelled whenever I could.

Pushing myself hard, early mornings and late nights, coupled with long weekends on the road or the pitch meant it started taking it’s toll. My energy levels started to suffer and following the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1994 where I represented Wales, I totally crashed...

I went from training 12 times a week to sleeping every moment I could – in cars between meetings, after work and all weekend. Even that was not enough.. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me – I had always kept going and been someone who could push to the themselves to the brink and still get up for more..

Not reading the signs or realising I had to do something different, I became acutely ill. After 12 months and a number of different diagnosis, including depression, hormone imbalance, insomnia amongst other things, and at the point of desperation, I finally got a diagnosis of M.E. Despite my initial relief, it transpired that even with this, there was little the medical profession could do had and I was told simply to ‘rest’.
 
At that point, I was effectively bedridden and this was a position I maintained on and off for the following 3 years. It was at that time that I realised I needed to take control back of my health and my naturopathic journey began…

During short bursts when able to stay awake and concentrate lying in bed, I read about the different approaches...about the healing power of our own bodies and slowly, I began to find hope again and finding myself in bed in New Zealand was the very best thing that could have happened to me! 
 
Naturopaths in countries like New Zealand, Australia and Canada at that time (back in the 90’s) were fully established and recognised practitioners of health care, whilst they were not in the UK.

My first visit to a Naturopath was paid for by friends (I had no income) who also pulled me upright on a pushbike into the local town for my first appointment – a visit that was to change my life...
 
Through her Naturopathic approach  of investigating the root causes of my symptoms, she explained the many reasons I had become ill, why my body had done what it had done and coached me in making the changes needed in order to rebuild my health.

After a few months, I regained my health enough to return to the UK, where I immediately found myself another Naturopath to finish the journey I had started and over the next year, I had not only regained my life but found a much better quality and enriched one that I had no idea existed prior to being ill..

Seeing it's power first hand, I developed a deep understanding of the profound effects of naturopathy, nutrition and functional medicine, and realised the life changing impact diet and lifestyle could have on our overall health and well-being. Experiencing the transformative power of food, lifestyle, and a personalised approach, I was a convert..

I went from being bedridden to being able to live again – to work and go onto having a varied and rewarding career. I returned to sport and being able to exercise and was able to have a family – all things I never dreamed I would ever do again. In addition, I have enjoyed so much of life – travelling, spending time with friends and gaining so many experiences in life – with an approach to life that definitely changed for the better..

My opportunity to train as a Naturopath specialising in Nutrition came a few years later. My son was diagnosed with a confusing health condition at an early age, and I realised I had to do something. It was the push I needed. As luck would have it, training to be a Naturopath had become an option in the UK, so I enrolled on one of the first courses for Naturopathy (College of Naturopathic Medicine CNM) in the UK in 2007.

I qualified after 5 hard, but incredibly enjoyable and informative years of study, set up my own practice and have been lucky enough since to share in the transformations of peoples’ lives through the principles of Naturopathy and am privileged to be able to  be The Naturopathic Detective …and utilise all the experience I had developed prior to qualifying too.  

I will be forever indebted to the power of Naturopathy and my passion is to share that with as many of you as I can going forward..