Naturopath Kathleen McFarlane says one little girl she treated was pointing to her stomach to identify the nausea that was interfering with her schooling and sleep.
McFarlane saw the girl and her family after they had had no luck at the doctors and, in the first consultation, she gave the girl a diet diary to complete at home.
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The following week, she put the girl on a diet and, five visits later, the girl was rid of the nausea.
“She's back to being a normal, happy-go-lucky kid,” says McFarlane. “Those sort of things are gratifying when you see them.”
McFarlane, operator of her own naturopathy clinic in Sydney, uses dietary counselling, herbal medicine, nutritional medicine, flower essences and lifestyle education to treat clients for health issues in a range of areas such as sleep, weight management, digestion, fertility and stress.
She typically provides clients with an initial consultation to get a holistic understanding of their health and she follows up with test results, treatment plans and naturopathic prescriptions.
This precedes further follow-ups to monitor the effectiveness of treatment plans and prescriptions.
McFarlane is part of a branch of natural health therapists who work in a range of settings including private practice, health spas, corporate health and education.
“You can’t just pull out the textbook and say, ‘Oh, somebody has IBS, so I’ll treat them this way’.
“The challenge is to understand the individual in front of you,” she says.
McFarlane, who has an advanced diploma of naturopathy, has been in the field for a decade.
She made the career switch from investment banking, where she was a director with financial services company Societe Generale.
Her business experience from there has given her the acumen to run her current business but she says getting a foothold in the naturopathy industry has still been challenging.
It took her about three to five years to really hit her stride and she adds that five years seems to be the magic number for a lot of private practice health practitioners she’s spoken to.
“Once you get to that five-year mark and you’re earning a decent living out of something you love, for me, that’s one of the biggest career highlights I could have,” says McFarlane.
This year, she is taking her career to Double Bay.
She says she’s excited to see what transpires as she settles into new premises there.
“I’m really looking forward to building on my practice and continuing to help people with their health outcomes.”