Q&A with Dr. Amy

This is an excerpt from the October 2016 letter at Zentai Wellness Centre.

 

Dr. Amy is a medical doctor who focuses on body-mind integrative care and specializes in hard-to-treat, complicated health conditions. You know she's serious because she used to be a military doctor. This is one doctor you don't want to mess around with!

Why did you decide to enter into your current profession?

I've wanted to be a doctor since I was 13-years-old. That is the time in my life when my father went back to school to study nursing. I was fascinated by his anatomy textbooks and by his passion for helping others. I wasn't, however, so interested in his passion for integrative medicine - he also studied massage and reflexology. I thought that this was too "woo woo" for my tastes. Now I know it wasn't "woo woo" at all!

I studied Life Sciences at the University of Toronto, intent, like so many others, on pursuing medicine. However, I soon noticed that I didn't "click" with many of my classmates who seemed so competitive with each other, nor did I enjoy studying fruit fly mating activities. I soon found that I preferred the social sciences of Gender Studies and Medical Anthropology more than fish and fruit fly biology. For many years, I "gave up" the idea of practicing medicine and focused on Public Health. After doing a Masters in Health Promotion at the University of Toronto, I started to work in HIV/AIDS public health community research and program planning/evaluation. Although I enjoyed this population level work, I really wanted to work one-on-one with people, so I decided to attend medical school after all. 

While in med school, I was fascinated by the mind and body sciences and I loved caring for people. However, I soon found that Western Medical approaches to chronic pain and illness lacked a whole-person perspective that takes into account body, mind and spirit. This awareness was reinforced during my years as a Medical Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces where I worked with many soldiers struggling with concurrent physical and mental health issues. During this time, I focused on expanding my understanding of complementary medical practices such as Medical Acupuncture, Yoga Therapy and Psychotherapy. Finally, in 2012, I started a very small Mind-Body Medicine practice focused on addressing the whole-person needs of people living with chronic illness and pain who also struggle with mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and traumatic stress.

What are the most common problems/concerns that you encounter in your clients?

I specialize in working with adults who struggle with concurrent mental illness and chronic pain or other chronic illnesses. This includes people who struggle with depression, anxiety, traumatic stress or other psychiatric conditions who also have chronic pain conditions and other illnesses such as:

  • fibromyalgia; 

  • chronic fatigue;

  • multiple chemical sensitivities; 

  • cardiovascular disease;

  • infertility and hormone issues;

  • metabolic disorders;

  • rheumatological disease;

  • neurological conditions;

  • significant dermatological conditions; as well as,

  • cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

if you could be anything, what would you be?

Thankfully, I am living out my dream job and life! However, if I could wish for a "super power", it would be to have the ability to show people, REALLY show people, how truly precious, beautiful and special their true Selves are, no matter what they've done and no matter what has happened to them. 

I would also love it if my kids would go to bed the first time I tell them to, not the 5th . . . or 8th time.

What Gives You Joy?

So many things give me joy as I've worked hard over the years to look for it in the littlest things. However, right now, dancing gives me great joy! It is such a wonderful way to work with body, mind, heart and spirit. I am fortunate to have recently trained with Megha N. Buttenheim in "Let Your Yoga Dance" and I plan to offer many therapeutic techniques that I learned in this course to patients.  

What is the one thing that you do regularly for your well-being?

I do many things to nurture myself as my life is pretty busy, these days! The most important contributor to my well-being is adequate sleep. Other than this, I meditate and exercise several days per week. I also ensure that my family and I maintain a very healthy diet. Lastly, I try to have a good laugh every day. 

Any Words of wisdom for our readers?

I know that many of you are working at getting "better" or "healthier", and this is wonderful. Keep up the good work. However, be careful that you work with yourself compassionately. Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes or practices. Many times, old habits and behaviours develop during times in our lives when that activity (e.g., getting angry, smoking, eating “junk”, etc) was the best we knew how to cope with life's stresses. If that habit or behaviour is causing trouble for you now, that's simply a sign that it's time to learn a new, more harmonious way of living in the world. Release old habits with the knowledge that they are old ways of coping and with the confidence that you are now ready to develop other ways of living in the world with more ease. If you want to learn more about this, give me a call!