Changing Careers: How to Pursue Your Passion & Become an ND

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prerequisite coursework and create a timeline for completing requirements before applying." }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "name": "Request information from accredited schools", "text": "Request information from the accredited ND schools you’re considering to get program details and next steps.", "url": "https://aanmc.org/request-information/" }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "name": "Prepare finances and logistics for a career change", "text": "Map out tuition, living expenses, and your plan for relocating or adjusting work/family commitments during an intensive medical program." }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "name": "Apply and continue learning", "text": "Submit applications to your selected schools and keep building your knowledge through events, webinars, and professional exploration." } ] }, { "@type": "VideoObject", "@id": "https://aanmc.org/videos/changing-careers-how-to-pursue-your-passion-become-an-nd/#video", "name": "Changing Careers: How to Pursue Your Passion & Become an ND", "description": "AANMC webinar featuring naturopathic doctors discussing how to navigate a career change and pursue naturopathic medicine.", "inLanguage": "en", "thumbnailUrl": [ "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z8gkikBwR6Q/hqdefault.jpg" ], "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z8gkikBwR6Q", "contentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8gkikBwR6Q", "uploadDate": "2024-01-25", "publisher": { "@id": "https://aanmc.org/#organization" }, "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://aanmc.org/videos/changing-careers-how-to-pursue-your-passion-become-an-nd/" }, "transcript": "0:00 hello all and welcome it is noon by me 0:05 11 12 1 2 depending on your time zone uh but we're going to go ahead and get 0:10 started with today's webinar I am Dr joeanne Yannis I'm the executive director of The Association of 0:16 accredited naturopathic medical colleges and I welcome you today to changing careers pursue your passion and become 0:23 an ND uh next slide please with us uh just before we get 0:28 started a a little bit of dis closures in housekeeping uh this is just for educational purposes it is not intended 0:34 for continuing education uh and uh just want to let you all know that uh next 0:41 slide everyone is in listen only mode and of course my phone is ringing uh and 0:50 uh and so please use the Q&A function so take a moment and find Q&A in your Zoom 0:56 toolbar uh and then uh also the chat please know that you uh we prefer for 1:02 you to use the Q&A this way we can track the questions and make sure that all of your questions get answered uh The Forum 1:08 is also being recorded we will share the recording link once it is processed and ready and if you run into any trouble if 1:14 you have any issues please email us at info aamc.org and with that we're going 1:20 to kick off the show so the agenda for today is uh we'll be talking about uh 1:27 the uh two alumni panel pists who I have with me today so we have uh Dr Amy Tyler 1:34 and Dr Erin Westway and they're going to talk about their Journeys to becoming an ND uh that maybe weren't so 1:39 straightforward and uh hopefully helping everyone here know that uh there are 1:46 lots of different ways to get yourself to be an ND and the path doesn't always have to look like someone else's path so 1:53 with that we're go a going to go ahead and get started next slide thank you so 1:59 uh Dr Tyler uh did her undergraduate in uh chemical engineering went to basier 2:06 University and uh has a bunch of extracurriculars I'll let her talk about next 2:12 slide Dr Westway uh oops uh conducted her undergraduate in 2:20 uh arts and English literature and also is best year grad and so uh I'm going to 2:26 do some do less talking and start talking to our panelists so next slide so we can get to some of 2:32 the questions here uh go ahead next slide all right so doctors uh I would 2:38 love to hear from you we very often atmc hear from folks and I know right now 2:45 we've got 60 attendees in our uh in our event right now uh but Angela and I hear 2:51 from folks every week literally of you know can I change careers can I you know 2:57 what what does life look like if I was a professional before uh how do I make this decision this is a big decision a big change in 3:05 life so can can uh you describe the moment you knew that you wanted to be an 3:10 ND and how did you know it was the right choice for you uh I don't know if one of you wants to take that and 3:17 start I I'll go so for me you know I think for everyone it's a process 3:22 there's not necessarily one you know moment that it culminates in but for me a big turning point was and I was 3:29 engineer I was working in Houston in the petrochemical industry and it was very interesting you know very challenging 3:36 and I did enjoy the work but I was really interested in this personal 3:41 journey of health and wellness and nutrition that I was on in ter you know to help with myself with certain things 3:47 I was dealing with and I had told my mom who lived in Connecticut at the time you 3:53 know you should go see an ND because she had chronic allergies asthma she had so many many chronic 4:00 health issues and she's really struggling and so she was kind of my guinea pig and I do remember clearly the 4:06 moment that she called me so excited because her ND changed her life and she 4:12 over time you know got off all her medications to this day you know she's 76 years old and she's like the poster 4:18 child for naturopathic medicine so for me that was a big moment because it was a personal connection to someone 4:26 obviously that I care very much about and seeing the transformation that she went through um was one of those moments 4:32 where you just know you know obviously as an engineer there's a lot of stuff going on up here like The Logical brain 4:38 but sometimes there's also like an intuitive knowing that goes with those big decisions and for me that was one of 4:44 those moments that I really remember thank 4:49 you um mine was sort of similar also a process but um I had actually struggled 4:55 with a lot of health issues as a kid growing up and um when when I was in college my mom took me to a naturopath 5:02 in Connecticut actually Amy and um we drove I was in college in Maine we drove 5:09 four hours to see this doctor I didn't even know she was a naturopath she was just a doctor that did things 5:15 differently um I didn't know what an naturopath even was and we got there she 5:22 spent three hours with me she looked at years worth of labs and she explained to 5:29 me how what she saw in my lab work tracked with what I was experiencing what that 5:36 meant um what she thought was going on Underneath It All what we could do to 5:41 change things and I was like that's it I'm sold I had wanted to be a doctor as 5:46 a kid and had walked away from it because I felt like the conventional medical system wasn't helping me um so I 5:52 did what she told me to do and symptoms that I had dealt with health problems that I've been dealing with for like 5:58 almost 20 years were 80% better in a couple weeks and I remember saying to 6:07 her in her office like this is what I this is what I meant when I said as a kid that I wanted to be a doctor and I 6:14 just couldn't find what it looked like and you just showed me what it looked like and she just nodded her head 6:20 because it wasn't well enough even at that time to do it and she was just like okay um but we worked on it and I got 6:28 here thank you next 6:37 slide so so yeah I I think you know one one of the things we also hear from a 6:43 lot of students is the recognition you're an adult you have a life already defined you may have family and children 6:51 and spouses and family responsibilities and so on um and the the relocation 6:57 challenge can be daunting for for some uh just reenvisioning what life looks like potentially in a different location 7:05 uh is there anything that you would recommend for people making that or considering that transition to to make 7:11 it easier and less stressful and scary um I I don't think I did that well 7:19 like that I only gave myself a few weeks to settle into Washington and I so I was 7:25 in Houston I ended up spending a little time in Colorado before going to Washington State at best you know to be 7:31 in best year and I looking back I would have I should have arrived in the summer 7:36 the summers are gorgeous there and given myself more of a chance to just settle into life there at that point I didn't 7:42 have kids and I was single so that part of it was easier it was just me and my belongings um but I would have gone and 7:49 even taken a summer class and gotten you know comfortable with the school I think that would be great so I definitely 7:55 recommend that to anyone who can do it um that would probably be the main thing thing that I would have done differently 8:01 in terms of you know challenge wise I I kind of I guess I'm I was back then more 8:08 adventurous than I am now um so I didn't mind moving I kind of like the adventure it's a gorgeous place to live and you 8:14 know fun place to live so um I didn't find that actual relocation too challenging but I do think you know 8:21 trying to connect with people who are there ahead of time whether it's through the school or through family or friends and just learning as much as you can um 8:28 but definitely getting there early and trying to get involved before school 8:34 starts I was I think in a similar place I didn't have um I didn't have a family 8:39 or kids at the time and so that gave me a lot more flexibility and I I did go 8:45 out in the summer and take a summer class beforehand which you're exactly right it helped a lot um because it's a 8:53 slower pace and it's more relaxed you get to know some of the other people a little bit more so you kind of land a 8:59 little bit gentler I think and I know I'm sure that the other schools do this too I know when I went to best year they 9:07 had like an online board where you could kind of connect with people in your incoming class to try if you wanted to 9:14 find someone to rent to house with or something like that obviously if you're coming with your entire family you're probably not looking for a roommate but 9:21 um but I did find that that was helpful for me one thing that I would say to look for depending on the school that 9:28 you end up at some the schools their academic campus and their clinical campus are not in the same location so 9:34 just you know taking some time to get to know the areas before you figure out 9:39 where you're going to live are you someone who is going to be open to moving you know partway through or are 9:45 you like I have a family and we're putting kids in school and so we want to land in one location for all of school 9:51 and make sure that that's going to work for you know through the clinical years 9:56 I think that's something that's just important to think 10:03 through and Dr Yannis I see there's a question in the Q&A related to this 10:09 question would you like to address that now or wait until yeah sure we can so 10:15 the question folks is how did you go about the transition period did you end your prior career cold turkey did you 10:22 work in various area simultaneously um so for me it was cold 10:28 trikey because I was with giant Corporation and there wasn't I mean some corporations might be more flexible now 10:33 with so many more options for remote work and part-time work at that time there was none of that and so it was 10:40 just a goodbye and I just you know finished that phase and went on I did 10:45 find school to be quite you know it's very time and labor intensive and so I don't think I would have had time to 10:51 really work much and do school um so that was my 10:58 experience yeah I would I was teaching Public School beforehand so you kind of 11:03 that's sort of an All or Nothing thing so what I did do because I hadn't done 11:09 all of the prerequisites um when I was in undergrad so I needed to do a bunch of 11:15 prerequisites before I could come and so so one or two of those I did in that 11:22 summer session before but most of them I did in the evenings or summer school 11:28 when you know when I was off from Public School teaching but then when it was time to start I just had to stop and and 11:36 start um yep and I will add I think it it does 11:42 somewhat depend on the profession uh I when I was in naturopathic school I worked myself uh as a as a 11:51 student for about the first year and many of my classmates also depending on 11:56 the field that they were in uh I had classmates who were massage therapists who were able to maintain a very small 12:02 massage practice uh RNs who were able to 12:07 pick up some extra shifts here and there uh I had one flight uh one classmate who was a flight attendant and she would uh 12:15 she had enough seniority that she could choose her flights and fly on the weekends and bring her books and 12:20 study um so you know I think it very much depends on the career on the person 12:28 uh on your your need to study your you know your requirements and so on and how 12:34 and other outside requirements that of your time and your life uh as to how you 12:40 can balance all of that uh I do think though Amy to your point of the remote work situation that remote work now does 12:48 make it maybe a little bit easier for for additional professions to be able to have uh you know some ability to make 12:55 some money however I I do want to be emphatic that this is a very full-time program and do not Bank on on being able 13:04 to work the whole time or even part of the time I know for me I recognized that 13:09 working was taking too much of a toll on my health and I needed to scale back on 13:15 working while I was a student so I think everyone does have 13:21 different you know different immune systems different you know abilities to manage and deal with stress and and 13:28 other things on your time so I would just be mindful uh and to not anticipate 13:34 being able to work but if you are able to work that's a bonus uh there are also other ways of uh 13:41 taking the program in longer periods so you could do a five-year track or uh if 13:47 you did want to or need to be able to work there are ways of taking slightly lower course loads to be able to have a 13:54 little bit more wiggle room in your day-to-day I hope we answer your question there uh next 14:04 slide okay so what are some tips for creating a Smart Financial plan for Ben school I don't know if one of you wants 14:11 to take this um I feel like I did this maybe after the fact h i don't I can't 14:18 honestly say that I did a great job of preparing this part of it again I was in my 20s I was a very different person 14:24 than I am now but um my advice knowing what I know now would there are financial advisers who 14:31 specialize in student loans and student loan repayment and I found one of those after I graduated and it's been so 14:38 helpful because they help you look at if there you know if you are going to have student loans I think the majority of ND 14:43 students do um then they can work with you to figure out how does that loan repayment process fit into the grand 14:50 scheme of all the financial decisions and it can be super helpful and 14:56 thankfully I think right when I graduated in 2007 or 2008 there started 15:01 to be much better options for student loan repayment that were income based and so that really relieved a lot of 15:07 pressure from our profession and many other professions when it comes to paying back student 15:14 loans I'll add to that I agree I didn't do a great job planning for that ahead of time um there are more opportunities 15:23 for employment and stuff like that now even than when I was in school graduating as an naturopath but and Joan 15:31 you might be able to speak a little bit more to this I I think the majority of naturopaths are still 15:37 self-employed and so thinking about that 15:43 you know is becoming a business person in some respects also part of something 15:50 that you want to do or not and you know there are ways for example looking at like if you 15:57 if you need to do loans for school looking at something like the 16:03 Public service loan forgiveness program you know there are lots of naturopaths who set up their clinics as nonprofits 16:10 which allows them to then be eligible for that program but it's you know that 16:15 takes some extra work and it's an extra process so planning for things like that can be really helpful you know if you're 16:23 able to save some ahead of time or if you have a partner and you can take out a little bit less in loans that's great 16:30 too um recognizing that if you're building a practice up from scratch that can take time right so there might be a 16:37 period of lower income are you planning on coming back home to a place where lots of people know you and if so can 16:44 you get them excited about what you're doing beforehand so that they're you know ready to jump on board and become 16:51 your patients in your community is like yes you know we want this service um what will that look like are there ways 16:57 you know a lot of naturopaths now are starting to build up ways that they can have some passive income some of which 17:04 you don't have to have your degree to start doing right you can start building 17:10 that structure and that scaffolding even beforehand so I think thinking about it 17:16 from the perspective of not just the Healing Arts of being a naturopathic doctor but um but what is that going to 17:23 look like from a business perspective can be really really help 17:29 ahead of time and and one thing that I'll add and these are all really good points uh is is that you know if you are 17:36 a career changer and you are coming to this later in life you probably have some life skills uh under your belt and 17:43 you know you've negotiated contracts or or you know uh working relationships and 17:49 things of that sort so there there are certain aspects where you come to the table already with some life skills uh 17:55 what I would say as far as a financial plan uh is that it it is important to live 18:03 like a student and and to just be mindful of the expenses the loans that 18:10 you're racking up uh you know it it it can be tempting for people when they get their first loan check like oh look 18:18 money um and remind yourself that all of that money is coming with interest uh 18:23 acrs and capitation and and all the other bits and pieces of loans so uh I 18:30 always encourage people to have as much savings ahead of school as you can take 18:35 out the bare minimum that you need to uh to to do school and also recognize like we're in 18:42 an inflation time right now the cost of things that are you know costing you at 18:48 year one may not be the same cost for year four so plan for inflation plan for costs increasing because they always do 18:56 whether their school costs or food or rent or what what have you uh you know plan for emergencies plan for health 19:02 issues you know always have a little bit of a buffer so that if if and when 19:08 things do pop up in life you're able to manage those well but as far as the financial plan 19:14 for school I think you got some really solid advice here uh and there are you know I know money can be very stressful 19:20 for people uh especially in this environment and with you know this big unknown of well what do I do afterwards 19:27 and so the more that you can be proactive um I've had on different doctors in the past who have met with 19:33 financial advisers especially if you come with property already or you know 19:39 loow uh prior loans or prior savings meeting with a financial planner can be 19:45 very helpful to map out what your financial plan is and so that would be 19:51 another piece of of guidance that I would share with you is you know coming up with that financial plan is going to 19:57 be very individualized and so you know possibly having somebody who is in your corner who knows your 20:03 specific Financial circumstances UH responsibilities and so on and putting 20:08 together something that makes sense for you okay next slide another thing I 20:14 sometimes see people do is to um if if it works for their situation 20:20 and they have the finances going in is to actually buy a house where where 20:26 school is and take on some roommates um you know maybe other naturopathic students who you want to study with or 20:32 whatever but it it just provides a little bit of that buffer which has 20:37 helped them a lot not everyone can do that I realize 20:44 very good point so uh let's 20:49 see next slide so I know that uh there is very 20:56 often we get questions from people who are parents uh regarding applying to medical school and um that that is 21:04 something I also think that is very personal uh one thing as a parent myself 21:11 um kids get sick school still happens so having 21:18 layers uh I call it the your bench you know who is who is your child care bench 21:23 and and how deep does your bench go of support for uh for your your family and 21:30 being able to manage that uh I had many classmates of mine I had one classmate of mine who during school had two babies 21:37 not one but two uh she was a Powerhouse and also had a very strong support 21:43 network so you know I think that is the type of thing that can be helpful um 21:49 whether it is a paid support network or a family support network whatever that looks like for you making sure that 21:54 you've got a bench team of support lined up to assist you uh that is one of the 22:01 things that can really be helpful in in creating uh stability for your family 22:06 while you're going through a very rigorous program either of you want to add anything else there um yeah and I wasn't 22:14 a parent but did have some friends going through the program who were and I don't know what exists right now in terms of 22:21 support the schools but I would look into if is there I don't know if there's any on-site child care options but if 22:27 not I would form a club with parents and like get all the parents together and that could be another way to create a 22:33 network of support so that if again something happens or if school's canceled all you know all the things 22:39 that happen when you're a parent and that would be another case for getting to your location earlier and getting 22:44 your kids situated and I think that would be just extra reason to you know arrive earlier like summertime as early 22:52 as you can to relocate and all that and I think recognizing that 22:58 there's you know you get especially when you get into your clinical portion of 23:03 the program you're going to be assigned different clinical shifts and you get some choice in that but you know it's 23:10 not like you get to pick every shift that you get so there will be evening shifts there will be Saturday shifts and 23:16 you know is that something that's going to work with your family you do get to make some requests but I know when I was 23:22 up last year they did have on-site child care they had a room um for nursing moms 23:28 which not like you had to go to this special room you could nurse a baby in class if you wanted to but sometimes you 23:33 might have a toddler that you needed to have with you you know and you could be 23:38 in that room that was kind of separate and you could live stream watch a class you know so just asking what sort of 23:45 supports in scaffolding I think is is huge and recognizing that your schedule 23:50 is probably going to change quarter to quarter right just like being in any program and so it can be a little 23:59 bit that's one of the challenges that I think I saw my friends who had kids during school struggle with is that 24:06 their child care schedule if they weren't using the on-site child care they had to have a child care provider 24:12 who could adjust their schedule every quarter and just planning for that and 24:18 and being aware of that as you're going into it um and I think it depends wildly on the age of your children too right 24:25 what kind of support do they need how much of your attention to they need um 24:30 because you're going to be spending a lot of time studying when you're not in class also and really making sure that 24:37 you're planning for that as well it's not just the class time very good points uh next 24:48 slide so what are some advantages of being a career changer in ND 24:56 School um so for me I remember and I don't know who this person was because 25:02 it a stranger that I was talking to at a restaurant one day discussing this career change that I was 25:08 contemplating and I remember still like I said I don't know who that person was this day but I do remember what they 25:13 told me and they said do you think that this would change the quality of your 25:18 life if you went to this school and learned what you were going to learn and 25:24 that stuck with me and I can say that that has been one of the biggest advantages for me is my own personal you 25:32 know Health journey and then everyone I care about you know my family my kids my parents I feel like there's been like a 25:38 ripple effect from what I've learned and just the way that you live your life once you're in ND and so um to me it 25:47 also gave me a lifestyle that I wanted you know one thing Dr westo mentioned was you will possibly be a business 25:54 owner or somehow more engaged as a business owner than you might have been in other careers and for me that was a 26:02 plus cuz I really I'm pretty independent and I liked that aspect of it and so 26:07 that was another Advantage you know for me is I like having more autonomy and being in charge of what I do 26:16 so I feel like for me there was a lot I just I think I felt 26:22 more kind of just confident and I was more mature than you know when I walked 26:27 out of undergrad I had experience with as a teacher I had 26:34 experience teaching I had experience understanding other humans you know and 26:40 and I'm sure that Amy you could probably say there are ways in which your 26:45 previous thinking and training informs what your 26:50 how you think as a naturopath too um I would say the same is true I feel like 26:55 I'm I think more broadly than I might have if I had only 27:02 just studied that one thing right I have other experience and other knowledge that I can draw on that I can make 27:08 connections with that I know informed my clinical practice and still does and my 27:14 patients would even talk about that you know because I would bring as I was an English major in college and I taught 27:20 Arts and Humanities which you wouldn't necessarily think of as connected but I bring I bring story into my practice all 27:27 the time and it's one of the things that my clients find to be most potent in 27:32 their transformation process and I might have missed out on that if I hadn't done something else first so I don't feel 27:38 like it was a hindrance in in any way I feel like it has only supported what I'm 27:44 doing yes and I I interpreted that question differently so by the first 27:49 time I read it it was what are the advantages of switching careers but I see it was maybe intended as what advantage did you have going into 27:56 naturopathic medical school with a previous career so I'll answer it that way too and for me like just like you were saying Dr Westway for me I had a 28:04 lot of like problem solving background of looking at something and trying to figure out what are the underlying 28:10 factors like why is this process when I was an engineer why is it not working where are the bottlenecks and so that 28:17 translated really well into medicine because you're looking at these systems and very much more you know complex 28:25 systems with a human body but very much there's a huge advantage to having been 28:30 trained to look and inquire and be inquisitive and get stumped by hard 28:35 problems because you will get stumped by hard problems as a doctor and so yeah so 28:41 that was an advantage and I think also just yeah having some of the like Dr yanz was saying earlier just having some 28:48 life experience and some of that kind of practical knowledge of how the real world works is really helpful because 28:56 then when you get out you're not completely feeling like this is the first time you've ever worked and you've 29:01 been in school for you know sometimes n years depending on the path you 29:10 take and I don't want to scare people there it doesn't have to be nine years eight or nine years I mean for most with 29:17 an undergrad with undergrad yeah yeah uh next next 29:23 slide so what's your biggest advice for somebody wanting to take the 29:33 so I would say my biggest advice would be talk to naturopathic doctors you know 29:38 reach out a lot of NDS are happy to you know talk to on the phone answer any 29:44 questions you might have um I'd spend plenty of time you know doing that myself um just quick phone calls where 29:50 you can ask the question the burning questions you have if we weren't able to answer them today and visiting the 29:57 schools can be really helpful too if you can do that if it's again Within Reach or you can plan it into another trip 30:04 that can be really helpful for me that was kind of a turning moment as well in terms of seeing how things work and what 30:10 they're learning and um I think that can be really helpful too and then I think a lot of what you heard today is just 30:16 planning like looking at the finances looking at the logistics and just looking at everything um as far ahead of 30:22 time as possible so that it's you know a smooth transition I would think too about what is it that 30:29 you are hoping to get out of that change right what's what's the Big Goal there 30:37 and often when we have a goal there's more than one way to meet that goal and 30:43 so really checking in with what what is if we want to make a shift you know is 30:50 the shift really about a lifestyle change like Dr Tyler was talking about or is it about like there's something in 30:56 naturopathic medicine medicine that I just have to dive into and know and study because I can't let go of that 31:02 Curiosity right that's very specific is it you know that you do have an idea of 31:09 what you would want it to look like in practice not that that can't change but 31:14 is that something that's again specific to naturopathic medicine I had I definitely had 31:20 classmates who you know went back and forth between naturopathic medicine and acupuncture and nutrition and herbalism 31:26 right there's a lot of overlapping things there so the clearer you are on 31:32 what your goal is I think the more satisfied you're going to be in making 31:38 the right choice for you and I agree with everything Dr Tyler 31:47 said Thank you next slide so let's talk careers for a little 31:54 bit um how did you come up with the career you have now and what are you 31:59 thinking of for your future I'll I'll jump in on that one because I'm sort of in transition at the 32:05 moment in mine um I started out I I went 32:10 to Bast year I graduated in four years I did a 2-year Residency program um in 32:16 essentially family practice so I did that for almost 9 years and um then I 32:25 opened a second business the which is a small supplement company which provides some passive income and is a product 32:32 that I'm really proud of and excited about and so when I had kids and I 32:39 started getting a little bit overwhelmed with all the things I was doing I kind of pulled back and I shifted gears and 32:45 now I'm going more into the online space and working more in the world 32:52 of there are some there are some 32:58 I wanted to be able to reach more people and so without being licensed as a naturopathic doctor in every single 33:04 state which we don't have lure yet in every single state and um it would it's a little bit challenging to you know 33:11 hold a license in all of the states where we do have licenses so I thought about where can I bring my experience 33:16 and my knowledge where I can really help transform people's lives but on a broader scale and so I'm 33:22 working currently building up a business around um dealing with people with burnout and supporting people and so I I 33:30 have to do that from the angle of a um of a coach right so technically I'm 33:35 coaching but I'm bringing all of my knowledge and all of my experience as a naturopathic doctor to do that and I 33:41 just have to be careful in how I like you know how I phrase things and what I'm doing and not doing but um but 33:47 that's what that's what life is looking like for me right now and it's very exciting yeah that's 33:55 great so I am in an licensed state so that's another distinction I think to 34:00 think about if you're going to go into the profession is we have and you can find on the ammc website um which states 34:06 are licensed and which aren't so I'm in Texas which does not have lenser I'm part of the team working on it we're 34:12 hoping to change that and so for me my role here is different I'm not I'm not a 34:19 medical doctor so I'm not licensed to practice medicine so what I my role is more of a health consultant in this 34:25 state um which has worked for me because my favorite tools you know education 34:31 teaching people about the lifestyle part and helping them with you know herbs and supplements and all that um and just 34:38 spending the time that they need to like let their story unfold a lot of that is where a lot of the healing occurs and so 34:45 um so it hasn't been an obstacle for me to be in an unlicensed State it's not for everyone though some people some NDS 34:51 after going to the training don't don't want that path so that's something to think about and look ahead as as well um 34:58 but for me I'm in a similar boat I think for to Dr westaway where the last few 35:04 years and I will say that you know I started off again I was just me and I 35:09 didn't have kids and um was just full-time working as part of a a compounding pharmacy that also had 35:16 practitioners so it was a like a wellness um business and I was with them for many years and then I was part-time 35:23 once my kids came along and the last few years I've also been venturing into the 35:28 more digital space and for the same reasons um as Dr Westways to increase 35:33 reach and to reach more people and for me it's been really fun like the nerdy engineer part of me to learn some of 35:40 those Tech skills and just to learn new skills and new software and that sort of 35:45 thing so I have um I created a game to help kids try new Foods um I love 35:51 working with kids and especially kids that are wired differently a lot of them have trouble you know with eating a 35:58 diverse diet which is really important you know for them to be healthy so I did that and I also I'm working on a course 36:06 that's on the topic of nutrition for brain health for kids again so that's 36:13 that's the latest for me thank you uh next 36:20 slide so we're going to jump into and Angela and I have been trying to get to 36:25 as many of the Q&A right now as we can typing wise uh and we're going to jump into some questions here for the 36:31 panelists but before we do uh here is the contact information for both uh Dr 36:37 Tyler and Dr Westway next slide thank you next 36:44 slide and uh we do have some upcoming events I've been typing a few of these in the chat uh those of you who have 36:51 asked about admissions prerequisites coming up with a plan uh definitely the best best thing for you would be to 36:58 connect with an admissions counselor at one or more of the programs to start to come up with an academic plan for you 37:04 make sure that you're not wasting your time on prerequisites you don't need and so on uh we will be H hosting an event 37:11 in March on March 5th with all of the admissions counselors from each of the member schools so that would be a great 37:17 place for you to just start to meet people get some questions answered uh 37:23 next month we will also be hosting a webinar on heart failure with Dr Decker 37:28 Weiss uh but you know we also have an archive of past events as well so uh 37:34 just wanted to put those at the top of your brain in case either of those events are of Interest next 37:41 slide so if you have any additional questions for& MC here is our contact information you know how to get a hold 37:46 of us so with that we're going to start on a few questions here so uh question number one uh what type of work SLV 37:54 volunteer experience and I'm going to consolidate some of these questions um slashy shadowing would you recommend 38:01 students do uh before they 38:07 apply I I recommend looking for your local Most states I think almost every state has an ND organization and you can 38:14 usually just find it by searching online and it's the state Organization for the profession and they will usually have a 38:20 find an ND feature and I would recommend either contacting the organization or individual nd's CL to you and asking 38:27 what opportunities they have um for me personally when I was in person I did 38:33 that I'm virtual now so I don't offer it anymore but it was something that I did for you know 12 years and was happy to 38:39 have people Shadow I think it is very important because you get a real look at what being an ND is going to look 38:46 like and I would just add that recognizing that ND practices can vary 38:53 widely in what they look like so if you can find a few different people to 38:58 Shadow I think that will give you a much better picture if you just Shadow one person that's going to be one tiny 39:05 window into this like huge vast network of of people and what that looks like so 39:11 I don't know that there's a specific work or volunteer thing that you need to do the more you can get yourself 39:17 comfortable with medical language the better so you know even just volunteering in a hospital or something 39:24 like that where you're kind of just around that IAL jargon and just hearing it and having it go in your ears I know 39:31 that my classmates who had never been around that struggled a lot more just to to pick everything up as quickly as 39:37 those who had just been exposed to it it doesn't mean you have to have a job in it but just that exposure can be really 39:46 helpful thank you so much uh there's a question here and I think one of the 39:51 things we see with career Changers is sometimes a little bit of a lack of confidence uh if you've been out of school school for a while it can feel a 39:58 little daunting to be going back to school um I've heard from folks thinking that they're too old or am I going to be 40:05 the weird old person in in the corner of the classroom and and kind of having a 40:10 lack of confidence and so can you talk to uh the competitiveness in Admissions and uh you know just a little bit about 40:19 kind of Switching gears some and's are so eclectic we're like we love everyone 40:27 um and you're going to get a you're going to get a much much wider range I 40:32 think of people and experience and ages in most of the naturopathic programs 40:38 than you are in a lot of graduate programs or certainly than in a conventional medical program for sure it 40:46 I don't think it was weird at all we had lots of career Changers lots of 40:51 different ages people at various stages of life um I think the question is like 40:57 do you want to be spending a lot of time studying and sitting in a classroom 41:02 because that can be a big shift right if you're used to being able to walk around 41:09 all day long and you know you can stand up in the back of the classroom no one will think you're weird if you need to do that um but it it just is a shift to 41:17 go back to studying I loved that personally because I'm a big nerd but you know not everyone 41:23 does thank you um so there's a question and I'm going to be skipping around with a question so I've seen all your 41:29 questions don't worry about it we're going to try do our best to get to them uh but there's one I wanted you to to cover if possible can you give us a 41:36 snapshot in a day of your life like what's a normal day in the work life of an 41:43 ND that can look so different um I'll I'll speak to more 41:52 when I was in clinical practice because it looks so different now but when I was 41:57 in clinical practice I would go in in the morning I would um you know I I'd 42:02 get up I'd have breakfast I'd go into work I would pull up the labs um to see 42:09 any labs that had come in from the day before and just see if there was anything that needed addressing urgently 42:15 with any of my clients that I needed to make sure that we called them that day um and then I would 42:23 usually you know check through my messages real fast again just to make sure there was nothing urgent and then I 42:30 would start seeing clients I would usually see I personally spent um I have 42:35 always spent an hour with my clients if not more with in every visit and that's 42:41 something that's pretty different I think in the conventional medical world so I might only see four or six patients 42:47 in a day um you know for a cute stuff maybe it was a little bit shorter like if somebody just had a sore throat or 42:54 pneumonia or something like that um often we could do that faster I would have a variety of you know when I was 43:02 working in primary care it was everything from I was doing counseling I was doing biof feedback I was doing 43:08 Hands-On medicine manual therapy um I was looking at you know Labs what's 43:13 going on with your cholesterol what's you know do we need to order Imaging doing that kind of stuff I'd take a lunch break we tried to schedule an 43:20 extra hour around lunch so that we had time to catch up on charting or any lab orders or things like B that we needed 43:26 to get in so that we weren't staying super late at night um and then you know 43:32 at the end of the day I tried to close out all my charts and go home and walk away from it but in primary care I was 43:37 on call a lot of the time too so I had my phone with me most of the time and people would call you know not too often 43:44 but they would call in the middle of the night they would call so it doesn't you don't necessarily walk away from it if you're 43:51 doing actual primary care but there are a lot of naturopathic doctors who are not on call because that's not how they 43:57 set up their practice it can vary so much um Dr Tyler do you want to speak to that a little bit because you're 44:03 probably different yeah and it's different being in an unlicensed State because there's certain things you're not doing you're not doing physical 44:10 exams for example um however I'd say one thing to consider because and these are 44:16 so thorough like most of us have these lengthy questionnaires because we want to know so much about the person that 44:21 we're going to see there is I'd say for most not for all I do have some colleagues that really don't prep much 44:27 it's just not their workflow but for me I do spend a decent amount of time prepping before I see my clients so that 44:34 I've read their intake forms and it really makes it so that when I meet with them I can give them my full attention 44:39 and we can get the most out of the hour we spend together so for me it's also 60 90 minutes for an initial visit and then 44:46 follow-ups are ranging between sometimes 15 minutes if we have just a quick thing to review sometimes up to an hour if 44:52 we're doing something more extensive and so and then there are like finishing up wrapping up charts signing them off and 45:00 all of that so there's a pre and a post to seeing clients and that is something 45:05 to think about it's just you have to kind of figure out when you're going to do that um and for me I just try to get 45:11 it done the same calendar day definitely within 24 hours you know seeing them um 45:16 but it's there's a again workflow you have to think about um and so these days 45:22 I just try to block I do kind of back to back so I'm virtual now and so I just see people consecutively and then I do 45:29 all my charting and the same thing like around six people a day is enough 45:36 because you're spending so much time with them which I prefer I'd rather you know dive deep with people um to me 45:43 that's part of why you know I chose this profession instead of something 45:52 else thank you sorry I just had to find the unmute button on myself there uh so 45:58 uh there are a few questions that have come in about study tips uh exam prep 46:05 examinations like the board examin the licensing examinations um can you talk a 46:10 little bit about getting yourself back into the uh the study Hustle and Flow I think one really big thing is 46:17 understanding how you learn and um you know and if you need help figuring that 46:23 out beforehand you know maybe do some assessments or get some help or just you 46:28 know have someone reflect with you but the more you understand how you learn then you'll be able to study in a way 46:34 that makes sense for you I I don't know Dr Tyler what you're you graduated but I 46:40 went to school when not everyone was even taking notes on computers so yet so 46:46 um I literally sat in class with my textbooks and markers and I did drawings 46:54 and made notes into different colored markers in my textbooks and in a notebook because that process of 47:01 physically writing for me and I'm a visual person as well made a huge 47:06 difference so I made lots of drawings I had butcher paper on my walls I had whiteboard markers on my windows like I 47:15 did things that were not necessarily like conventional study things because I knew that for me I needed to involve my 47:22 hands and my body and that visual side of things um I also needed a study but study buddy 47:29 to keep me accountable and I found those people and we met sometimes every day to go over things um when I was studying 47:36 for boards I would go for walks again for that kinesthetic thing I would bring 47:41 there were some things I just needed to do flash cards with so I would take a chunk of flashcards on a walk and I 47:48 wouldn't come home until I knew all the things in that in that flash cart I got some exercise in you know it helped my 47:56 brain stay engaged and stay active and that worked well for me but everybody has to do it in the way that works for 48:04 them yeah it sounds like we had very similar study Styles I was I graduated in 2007 so when I was in school it was 48:11 not like hardly anyone was there with a laptop taking notes and I would I would 48:16 have loved to have gone to school at a time when I could have done that because I I have terrible handwriting and that 48:23 that was a hindrance to me so I think if you know that's a big advantage of digital notes and sharing notes and you 48:29 know if you miss something or miss a class because you're sick I think it's going to be easier to get the information um I also just funny this 48:37 topic I just found this giant drawing I did of the digestive tract on butcher paper I was cleaning out old files and 48:43 it's really amazing all the detail in there so yeah there and I I think the thing is the school prepares you you 48:51 know for these exams and if you are following along with the curriculum and again there's there's options for help 48:58 there's office hours you're going to have a network of amazing people you know like Dr Westway said and these are 49:03 very collectic and very supportive and so you're going to be surrounded by these amazing people that you know want 49:10 you to succeed and are going to support you and definitely even for I consider myself to be more of an independent 49:16 studier but I needed to find those Study Buddies and it was really you know a 49:21 game Cher to have people to bounce things off of I will add one thing in terms of the 49:28 study buddy thing because I had been an independent studier before this there's so much to learn in terms 49:36 of being able to Think Through the processes of the human body and how 49:41 ideas connect that one thing that really really helped me was having someone to 49:46 be able to ask me questions and so well why do you think that you know get me from here to here talk me through it and 49:54 and that process I think for me worked way better than 49:59 just a memorization process because you're really engaging in that thought process um and a lot of people used 50:06 would study in groups too I liked to just study with one person but you know if you are changing careers and maybe 50:13 you have a family with kids it can sometimes be easier to say well I have this meeting with this group at six 50:19 o'clock so I have to be there because they're counting on me and they're expecting me as a mom I think it can be 50:24 sometimes hard you can push your own stuff aside because your kid needs you or the laundry needs doing or whatever it is 50:31 but when you have that group um and they're expecting you to be there you're going to show up and so just knowing 50:37 that about yourself there there is always laundry um one thing one thing I will say though I think it also depends 50:45 very much on the type of learner you are I think one of you had mentioned that as well know how you study uh I I just last 50:53 weekend ran into an old classmate of mine uh from school I graduated almost 50:58 25 years ago now uh but I will say that my friends were awesome in school and I 51:04 always wanted to hang out with them but that was not always the most efficient use of my time for myself and so knowing 51:12 how you study is so power Mount there are so many different assessment tools that you can take to learn are you a 51:18 kinesthetic learner are you an auditory learner you know what what memory tricks work for you or don't um and so I 51:26 went the opposite way I had to abandon the friends group because we were doing too much gabbing and talking and 51:32 laughing and not enough studying and and so for me and and also knowing how to 51:37 hack your your productivity times like for me it was first thing in the morning like early early and you know where 51:44 others were I tried the late night stuff and like that you know that doesn't work so well for me so knowing when you stud 51:51 when you study well what types of things you need in place that those are all so so important to make sure that you're 51:57 using your time efficiently uh and keeping your energy up I you know keeping your nutrition up 52:03 keeping your sleep going you know all of those other components that we talk about in naturopathic School uh and as 52:10 in your life as an ND that are also really important to start to put in place to make it through school and have 52:17 enough juice to get you to the end so we are coming up toward the end of this seminar here today I see the 52:25 questions keep pouring in we're we're doing our best to try and uh get through these um when as we can 52:36 uh let's see here so there is uh there's a little bit 52:42 here regarding uh working in a pre-licensed state I'm wondering I I can speak to 52:49 that but I'm wondering if one of you would like to as well uh just what does it mean to be a health coach uh can can 52:55 you have a successful practice can you uh you know how do you get your client base and so on uh and there I I have a 53:02 little bit to add on that as well but maybe one of you can start that off um well as an endine and unlicensed 53:08 state so like I mentioned before there's some things you can't do um and you're not going to be contracting with 53:13 insurance companies because that requires lenser so most are you know 53:18 you're in a cash pay sort of situation where your clients we don't call them patients but clients are paying you you 53:26 know for your services directly which there are some advantages to so some NDS in licensed states are also choosing to 53:34 be a cash-based practice just based on you know just not wanting to deal with certain constrictions within the 53:40 insurance and reimbursement system so it really just depends again some of his personal preference I think I saw a 53:45 question about why become an ND if you're just going to end up doing more of like a coaching sort of thing and I 53:52 guess the reason is there's a there's a very deep level of education and 53:58 understanding of the human body that you get when you go through the curriculum and become an atropic doctor and it's 54:05 because of that education that I can help people at the level that I help them and if you you know coaching 54:12 certifications not to you know discredit them or knock them but you're not going to learn you're not going to become a 54:18 doctor right so and I know it might be confusing to say well you did this training as a doctor but you're working 54:25 more as a coach but you can't unlearn what you've learned and so you've trained your brain to again look at 54:31 things look at the big picture connect the systems and so um I don't feel that 54:37 I could do what I'm doing and offer the same level of help to people if I had become a health coach the education 54:43 would not have been um as I guess in-depth 54:48 and so I I can just speak to the bigger picture as somebody who gets the calls when things go bad 54:56 badly uh the the level of Education you get as a naturopathic physician is very 55:03 extensive and uh they we often hear from the the failed 55:10 cases or the patients who have been harmed uh I get those calls unfortunately and it 55:17 it's you know there there is a lot of complexity to Patient cases to the types of medications that they're coming in uh 55:24 in with uh I've I've re I've been on unfortunately on the receiving end of 55:30 calls of deaths patient harm uh and I'm not saying that you know there aren't 55:35 some wonderful health coaches but there there sometimes is a boundary that um is 55:40 unsafe to cross and you don't necessarily know you know and have the 55:45 breadth of Education to understand what are the safe boundaries when is when 55:51 does coaching cross into diagnosis and treatment or the delay of diagnosis and 55:57 treatment which often can play into things as well um it isn't even so much 56:02 that you're giving bad advice it's that the person is get is having a delay in the diagnosis of their cancer or a delay 56:08 in their diagnosis of asthma that causes them to have a fatal asthma attack uh so there you know there definitely are 56:15 situations where there is a a a greater degree of care that's required um and 56:20 one other thing that I'll add in pre-licensed States and having lived and worked in one 56:25 myself uh some people will go on and have another degree that is licensed 56:31 eligible in that jurisdiction uh so that they have the ability to Bill insurance 56:36 they have the ability to to have malpractice and that that is definitely a trend that has increased uh and like 56:43 like you said Amy you can't take your brains away from you the the information that you learn in ND school always comes 56:50 with you and how you work with patients uh and then there was a question regarding lure uh we are actively 56:57 working on lure across all 50 states lure has more than doubled since I was 57:03 uh you know a student myself and it continues to grow uh as well as 57:09 increasing the scope of practice in states that are already regulated so there there is a lot of momentum and 57:16 movement going on across the US and Canada uh to increase our uh patients 57:23 access to naturopathic doctors um so with that I know we're we're basically at the the top of the hour 57:30 here um there are a couple questions that just came in about NDS and MDS there are no combined ndmd programs uh 57:38 there are there is one Bridge delivery program for foreign trained MDS medical doctors in 57:44 Canada uh and uh there there are also programs where MDS can get Advanced 57:51 standing potentially uh if you had an MD already or a do or uh an advanced 57:59 doctoral degree a chiropractic degree that you may qualify for uh some Advanced standing within the ND program 58:05 so that's um that's definitely an option for people as well uh but ultimately it's 58:14 you know your education is going to be an investment in your future and so what's the Preferred Future that you 58:20 have for yourself and and how do you create education that helps you back into that so with um Advanced what does 58:28 Advanced standing mean oh I see Angela is answering that um so with that I know we've got a wrap up uh we're at the top 58:34 of the hour now I just want to thank Dr Tyler DRS Tyler and westaway so much for 58:39 sharing your stories sharing your journey and uh hopefully taking a little 58:44 bit of The Angst out of this big life decision for so many people so thank you 58:50 both for sharing your energy and your time I really appreciate you than thank you 58:59 for" } ] }