Please see the FAQ on Urinary Indican testing.

NATA is the abbreviation for National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia, which is the organisation responsible for ensuring that testing facilities comply with national and international testing standards.

Although a laboratory can follow Good Laboratory Practice (an international standard), this does not mean it is NATA accredited. Within a laboratory that undertakes multiple pathology tests, individual tests must be  independently accredited by NATA.  For example, a laboratory may undertake a range of tests, but only have NATA accreditation for its Salivary Cortisol testing procedure. This then becomes a guarantee of reliability for that test, and an indicator of quality.

Importantly, when conducting pathology tests with an external supplier, Medicare rebates for eligible tests are only available to laboratories that have this accreditation.

For additional information, see the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare.

Everyone is an individual, and everyone has their own puzzle or picture of health with varying pieces of information.

These ‘pieces’ of information have different details, shapes & sizes that all contribute to the overall state of health for the individual. These pieces also have a ‘lock & key’ ability that help the pieces all fit together to form the overall picture of health. Any pieces that are ‘missing’ also help inform the picture of health.

The skill of Naturopathy comes in fitting all these pieces together and in helping to complete your overall holistic health picture. This in turn informs the direction of treatment in helping to find any ‘missing’ pieces.

The core naturopathic principles can be viewed in the blog article titled What is Naturopathy.

The traditional principles are also summarised here:

1. First Do No Harm– Utilize the most natural, least invasive and least toxic therapies.
2. Identify and Treat the Cause(s) – Look beyond the symptoms to the underlying cause.
3. The Healing Power of Nature – Trust in the body’s inherent wisdom to heal itself.
4. Doctor as Teacher – Educate patients in the steps to achieving and maintaining health.
5. Treat the Whole Person – View the body as an integrated whole in all its physical and spiritual dimensions.
6. Prevention – Focus on overall health, wellness and disease prevention.

‘Point of Care’ is a term used to define any testing, procedures or examination(s) that is conducted in the immediate vicinity of the client (You).  It is generally applied to testing and procedures that can be conducted when you actually visit the clinic as a healthcare consumer, hence, it can also be referred to as ‘In-clinic Testing’.

Nature’s Medicine utilises a number of point of care testing (PoCT) or In-clinic testing tools.  A summarised list can be viewed here.

The advantage of offering point of care testing is that it yields immediate results, which may enable a more focused treatment plan relevant to your health goals.  The benefit to you is that this ultimately leads to faster results. The other advantage is that they can be easily re-tested to monitor progress towards your health goals.

Directions to the clinic are confirmed in your appointment confirmation letter. You can also find the directions by going to the Contact page.

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If this is the first time you’ve been to a Naturopath, the consultation process can be quite different to anything you may have experienced with other healthcare providers.

First of all, you might notice that the Health History Questionnaire is quite thorough and ask questions that you may think may not be relevant.  However, rest assured, all questions have a purpose and it is important to bring this with you to the appointment.

Secondly, naturopaths ask a lot of questions, and sometimes, some extremely personal questions. You should not feel embarrassed about these questions, as your answers to the questions help to complete your individual ‘health puzzle‘. Also remember that anything you say during the consultation is treated with confidentiality and is subject to Privacy Laws.

Thirdly, physical examination relevant to your health complaints along with techniques and skills used from a number of modalities can be used to gather relevant information about your current health status, to help determine treatment options.  Some techniques may seem different, however they will always be explained and it is also encouraged that you ask questions.

Lastly, time is given to explanations and questions to make sure that you understand the choices that you have available to you. A written take home summary of key suggestions will be provided for you; and if appropriate, nutritional and/or herbal supplements may be advised and will usually be administered at the time of consultation.

For additional information see the information under Consultations.

In the absence of a diagnosed condition(s), functional pathology looks at subtle variations in biochemistry (your blood tests) that can be caused by changes in cells, tissues and organs. Symptoms may or may not be experienced, and typically, there can be a pattern or trend in some commonly ordered blood tests.

Sarina has been an avid follower of the Institute of Functional Medicine since living and practising in the USA (2003-2007).