Functional medicine is a systems based approach to healthcare. This approach focuses on bodily processes and interactions, rather than specific organ systems. The traditional functional medicine systems include: defense and repair, energy, biotransformation and elimination, transport, communication, structural integrity, and assimilation. For our practice, we have simplified the model so that it is aligned with how we organize our treatment plans for our patients. We emphasize the interdependencies between three core systems: brain health, gut health and heart health.

In our experience, the foundation of health begins with gut and brain health. We must first address gastrointestinal and digestive health because that is the portal whereby we deliver dietary, supplement-based and traditional medical therapies. Our focus is frequently dietary and nutritional, but we also emphasize recommendations for supplements.

In conjunction with gut health, we focus on the brain and nervous system that touches every organ system in the body. When we address brain health, we are including the entire neuro-hormonal system (also known as the neuroendocrine system) that regulates when, how and why we distribute our body's resources in the way that we do. Frequently, this includes an emphasis on our body’s stress and challenge response system to develop a personalized approach to rebalancing.

 Lastly, heart health refers to the entire cardiometabolic system that generates and distributes energy throughout the body, including mitochondrial health. The first line approach is typically dietary and nutritional, and this depends on a healthy gut as well as knowledge of how the neuroendocrine system is placing energetic demands in your life.

All three systems are highly interdependent. Although brain health has the clearest link to our psychological health, gut and heart health frequently play a determinative role, particularly in cases of chronic stress. This was our inspiration for Soma & Psyche, the recognition that functional medicine works best when supported by a neuroscientifically informed approach to psychotherapy:

Your body provides the information, your story determines what is significant.

Once these three systems are optimized, we can begin to focus on the precise details of your medical condition or wellness plan. Frequently, we find that when gut, brain and heart health have been brought into balance, the body's capacity for recovery and resilience begins to take over.