PRACTITIONER PROFILE
What have been the most important changes to natural medicine you have seen during your career? Important changes have included legislation limiting private health insurance extras- making natural medicine an out-of-pocket expense- and medical healthcare plans incorporating government systems to fund treatment through allied health teams.
Also, education requiring evidence-based treatment protocols and an increasing percentage of modern medicine practitioners embracing and implementing naturopathic concepts.
Mary Pehachek
What has kept you practising for 30 + years? That’ s a very good question. My practice has had a wide view. Important within that experience has been volunteering to be involved with support groups( rare face-to-face advice given to me by Dorothy Hall to maintain professional identity). Being a clinical educator and facilitating grass roots self-care and wellness retreats has kept me invested. This profile snap was taken after the 2019 bushfires where the Vic / NSW border practitioner community rallied to treat over 100 bushfire-affected Victorian Towong shire locals and emergency service personnel. Organising this one-day event reflected the personal and professional value that the integral element of networking and service has contributed to my continuing to practice.
How do you envisage natural medicine developing over the next 30 years? It’ s a challenge to foresee the future development in any area of our global environment. Numerous factors affect its continuing dynamic flux and impact on health. Questions such as AI involvement, reaching the net zero carbon emissions 2050 goal, and botanical, water and land space availability are unanswerable. Thirty years takes us to 2055. Educating the population on our traditional philosophy of wholistic treatment could be a vector to increase active awareness as to what broadly constitutes sustainable wellness and resilience within the Earth’ s living species ecology.
4. What advice do you have for today’ s emerging practitioners? Know your ability to treat. Network. Refer. Educate into the allied health referral system. Do something you’ ve never done before regularly. Visit nature. Maintain balance in body, mind and heart. Stay curious and conscious. Breathe.