Notable Naturopaths with Ananda

Notable Naturopaths with Ananda Mahony

In this edition of Notable Naturopaths, Ananda Mahony, ANTA Naturopathy Branch Chair, sat down with Sophia Gerontakos. Since becoming a qualified Naturopath, Sophia has been supporting people in many different areas including digestive health, fatigue, menstural irregularities, skin complaints, headaches, endocrine disruption, nutritional support, general health, wellbeing and healthy living. Sophia also spends time educating her patients about the important role of food as medicine and harnessing our lifestyle to live well and feel well, with the goal of reaching a place where we can maintain good health without any prescription or supplement. 1.What is your area of interest within naturopathy? I’ve always had a special interest in mental health and have always ended up with patients in need of mental health support, so I naturally ended up with a bit of a focus there. I also have a bit of a journey with endometriosis so that and women’s health is an area I care deeply about. However, my predominant interest right now is in issues of equity regarding access to healthcare and I have been investigating ways both in clinical practice and in research on how we as naturopaths can reach more of our community, break out of the “middle-class medicine” mould, and make naturopathy more accessible to all. This started out with me starting up a free naturopathic community clinic in Brisbane and has evolved into a new area of research for me which I’m pursuing through a PhD at Southern Cross University.

2. What inspired your interest in this area? I noticed in clinical practice that we were seeing a fairly narrow demographic of patients in clinic and that some people who would manage to come in for one or two visits could not continue despite needing continuity of care. I think the barriers could be a combination of financial and social and cultural, but predominantly financial. So, I started thinking about how to make our services more accessible to more people and I started up a free community clinic for a couple of hours a week on a particular day where anyone could come in without an appointment at no cost and see a naturopath (me). This enabled me to help people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to see a naturopath but also came at the cost of my own time and income obviously, so although it plays an important role, I don’t see it as a long-term solution to the fundamental issue.

3. How has it changed your practice or focus within the profession? In searching for other solutions to the accessibility issue this led me to what is now the focus of my PhD research at Southern Cross University investigating and designing a naturopathic group consultation structure and program and testing the feasibility of this model as an alternative to a one-on-one consultation model. Once we have tested the program out in a pilot study, I hope to publish the manual as a how-to for naturopaths who would like to run group consultations and programs.

4.What is upcoming for you? Upcoming for me is rolling out my new program of naturopathic group consultations for people with endometriosis. I have some great naturopaths on board to test out the program in clinical practice and we are just beginning recruitment of patients with endometriosis to participate. If any readers know anyone with endometriosis who might like to participate in a 12-week naturopathic program (six visits, one visit per fortnight) or would like to participate themselves there is more info available at the link below and an option to register interest, or I can be contacted by email Sophia.gerontakos@scu.edu.au Link for more info: https://scuau.qualtrics.com/jfe/ form/SV_a32nMCHgKYrzDZs

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