Slow medicine is a philosophy of care that emphasizes a deep understanding of the whole person – their physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual health – within the context of their family and community. It’s about slowing down to truly listen, observe, and collaborate with patients to develop personalized, holistic treatment plans.

For young families, slow medicine is a compassionate and empowering approach. It recognizes that each family is unique, with its own rhythms, challenges, and strengths. As a naturopathic doctor, I partner with families to uncover the root causes of health concerns, rather than just treating symptoms. This might involve exploring lifestyle factors, nutrition, environmental influences, and even family dynamics.

Here’s what slow medicine looks like in my practice:

Team

Growing up, there were two things Britt Isbell knew she wanted to do in life – work in the helping profession and become a mother. She obtained her degree in Social Work and worked as a chemical dependency counselor for several years before working with the aging adult population. She and her husband had their first child in 2016 and began trying for their second child in 2018 at which point they were shocked to receive a secondary infertility diagnosis. The road they traveled down to complete their family was fraught with countless unanswered questions, and the ever-winding road of IVF. They had beautiful gains and heartbreaking losses during that journey. The most beautiful gift from that trying time came when they had their rainbow baby in April 2020.

Breastfeeding her youngest was, unlike her first born, challenging. Given he was born at the beginning of the pandemic, in-person lactation visits were hard to come by. When Britt shared her concerns with a friend who is an Occupational Therapist, she said she believed he was suffering from oral dysfunction as a result of tongue ties. This is when she found Dr. Ghormley. Britt truly believes that Dr. Ghormley saved their feeding journey through her expertise of maxillofacial and oral motor functions, performing frenectomies and doing craniosacral therapy (CST).

In 2021, Britt’s career path took a significant shift, partially as a result of the pandemic and partially due to her struggles with infertility, loss, breastfeeding and postpartum anxiety/ depression opened up a new passion for her within the field of social work and counseling – working with moms and babies.

She loves working with moms and women to help them recognize their value as individuals and as mothers. Her desire is to create a community where fostering of support, education and empowerment for healing happens. She feels no matter what their journey to get to that place looks like, every step is an important and impactful way to celebrate all the little (and big!) victories to get there.

Susan is excited to be a part of the collaborative workings of Hands on Natural Medicine. Susan is a Registered Nurse with over 35 years experience in mom and baby health, including over 10 years as an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant. In the last 5 years she has become certified in Pre and Perinatal Somatic Psychology, helping families overcome pregnancy and birth challenges as well as Biodynamic CranioSacral Therapy certification. These two modalities allow clients to reset the nervous system after a stressful pregnancy, birth or unexpected procedures. Bringing the nervous system back into balance through life challenges is a valuable life skill.

Sessions are gentle yet deep, creating a healthier relational field, especially in the mother/baby dynamic. Mothering is intense and often confusing. Susan’s sessions focus on deepening the felt sense of one’s own inner knowing. When we learn to embrace our own wisdom, life unfolds with more ease, grace and joy—and who doesn’t need more of that?

For more information, Susan’s website is mothertrees.com

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