Dr Sheila Richards believes in educating and empowering patients to take control of their own health. This is a healing partnership.
Each patient’s commitment to follow their health plan and incorporate personalised diet and lifestyle changes into daily life is essential for success.
She treats all her patients as individuals to find a safe, effective, personalised treatment plan to achieve optimal health in a way that suits them best.
Dr Richards offers advanced genetic, nutritional, and digestive function screening tests to determine her holistic Integrative Medicine Health Plan.
She applies a systems biology approach using Functional Medicine practices for the management of chronic disease.
Patient’s often come to her for:
- Managing symptoms for which they have found no effective treatment.
- Managing symptoms which may or may not fit a clear diagnosis.
- Managing symptoms for which they do not wish to take prescribed medication or are unable to tolerate prescribed medication.
- To avoid illness, and optimise wellness.
“I help people who are juggling the stresses, the overwhelm of busy jobs, and home life. These endless demands negatively impact their health, resulting in the progressively worsening of chronic ill-health symptoms. Typical symptoms include stress, fatigue, poor sleep, gut issues, autoimmune diseases, difficulty maintaining healthy weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and glucose balance.
I encourage them to look at the whole picture to identify the ‘root cause’ and understand how their symptoms have developed.”
By modifying patient’s diet, lifestyle and environmental factors, Dr Richards enables them to live a life without flare-ups and drugs, so that they can optimise their current health, and minimise their risk of future illness.
“My journey to Functional/Integrative/Holistic Medicine began when I was searching for an approach to childhood healthcare that didn’t rely on pharmaceuticals. I desired to bring up my children without repeated doses of Calpol and antibiotics.
I discovered and trained in Homeopathy, quickly adding Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and acupuncture to my toolbox when I discovered how effective it is at treating fertility.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) has helped me understand the power of ‘effective communication’, and how our ‘thoughts and beliefs’ affect recovery.
Integrative Functional Medicine was recommended to me to provide the gold standard for addressing the ‘root cause’, using dietary/environmental, and lifestyle modifications.
Medical cannabis has been transformative for many patients who are unable to make the dietary, environmental and lifestyle changes required to relieve chronic symptoms of pain, anxiety, insomnia and PTSD.
I’m an active member of Integrative Functional Medicine (IFM) and with this growing community I continue to expand on my knowledge of the latest cutting-edge Functional Medicine technology for application in practice.
More recently I am consolidating my understanding of the ‘power of the mind’ on our health using the transformative Psycho-Neuro-Immunology approach.”
