My Top 10 Questions for Finding A Transformational Functional Health Practitioner
A few months back, a Dr friend of mine shared he was considering working with a certain practitioner, and he asked how I would evaluate whether to work with this person or not. And in a stream of consciousness sort of way, I rattled off a bunch of questions that I would ask if I were in his shoes. He was nice enough to record the rough outline which I have turned into this post in the spirit of educating people on how to find a great practitioner. And enable them to transform their health in the process.
In this article, I outline some of the:
a) Common Challenges: 10 areas where things go wrong & signs to look elsewhere
b) What the client - practitioner partnership should look like, and
c) My Top 10 Questions for identifying a transformational functional health practitioner
Making it awesome!
How to find a next level functional medicine practitioner or coach
Common Challenges and Key Questions on Finding that Transformational Partner in Health Optimization in in Body-Mind-Spirt
NAVIGATING Functional Medicine can can be quite a challenge
Getting the promise to live up to its potential!!!
While the functional health space holds tremendous promise, it can be quite challenging to navigate as the marketplace of ideas and supplements can be overwhelming. TMI in many cases. And how do I know what is going to work for me?
So part of my mission is client / patient education to up-level the practitioner/client space so we have less clients bouncing from practitioner to practitioner. And clients get better results so they can be the best version of themselves and fulfill their life’s work. Great questions bring tremendous clarity. So here we go.
Let me lay some groundwork. Ideally, the client - practitioner relationship should be a partnership where the customer feels heard with a mutually agreed plan in writing to help optimize their health based on their challenges and personal goals. And there should be scheduled check in’s and a way to track progress over time. Sadly, however, that is often not the case!
Where things go wrong
10 Signs on when to look elsewhere…
Having worked with dozens of practitioners over the years in sorting through my own health challenges, it's been my experience things often break down along one of the areas:
Intake & medical history is spotty or done only on paper where it disappears into some folder only to be never seen again. Tracking relative progress from where you started is very ambiguous. More on tracking below.
Assessment is limited to verbal questions, muscle testing, or an insufficient number of labs. Or too many labs. More on this later, but things need to be recorded for future reference and for assessing progress. And muscle testing can be an excellent tactical tool, even game changing. But it should not be the only tool. And then running the right # of labs. Not too few, not too many. And keeping in mind, labs are not perfect. Far from it. This takes experience to figure out and it's part of what makes becoming a practitioner who gets outstanding results, really challenging. It’s not easy being a great practitioner!
Not treating the whole patient! This has happened to me so many times I could scream. A few examples:
I remember working with a naturopathic practitioner many years ago where I specifically complained of my obvious candida challenges (visible thrush on my tongue). She used an energy assessment device called a Zyto (which I think has its place) and muscle testing to assess my current state challenges. Several weeks in, it came out in one of our consults she had not started to address my candida and had no plans to do so. In fact, she had totally missed it. Super maddening. She focused on what her tools showed, but did not sufficiently hear me or consider my total health presentation.
Years later, I began working with a practitioner who was on the cutting edge of assessing genetic factors and how they impact health. Same drill, great human being who I still admire, but they only focused on my genetic variants and missed my obvious gut and Lyme co infection issues which took many years of persistence to uncover and address. Supporting unique genetics can be helpful, but it MUST be done in the context of the whole patient’s presentation.
Another great example of this would be “Adrenal Fatigue”. Many people show cortisol dysregulation in their labs and then are given “adrenal support” without the practitioner / client really understanding what is behind the adrenal dysregulation. In my case, I had several gut issues, parasites, candida, virus, and lyme co-infections that were often missed. And ultimately they were the underlying contributors to my “metabolic chaos” that led to my “adrenal fatigue”. Once I began to finally get to the root of my challenges, my energy and sleep all improved dramatically. A good practitioner will seek to understand what is behind the labs, symptoms, etc and treat the whole patient, not just the lab results.
Not hearing the client! This is very much related to the above but often practitioners focus on their standard protocols, lab values, data, vs truly connecting with the patient and forming a plan based on correlation between their complaints, symptoms, and labs. This is art and science and to be fair, not easy. But exceptional results require it!
No plan in writing! A verbal plan with a bag of supplements to take is no plan. Run! Ideally, the practitioner should give you a summary of their findings and 90 day plan with a summary of your DRESS or Diet, Rest, Exercise, Stress reduction, and Supplement. I use a spreadsheet to lay out supplements over 90 days and a recap on their diet plan, etc.
Too many supplements! Less is more and the body can only handle so much at a time. If you are having to take a zillion things just to “because the practitioner said so” or just to function, you are not likely addressing the underlying healing opportunities that are leading to your overall challenges.
No agreed to check in dates/times: should be weekly or bi weekly. Don’t leave the session without the next step scheduled or an action plan agreed to.
No method for course correction: nothing ever works 100% of the time for everyone. Or the timing of quantity needs to be adjusted. Have a clear idea of how you communicate when something isn’t working for you and how you are going to course correct.
Poor follow up. Practitioners often get overwhelmed and follow up can slow in coming. A good practitioner should get back to you within 24 to 48 hours. I prefer email as a first line so things are documented. I also like to use a Google Doc where mutual notes are shared and can be referred back to. And (2) 15 min check in calls in btw regular bi weekly sessions should ideally be built into the plan to answer a quick question and or course correct when something isn’t working.
Proper expectation setting: healing is a process/journey and not an event. Practitioners often fail to educate their clients that sometimes there are good and bad days during the healing journey. And how to know when to slow down or course correct. Taking too many supplements at once can lead to heavy detoxification reactions, brain fog, and fatigue. Setting expectations on how to slowly build up on supplements, what signs to look for when going too fast, and how to course correct are all very important.
What Things Should look like
The ideal scenario….
All right. Enough about some of the shortcomings in functional and alternative medicine. Let’s outline what the practitioner / client relationship should be. It’s been my experience the client practitioner journey should compromise the following:
Intake & Assessment (questionnaire and labs) that considers the WHOLE patient. In the FDN program (Functional Diagnostic Nutrition) where I have my certification, we use acronyms HIDDEN and DRESS as a matrix to help understand the whole client presentation
HIDDEN stands for: Hormones, Immune, Digestion, Detox, Energy production, and Nervous System (brain, limbic, autonomic nervous system)
DRESS stands for: Diet, Rest, Exercise, Stress Reduction, and Supplementation
And the above two allow us to think holistically about the client in terms of what is contributing to Metabolic Chaos and ultimately their health complaints. And then DRESS provides a matrix for holistically helping the client get back on track and achieve their health goals.
Mutually agreed to check in plan; I typically work with clients bi weekly in 12 week sprints. Could be weekly or 1x per month once you are feeling better. Point is, have an agreed to cadence that is part of the overall program.
Supplement protocols are in a spreadsheet and tracked over time
Notes are shared and can be edited by both parties for mutual understanding and accountability
Tracking: this is a big one: Key lab values are tracked on a summary dashboard and tracked over time
Course correction: not everything that works for everyone and adjustments will need to be made throughout the engagement. Should be done during scheduled check ins.
Routine check in & follow up : when I work with a client, it's typically in a two week cycle done in person or via Zoom
Email support is offered for recapping information and in between consults. Additionally, I offer (2) 15 minute phone check in’s in addition to the (6) regular consuluts for quick questions and course correction
Note: the HIDDEN and DRESS outlines are specific to FDN and not every practitioner will be familiar with them. And while I would welcome practitioners to adopt this framework, that isn’t realistic. However, the key takeaway is the practitioner should have some sort of framework the use as a guide in working with you. Ask them what it is, and if they don’t have one, consider looking elsewhere. And use the above to help evaluate where you, where you need to focus, and how you are making progress.
My Top 10 Questions for identifying a transformational functional health Practitioner
Great questions bring clarity and establish better expectations & outcomes
Please describe your intake and assessment process? Do you have a questionnaire and if so, what areas does it cover?
How many hours do you spend preparing to meet with me?
How do you decide which labs to run? And h appreciate itow will you correlate my main complaints with my lab work to figure out where we need to focus?
How are you going to assess a diet that works for me?
How do we arrive at a mutually agreeable plan?
How do we follow up and measure progress?
How do we establish mutual accountability for follow up and follow through?
How often will we meet?
Do you offer email support in between meetings? And if so, within how many days/hours do you respond?
What do you do when you don’t know the answer?
That last question is quite a zinger! A grounded practitioner will realize they don’t know it all. And they will have a network of peers or mentors that they can reach out to get data, perspective, or options. One of the great things about the FDN program and network is that it comes with readily available mentors and routine “ask the experts” weekly calls. Game changer. FDN practitioners can schedule a 1:1 with a mentor. In fact, some labs require the consult with the expert. And per above, there are weekly calls where FDN practitioners can post questions.
The other thing is practitioners should be comfortable presenting the client with 2 or 3 options and getting their input/intuition on what they think should be done. Functional Medicine should be a collaborative process between the practitioner and client. No one person has it all figured out, the body is just too complex. Humility is important.
Use these questions to help you find a fantastic practitioner. And to set expectations on what you are hoping to achieve. Any practitioner worth your time and hard earned $s should have reasonable answers to these questions. If they don’t, keep moving until you find someone who does. Hoping and rolling the dice usually ends poorly. And with lots of frustration.
In summary, it’s part of my mission to uplevel Functional Medicine such that clients get transformational results so they can be the best version of themselves. Life is short and dealing with complex illness, chronic fatigue, and or gut issues can be a real drain.
Conversely, finding a next level practitioner who can partner with you in helping you find your path to being Vibrant-Vital-Alive in Body-Mind-Spirit so you can be the best version of yourself can be transformational. And make a difference with those you love and interact. Good luck in finding that partner in health who can help you take it too the next level.
Please post your comments and questions below.
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