There was indeed food & drink & merriment galore but a good holiday season for me is about having the conversations. With family, friends, my professional peers. This is the real feast. In this strange period between one year and the next, portals appear to open up of a different space-time continuum. With the work-clock temporarily paused and screens no longer screaming for our attention, it allows many to engage more deeply, more reflectively. The conversations I’ve had the privilege to participate in & the people I’ve shared those with, are as diverse as we are & reflect something as multi-dimensional as all the ways we may find ourselves working in this space called ‘health’.
From those living life on the edge thanks to big business enterprises – to tales from the trenches of solo-practitioners
Educators impacted by institutional changes and the illusion of an ‘all-knowing’ generative AI
Pioneers of practice or prescribing models
Individuals beautifully representing us on the global stage (research) just as much as at a local level (retail)
Elders asking themselves, ‘What’s next for naturopathy?”
I listen lots & say little. It’s all grist for the mill that is my mind and I never quite know where, with all this input, my thoughts will end up. But I do know this is the nourishment I need to continue caring deeply about the profession whilst also updating my understanding of what being a nat/nut/herbalist/IM doctor means for many of you. And to reflect on my own role. As you may know, career-wise I have closed a door, to let others open. Mentoring hundreds of practitioners every year for over a decade was a great privilege. Delivering training in diagnostics and establishing frameworks for nutritional prescribing – are just some big highlights across decades of delivering education and training to all kinds of health professionals. And I am so proud of what I have produced and contributed to our collective knowledge.
Ideally, healthcare education providers shouldn’t feel like businesses at all ā they should feel like institutions in formation
We have some exceptional home-grown examples around us, who are indeed institutions forming in front of our eyes. However, other aspects of the educational and mentoring landscape today are almost unrecognisable. I worry it’s being driven more by profit than purpose and is being delivered, on occasion, by those overflowing with enthusiasm but not experience. Just more food for thought. The conversations keep coming and I welcome them all.