Maintaining, Healing and Even Thriving in Early Recovery Part I

Hello, my name is Rebecca Wetzel also known as Becca. If you have been a reader of our blog at all, you may have seen some of my writing before. Perhaps the interview that I did with our Doctor, Steve Sutton, or some posts about food and cooking that I have done in response to my work with our clients in recovery. Its true food is quite a delight of mine. The preparation is often a meditative and a creative process I find energizing. I love sharing my enthusiasm through helping the client to cultivate their enjoyment and exploration of food. It is also a joy to share these experiences and perspectives with you, our reader. If you and I were sitting across from each other over a cup of tea or coffee we could easily have a fun conversation about what food means in our life. We could discuss the fun exploration of new food preparation, and we would talk about small shift in cooking technique that develops foods flavor better. Or perhaps something that preserves food flavor and in season deliciousness like canning. Maybe in your pursuit of getting healthier, there are different flavors or tastes or foods that you’re embracing, and maybe these flavors are growing on you, maybe not. We would discuss that food is essential for energy, and where we need to honor it as a basic need. We could delve into how we approach food and what that can tell us about ourselves or what our bodies might need right now.  That would be delightful, and really we would benefit from the heartfelt moment of connection allowing food to lower our defenses and springboard us into meaningful conversation.

We hope that this blog is a place where as we write you gain some new insight, encouragement, knowledge, and inspiration. I am writing today to share with you a new journey that I have been on for a good while but is now coming to a good finale. I have been studying to become a Traditional Naturopath, I have come to the close of the course work and have written my final paper. There is so much research and information that has gone into this process, we felt that you as our reader could benefit from the knowledge and exploration of what it means to be a Traditional Naturopath within the context of addiction treatment.

What is a Traditional Naturopath you ask? In short, a Traditional Naturopath is a person who is trained to come alongside you using their knowledge of how the body works to recommend ways of changing lifestyle and nutrition along with other assistive modalities to remedy the imbalances that are in the body’s system. Working with a Traditional Naturopath you would be adding or taking away foods, nutrients, exercise, and lifestyle habits to create the best environment to restore vitality and allow the body to do its own restorative work.  We do not diagnose or cure illness I leave this in the capable hands of the trained medical professionals, and there are certainly Doctors who are medically trained Naturopaths. Not to be confusing, however, my role is a lot like a health coach or nutritionist coming alongside as an educator to recommend a way of life that promotes healing.

As you join us for this series you will learn more of what this means. As I await my diploma I wanted to share this journey and great information with you. This series will share segments that answer the question: what is a Naturopathic perspective on healing and maintaining health and even thriving during early substance abuse recovery. To answer this larger question we will explore: what’s the role of a Naturopath in assisting someone in their ability to sustain and thrive in their recovery? What is a Naturopathic view of healing? What is required for the body to heal from substance abuse?  What would help someone thrive in early recovery? This exploration will come in segments in the coming weeks. I hope that you will join us for this.

There are quite a few reasons why I wanted to pursue this opportunity. One is I wanted to continue to grow in the way I can serve the clients and become more knowledgeable in helping the body heal which will add to their experience here. The second is personal, I wanted to study Traditional Naturopathy because I worked with a Traditional Naturopath on my own healing journey through Lyme disease. The process was inspiring and difficult, but beautiful.  It was a long process but one that opened my eyes to all that is available to us if we are able to take responsibility for our own wellbeing. Having someone be able to coach and educate was invaluable to my process and I dreamed of being able to do that for others too. So here’s to all the ways that we can be a significant role in our own healing and be that encouragement to someone else. Cheers! Becca *To read Part II of this blog click here!