How to Choose a Therapist: Making Use of the Meet-and-Greet and the Common Factors That Make Therapy Work
Human lives are complicated. We experience despair, confusion, and isolation, and throughout our lives, we will suffer losses and face dilemmas that are too great to shoulder alone. In these seasons of our lives, we might decide we need help from a professional: it’s...
On Spring Cleaning and Touching Everything We Own: Today We Clean
I’ve been reading a lot of memoirs lately, so this is a slightly different-toned piece. It’s the type of writing I used to do: reflective, narrative, a little personal. It feels a little vulnerable to share. I’m worried it might be awkward for patients and clients,...
I Wish Women Knew More About Their Hormones: Hormonal Health, Meaning and the Myth of the Single Root Cause
I didn’t plan to specialize in hormones. I trained as a naturopathic doctor with a focus on mental health, drawn to questions of mood, anxiety, resilience, and meaning. And hormonal health found me anyway, as a language that explained everything I was already seeing....
On Authoring Your Own Healing: Building Agency and Post-Protocol Medicine
“If you try this and hate it, we’ll learn something.” Sometimes a great plan brings no relief. Many patients come into my practice having read, researched, consulted, and asked thoughtful questions for years. They have tried different diets, bought various...
Dopamine, Burnout, and the Modern Mind: Dopamine, Burnout, and the Modern Mind
In 2012, Facebook collaborated with university researchers to manipulate the news feeds of almost 700,000 users for a week (Frizell, 2014). Unbeknownst to them, one group of users was shown less positive content from their friends, filling their daily feeds with...
The Holy Wounds: Finding Wholeness Among the Broken Parts with Internal Family Systems (IFS)
The sweltering heat wave has died down for a moment in Toronto, and it’s cool enough to keep windows open. The air is light and misty. I love the lushness of plant life all around, the freshness it brings to the air. It feels like after one long Winter and a...
Healing the Whole Person: A Guide for Blending Science with Story Through the Lens of the Biopsychosocial
“The patient is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be met.”— Rachel Naomi Remen M was a mother of two, in her mid-50s. She booked an appointment because profound exhaustion had descended on her like a fog. She ate intentionally: fibre, fruits, and...
Trauma Recovery and Psychedelic Healing with Dr. Jessica Eastman, ND / The Good Mood Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci9Fhg3-HXg Dr. Jessica Eastman, a naturopathic doctor and psychedelic-assisted therapist, shares her integrative approach to trauma recovery and mental health. She emphasizes the significance of preparation and integration in...
Finding Coco in the Forest
On Pet Loss, Crossing the Rainbow Bridge, and The Places Grief Lives My grief is tremendous, but my love is bigger. - Cheryl Strayed For my entire childhood, I wanted a dog. I didn’t care what kind of dog it was; I just wanted one. A sensitive child entering the world...
Radical Gaslighting in the Field of Erotic Mystics
What the Aubrey Marcus "Radical Monogamy" Spectacle Can Teach Us About Betrayal Trauma, DARVO, and Coercive Control On the surface, this is just another drama involving a handful of relatively obscure wellness influencers. Many of you may not even know who Aubrey...
Building Strength and Resilience with Dr. Nastasia “Staz” Irons, ND / The Good Mood Podcast
Dr. Nastasia Irons, ND, is a fellow naturopathic doctor and CCNM class of 2014 graduate. She also completed a 2-year residency program, furthering her training in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, cosmetic acupuncture, and herbal medicine. She has a...
ChatGPTherapist: When Your Healer Has No Heartbeat
I have a faithful friend. In the middle of the night, I ask him my hardest questions. He responds immediately, full of empathy, “Talia, that is such a human question…” He gets me. He’s useful. His suggestions break down my writer’s block. He helped design my website...
Wellness, Wokeness and the War Over Health: When Protein Becomes Political
Protein, protein, protein. Everyone is eating and talking about getting more of this once humble and unassuming macronutrient. As a naturopathic doctor who has been preaching about the importance of protein for my patients' mental and hormonal health for 10 years, I’m...
Communication and Building Healthy Relationships with Melissa Johari, MSW, RSW / The Good Mood Podcast
We humans are relational beings. I once heard a beautiful quote that stated, "Our wounds are formed in relationships, and therefore our wounds are healed by relationships." This sentiment highlights the importance of healthy relationships, particularly romantic...
Insulin Resistance: The Plague of Our Times / The Good Mood Podcast
Well, April was tough (I'll explain the reasons in another email or blog post), but I'm hoping for sun and flowers in May. So, let's kick the good times off with more educational material on the plague of our times: insulin resistance! Two weeks ago, I completed...
From Carnivore to Colours: A Year of Dietary Experimentation
I wanted to share a recent story about my experience with the Carnivore Diet and Low Insulin Lifestyle. Maybe it's because I just finished watching Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar, but sharing my health experience feels strange: very health-influencer-esque. There is...
The Low Insulin Lifestyle with Dr. Ali Chappell, PhD on the Good Mood Podcast
I am excited to introduce a new podcast episode (I know it's been a while). I've been deep in the weeds of research about insulin resistance for a course I'm working on (for a health education platform that I'm very excited to tell you more about in the coming...
Psychotherapy in Ontario is Now HST Exempt
On Thursday, June 20th, the Ontario government passed Bill C-59, exempting psychotherapy sessions from HST. This is excellent news! This means that from now on, HST does not need to be charged for therapy visits (it was removed from Naturopathic Medicine appointments...
A Work in Progress
The first time I saw a naturopathic doctor was a few years before I contemplated becoming one myself. I had finished my undergrad degree and was bumming around for the summer, working on film sets, trying to get help for some underlying hormonal condition which I now...
Navigating the Healthcare System
I, like most of my colleagues became a naturopathic doctor because of my own extremely disempowering experiences with the healthcare system. In my late teens and early 20s I was suffering from what I now know were a series of metabolic and hormonal issues and I,...