Root-Cause Assessment

Service Description

Your initial appointment with me goes far beyond a typical intake and is unlike most you’ve ever experienced. This isn’t a rushed overview or surface-level intake. It's a comprehensive, 2-hour deep-dive into your health and is designed to be the most thorough & insightful health assessment you’ve ever had. Early in my career, like many graduating NDs, I offered shorter 60-75 minute initial intakes, but I quickly realized that it simply wasn’t enough time. It left both me and my patients feeling rushed and often without enough time to fully understand what was really going on beneath the surface. Now, 25 years later, my extended 2-hour initial Root-Cause Assessment appointment gives us time to truly connect and allows you to tell your entire health story—including your medical & family history, current symptoms, dietary & lifestyle habits, sleep patterns, mental/emotional stressors, and more. I take a whole-person approach to begin uncovering what might be driving your symptoms. After my first appointment, my patients feel a sense of relief—finally being heard, understood and seen. No treatment recommendations are made during this first appointment. It’s strictly an intake—designed to gather the most accurate, complete picture of your health before developing any plan. This ensures we’re not guessing or jumping to conclusions but rather building a solid foundation for your healing. If necessary, I may ask you to get a copy of recent lab results from your medical provider, or I may suggest additional testing—but only when I believe it will provide meaningful insight and actually help shape or refine your treatment plan. I have access to both conventional lab work and specialized functional testing, but I’m very selective about when and why I use them. I know it's common to see extensive functional testing promoted online, but not every test provides meaningful insights. I believe in a more thoughtful, targeted approach and prefer to recommend tests only when they truly serve a purpose. Functional & lab testing can be a helpful part of the process if there’s a clear reason to do so like tracking changes over time or confirming a suspected deficiency. But I’m thoughtful and selective—my goal is to avoid unnecessary tests that don’t influence your care while still giving you the answers you’re looking for. This 1st appointment is focused on uncovering what’s really driving your health concerns—by taking time to listen, understand and connect the dots.