Throughout life you are given opportunities but it is up to you whether or not you take them!
There was a time in my life when I should have been happy. I had a good life! I had a great job as a high school chemistry teacher, I loved the students in my classes, and most of all I loved teaching! Becoming a teacher was everything I ever wanted! It gave me stability and security, plus I enjoyed it most of the time. But I still had this deep void inside of me that always felt like something was missing in my life. To fill it I tried so many things! Not only was I a full time teacher but I also coached sport after sport, was on the grad committee, social committee and the list could go on and on. I blew off steam by going out and partying on the weekends, drinking way too much, staying up too late and overall not making the best choices for myself. It was a perfect storm for disaster. After a minor car accident, my body wouldn’t heal, so I had to do some deep soul searching when my intuition screamed loudly at me! My anxiety and depression were at an all time high but no one knew! I kept it all to myself. The only idea that made the anxiety calm down was to quit my job, leave all my family friends, and go back to school to become a naturopathic doctor. It calmed my anxiety but it brought up huge amounts of fear! I was in an epic quandary!
It’s scary it is to take a leap into the unknown, especially a leap that doesn’t make sense to anyone around you, maybe even to yourself. If I wouldn’t have trusted my gut, I wouldn’t be where I am today and there is no way in the world that I would change it for anything!!! Don’t get me wrong, life is not always sunshine and rainbows, but I have a new perspective and I love to share it with my patients so that they can move into a life that they love too! I get to do what I am passionate about every single day!
One of my passions is working with hormones- female hormones, stress hormones, thyroid hormones, and off course the neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. It combines my love of science in understanding their roles in the body and how to optimize their function, while we also work on the mental health aspect that is often interconnected. When your mental health is not in a good place, its hard to make changes to your overall health, but when your hormones aren’t balanced, it can also affect your mental health. This can put you in a never ending cycle that is hard to exit. Even if you have heard, it’s all in your head… it might be, but it’s really hard to figure it all out if you are not feeling your best because there are some chemical imbalances in your body!
Every day, I get to unite my loves of science and teaching from my past with my knowledge of the human body and my deep inquisitive nature to guide my patients on their journeys to better health. I can’t imagine any better way to spend my life!
Alicia meets the Standard of Practice to therapeutically prescribe restricted substances such as bio-identical hormones, desiccated thyroid, B12 shots, and high dose vitamin D. She has also done additional training to be able to administer IV therapy.
With a focus on continuing education and professional growth, Alicia is a proud member of the following professional organizations:
CAND
OAND
AARM
B2C
