Meet Joel....
Hi there, thank you for taking the time to read a bit about me!
I hope that by reading some of my story you will get to know me a little better, and if you decide that I am the person to help you reach your health goals I can get to know you too!
I’m a Clinical Naturopath, Nutritionist, Surfer and Dad to two beautiful children, and I love every bit of it!
I’m truly one of the lucky ones who has found their purpose and I’m so grateful to be living this life.
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I’m your typical laid back kinda guy, but on the other hand when there’s a cyclone not far off shore, whilst everyone’s bracing themselves for the worst I’ll likely be the little black dot out there stoked on riding the big surf!
From as young as I was born my life has revolved around health, nutrition and naturopathic medicine with my mother passionately invested in ways and means to address health concerns and prevent them naturally. My grandfather was himself a naturopathic doctor, practicing almost as far back as the era where you would have been burnt at the stake for witchcraft! He is a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to health and natural medicine and I have been incredibly fortunate to learn his traditional practices and incorporate this wisdom into the practice I have now.
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Amazingly he still practices to this day at the ripe old age of 91, Go Grandpa!
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Much of my childhood was spent running around his clinic stealing bottles of potions and then being caught for attempting to drink them. I will never forget that wholesome smell of herbs coming from the dispensary the moment you walked into the clinic, it almost felt like you were cleansed and renewed through just walking in the door.
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My inclination was always to help others in some way and when I took to the interest of understanding and being fascinated how the body worked I realised that the most noble thing I could do for humanity was to help others heal themselves.
An early start…
A call to action…
My real passion into understanding the power and innate intelligence of the body came from my first personal health crisis. At the age of 15 I developed appendicitis, which started as a stomach pain one morning and within a matter of hours I was bed ridden doubling over in excruciating pain. As you do in these acute stages, I conjured up my strength and went to the GP. He confirmed this diagnosis and urged me to go straight to hospital and have my appendix removed. But the thought of surgery did not sit well with me and went against my belief that if it belongs in my body then it’s in there for a reason!
At this point I didn’t know that my mother had also booked me an appointment with a local naturopath/homeopath, which happened to be on the way to the hospital, so I figured it would be a good idea to get a second opinion and see if this could be dealt with naturally.
The naturopath agreed on appendicitis and recognised that the orange juice and soy milk I had consumed earlier that morning had sparked the inflammatory process and the intestines had to be cleansed. He gave me a homeopathic medicine called Lycopodium for this reason. I started it immediately and took every 15 minutes.
As the pain was still severe and I was at my wits end, we decided to continue to the hospital and check in to get the appendix removed. So here I was sitting on the operating table waiting for the surgeon with my silly gown on feeling sorry for myself when suddenly a wave of NO pain came through me. It felt amazing!
By the time the surgeon came in and asked how I was going, I told him that although I was still feeling lousy, the pain had significantly eased.
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He wasn’t really convinced, so I showed him the homeopathic medicine I was taking.
He said “Well this is unusual, do you want to still go through the procedure? The appendix could rupture and then this would become an emergency!” I said, “I believe I’m going to be ok!”
He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said it was my call. So I walked out without the surgery!! I continued to improve with the medicine over the next 24 hrs and the rest was history!
From that moment onwards I knew that I had total faith in natural medicine and total faith in the innate ability of the body to heal itself under the right conditions perfectly.
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Continuing the Legacy...
This experience sparked my passion to pursue a career in naturopathy, and I was extremely fortunate to gain greater experience through working for my Grandfather, making herbal and homeopathic remedies in his dispensary for literally thousands of his clients experiencing a myriad of health problems.
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He taught me a lot about the traditional ancient ways of healing, which unfortunately don’t get taught in schools and universities these days due to a lack of scientific study and funding. He also taught me to use my intuition and trust it no matter what. I got to witness first hand how a naturopathic clinic worked for 5 years whilst undertaking my naturopathic degree at the Australian College of Natural Medicine.
Science meets Tradition...
Soon after my graduation I was approached by a well-regarded Naturopath whilst I was working at the clinic. He wanted me to come and see what he had to offer in the hope that one day I would take over his role as senior naturopath.
The experience BLEW MY MIND! This was where my love for in-house clinical testing came about. Witnessing my first ever encounter of live blood analysis- watching someone’s blood moving across a TV screen. With white blood cells moving and foreign bacteria etc, it was truly fascinating and I was hooked!
Within a matter of months, I was a graduated Naturopath and being trained in live blood analysis whilst working from both clinics. Fast track this 13 years and I am still using this valuable method of testing, along with many others in my practice today.
My mission is to help people understand their body, guide them to heal themselves and maintain health and vitality with greater knowledge and awareness of their body’s innate wisdom and the healing power of nutrition and natural medicine.
My grandfather’s teachings were invaluable and have helped shape who I am as a naturopath and how I practice today. What has given me that extra ‘edge’ has been the diagnostic testing that was not available in my grandfathers day. The ability to objectively validate where the client is at and motivate them to see the change in their blood from better health and lifestyle choices continues to inspire and amaze me every day.
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