Exceptional Products

Support your local health food store. The first �Health Food Store� was started by a Naturopath, Bennedict Lust in the early 1900's in New Jersey.

New Chapter Vitamins.

So far, I have yet to come across a more innovative nutraceutical company. They also use Organic ingredients: www.new-chapter.com


**Note: all the products listed here I have personally encountered (I do not get paid to put these products on this blog-I just really like them!)

What to Expect

If you are new to naturopathic medicine, here are some things to expect.

1. Time! Most Naturopaths offer between 1-1.5 hours for the initial visit. Bring your questions.

2. Cost. Naturopathic appointments typically cost between $80-150 depending on time.

3. Length of treatment. Although a Naturopath may prescribe a treatment to immediately help reduce acute symptoms, fixing the route cause of the problem may take a while. It may also be very difficult for a Naturopath to tell you exactly how long it will take to feel better, but they will discuss a treatment plan with you.

4. Some protocols may be surprisingly easy and you can't believe that no one has ever told you how simple getting better could be. However, some protocols may be very difficult to adhere to. Please talk to your Naturopath about your struggles and they will make sure that they find a treatment that works best for you.

5. Style of Practice. There are many different approaches to how naturopathic medicine is practiced. With 6 major modalities learned in school (see History link above), most Naturopaths practice the ones that they identified with the most. As such, some Naturopaths may appear to have quite a different perspective than others. Some Naturopaths even employ a prescreening procedure to ensure patients are aware of their special interest or focus. The naturopathic schools are currently working hard to ensure Naturopaths are primary health care practitioners - like a Family Physician (Naturopathic Doctors in Canada now undergo a minimum of 8 years of post secondary schooling). However, the nature of the profession will ensure that there will always be some differences in the style of practice.

6. Mind-body-spirit. Each naturopath has individual beliefs and interpretations on how these three things connect. Some ND's maintain a pure scientific approach to natural medicine while others may be more inclined to involve their spiritual/religious beliefs into their practice.

Are You Prepared?

Here are some tips beyond General Requirements to ensure that you are prepared for school in naturopathic medicine. Also, if you have not been to see a naturopath yet, click on the What to Expect link under Prospective Patients.

Academic Prerequisites

All the naturopathic schools have very similar entrance requirements. Unlike other Canadian Medical schools, an undergraduate degree is mandatory for entry into both Naturopathic schools in Canada. Furthermore, there are specific course prerequisites: General Biology (one year), Biochemistry, General Chemistry (one year), Organic Chemistry, Intro Psychology (one year/half year for Boucher) & Humanities (one from a choice), Physiology (one year for CCNM). Some of the American schools also require Physics as well as a Math (algebra based) course.

**Note: if you do not have all the pre-medical sciences, CCNM does offer these through its Continuing Education Department.

The Application Process

There are no MCAT entrance exams for naturopathy (medical schools may weight MCAT scores at 15% of the applicants pre-interview admissions criteria - the remainder is 50% academic record, 25% life experiences and 10% reference letters. Source: University of Calgary, 2008). Instead, your academic record carries the most weight, followed by your extracurricular/volunteer/ employment (life experiences) and entrance letters will get you to the interview stage.

To prepare for your school interview and entrance letters, it helps if you are currently, or were in the past, the patient of a Naturopath. The experience of being a patient will show a relevant and much deeper understanding of the issues of naturopathic medicine.

Also, one of the application questions usually includes an understanding of the history of naturopathy. If at all possible, get the book Nature Doctors by Friedhelm Kirchfeld & Wade Boyle - you will need it in first year as well (it is available on line through Amazon and Chapters).

Volunteering or working somewhere in the health industry will also show your dedicated interest in health and helping others.

1st Year Prep

A strong science background will help ease the volume of required learning in the first year. If at all possible, take a university Human Physiology course and especially Anatomy. Although neither course is mandatory for acceptance, they are both recommended by most naturopathic schools. These are year long courses and Anatomy will be one of the most time consuming courses to learn because of the immense amount of memorization. I was fortunate to have a taken Anatomy (with cadaver labs) and was able to enjoy the review and learn some additional things that I missed the first time around. As such, I was able to put a minimal effort into studying Anatomy and focus on other courses that I had never encountered before (My wife and I also had a baby which took a bit of time!).

The intensity of naturopathic college is probably unlike anybody can prepare you for. A typical day (of 1st year) at CCNM can range from 8:30am to 6pm spent in classes with a 1 hour break to eat. Also, although the exams are slightly more applied than most university exams, a passing grade for each course is a minimum of 65-70% depending on the school . As such, many students go to class all day and then study until bed. This leaves very little time for family or a second job. The possibility to work might be better at Boucher because their trimester system lengthens their school year, but they take fewer classes at once.

School is very expensive, about $20,000 per year. So make sure that you work out your financing/loans so that you are not forced to work part-time during school. This can be a battle and I am by no means an expert on financial advice-it's tough! Both schools in Canada are eligible for government student loans (If more funding is needed, an educational Line of Credit to Naturopathic Students is most easily acquired through the CIBC). A few people do choose to work part-time throughout the year because it is a break from studying or relaxing atmosphere etc. but, I still don't know how they do it!

Remember though, if this is your passion, you will be able to do it!

Student Life

Here is a brief overview of my experience with student life up until 4th year Internship.

As I mentioned earlier, the workload of the schooling is probably double the volume of undergrad. At CCNM, there are points during the year where a student will be taking up to 11 courses at once. So, there is not a lot of time for life outside of school - although the Naturopathic Students Association (NSA) and Social Class reps do a great job of setting up social events.

One thing I noticed almost immediately as a new CCNM student was how supportive the students were. The team atmosphere is unlike any school I have attended. I can't help but think of the sharp contrast between the student body here and that of one particular class in undergrad called, "The Sociology of Heath and Illness." Although the class itself was one of the most interesting classes I took, most of the students in that course were pre-med students and some of the perspectives and ideas presented on the online class discussion board were shocking (in my own faculty -kinesiology-the students were very competitive but much friendlier!).

The atmosphere and dynamics at CCNM may also be influenced by the predominantly female student population. In any case, when the course load and exams get intense, everybody soldiers through it together. Remember, you should find most of the material relevant and very interesting (unlike some required courses in undergrad!) which makes dedication easier.

Accredited Schools

There are currently 6 accredited Naturopathic schools in North America:

1. Bastyr University (Seattle, Washington)
http://www.bastyr.edu/

2. Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine (Vancouver, BC)
http://www.binm.org/

3. Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (Toronto, ON)
http://www.ccnm.edu/

4. University of Bridgeport (Connecticut)
http://www.bridgeport.edu/

5. National College of Naturopathic Medicine (Portland, Oregon)
http://www.ncnm.edu/

6. Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (Tempe, Arizona)
http://www.scnm.edu/

For promotional videos from each school visit: Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges.

**Note: Not all Provinces and States are regulated for Naturopathic Doctors and therefore some people can call themselves a "naturopath" without the accredited training. Furthermore, a Naturopathic Doctor (ND), Naturopathic Medical Doctor (NMD) and Doctor of Natural Medicine (DNM) are not equivalent. Therefore, make sure you support someone who has gone the distance and graduated from an accredited school.

For a list of accredited and upcoming candidate schools, go to the Council of Naturopathic Medical Education.

Here is my experience with the two Naturopathic Schools in Canada:

I had the privilege to tour and receive an interview with both schools. At the time, it was a very difficult choice between the two schools as each offer their own benefits. One advantage both Canadian schools have over the American schools (with the exception of SCNM) is the inclusion of acupuncture and TCM within the ND curriculum.

CCNM is large and established and exudes a feeling of security. It has the Robert Schad Naturopthic Teaching Clinic which sees more than 26,000 patient visits per year. The location also offers the Paracelsus Herb Garden which I absolutely love. (Interestingly, we found rent to be on average much cheaper in Toronto than Vancouver). Over the course of the 1st year, most of my professors knew me by name and some would stop and talk in the halls. Our 1st year September class was 82 people and approximately another 50 people from the January intake joined us in second year (this "January Intake" option is exclusive to CCNM and has advantages and disadvantages discussed later). The Unity Summit, which happens in the 1st week of school, is a must and it did not take long before I knew everyone in my class by name. The curriculum at CCNM is organized into a semester system which puts CCNM students out at the same time as the university students in May. This does make for a nice long summer break after 1st year for September intake students to revitalize their bank accounts or relax and prep for the next year (Sorry January intake). However, the shorter semesters give the impression of cramming 5 years of school into 4 years - do not underestimate the intensity.

Boucher is at a fancy location in New Westminster (Vancouver) near the harbor front. The class sizes are small (they told me a max of 35 people per class) and the students I met appeared to have a tremendous amount of pride in their school. My interview was conducted by a Naturopathic Doctor who was on Boucher's Board of Governors, and I definitely felt valued and privileged to spend nearly an hour talking with her. Boucher also organizes the school year into a trimester system which I think has some great benefits. Although Boucher students only get 2 months for summer, I believe that the trimester system, which spreads out the amount of material required to know over a longer period of time, is very conducive to learning.

Different Strengths

I noticed a slight difference in the focus of modalities between each school, although the curriculum appears to be nearly identical. One difference the graduates informed me about when I visited Boucher was their proficiency and competence with the physical modalities i.e. joint/spinal adjusting. As of yet, a lot of people are not aware that Naturopathic Doctors are trained in adjustments, i.e. Chiropractic medicine.  My impression was confirmed by several students that either transferred to Boucher from CCNM or visa versa. Correspondingly, at Boucher there was possibly less focus on Botanical Medicine and TCM.

Alternatively, at CCNM, interest in physical medicine seems to be at an all time low (It is interesting to note that the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Canada's only accredited Chiropractic college, is just 5 minutes up the street from CCNM!). However, my 4th year intern was exceptional at spinal adjustments and there are additional opportunities to become proficient at this modality at CCNM if students take them. (Now, after completing my internship, I can say that I enjoyed helping people with soft tissue and spinal problems and confidently utilized adjustments when indicated.)

My point is not that one school is superior to the other in any way, but there are definitely some subtle differences that are hard to tease out from face value.  Ultimately, I believe that your education will be the result of what you make of it.

Quote of the Month

"And we have made of ourselves living cesspools, and driven doctors to invent names for our diseases."

Plato

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine 2007 � present

4 year Naturopathic Doctor�s program

University of Calgary 2003 - 2007

Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology

� Exercise and Health Physiology Major

� Presented research on snowboard wrist injuries at the AB Athletic Therapists AGM

University of Northern British Columbia 2002 - 2003

�Biology (101 & 102) and Chemistry (100 &101)

� English (170 & 270) and Math (115)

CERTIFICATIONS

Certified Exercise Physiologist (CSEP - CEP) 2007

Personal Fitness and Lifestyle Consultant (PFLC) 2007

Level 1 Technical NCCP Volleyball 2004

Level 1 CSIA (Ski instructor) 2003

CSF Level 1 Freestyle Coach (Snowboard) 2003

CASI Level 3 Snowboard Instructor 1997, 1999, 2003

CSF Level 1 Race Coach (Snowboard) 2000

Level 1 CASI Evaluator (Snowboard) 1999

NCCP Level 2 Coach (National Coaching Theory) 1999

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

University Church 2003 - 2007

� Sound set-up coordinator

Prince George Bike Helmet Collaborative 2000 - 2002

� Researched injury prevention strategies and presented helmet safety sessions

Nancy Greene Snowboard League 1999

� Fund raising events and consultant for snowboard racing specifics

WORK EXPERIENCE

Canada Olympic Park, Calgary, AB. 1997, 2003 - 2007

Outdoor Programs Supervisor (Summer)

Adult and Teen Ski/Snowboard Lessons Program Coordinator (Winter)

Planet Organic Market, Calgary, AB. 2006 - 2007

Grocery Clerk

Kinesiology 479, University of Calgary, AB. 2007

Personal Trainer

Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors. 1999 - 2004

Level 1 Course Conductor/Evaluator

Coast Mountain Sports, Prince George, BC. 1999 - 2003

Assistant Manager (2000 � 2002)

Key Holder (1999 - 2000 & part time in 2003)

Purden Ski Village and Purden Lake Resort, BC. 1997-2001

Snowboard Instructor and Coach

General Park Maintenance

Copperwolf Cruising Consultants, Calgary, AB. 1997

Cruiser/Compassman