
Naturopathic medicine is rooted in the belief that the body's innate capacity for healing is the best possible medicine and that illness presents when obstacles stand in the way of that healing process. An obstacle may be a pathogen like a bacteria or virus out of balance in the body, a specific nutrient level or overall nutrition being too low, the stress of a fast-paced lifestyle leading to digestive imbalance, a loss of a loved one or other kinds of loss. Visits with Naturopathic doctors are generally longer than visits with conventional medical doctors, with extra time spent gathering physical, mental and emotional, social, and environmental aspects of your history and getting to know more about you as an individual. Treatment modalities that are utilized often include dietary changes, herbal and supplement recommendations, lifestyle or daily routine changes, and bodywork or musculoskeletal adjustments. Naturopathic doctors attend 4-year doctorate programs that include conventional medical subjects, diagnostic procedures, and pharmacology, and their education and training qualify them to practice as licensed primary care providers in 22 states.
In a Naturopathic medicine appointment with Dr. Jessica Hebert, you can expect plenty of time to share your health concerns and goals, appropriate labs and testing, education and fresh perspectives about your concerns, and effective treatment plans. Attentive listening and thoughtfulness, and the encouragement and support for embracing food as medicine will also stand out. Dr. Jessica is careful to listen for challenges that are unique to you so that the treatment can be more tailored for you. The nutritional foundation plus the wide range of modalities that Naturopathic doctors are exposed to in their training help them to be especially skillful at working with people who have already tried a number of conventional approaches and not yet had success in their treatment. All these skills are also helpful in supporting people in creating lifestyles that prevent illness and help you optimize your health both in the short- and long-term.
Respect for the wisdom, theory, and usefulness of all systems of medicine is a particular perspective that Dr. Jessica brings to her practice. She knows there are many gifted healers practicing within all categories of healers, from conventional Medical Doctors to integrative medicine practitioners to Naturopathic Doctors to Ayurvedic practitioners, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners, energy healers, and more. A metaphor that illustrates her philosophy about the wide variety of different systems of medicine is the story of three blind men each standing at a different part of an elephant--the trunk, a leg, the tail--and describing to the other men what an elephant is based on that position. Every system or theory must start with some basic assumptions to build upon. One important basic assumption of conventional medicine is that we are all separate beings, whereas a number of energy medicine systems are founded upon the principle of unity between beings. Regardless of whether either or both of these assumptions are true or false, Dr. Jessica has seen situations in which they are both useful, and depending on which one is guiding the practitioner, the assessment of the root issue and the treatments will be very different. Looking at your life and health through the lenses of different systems to gather additional perspectives is also an important part of how she practices. Importantly, that also includes learning about and supporting your personal values and philosophy about healing and medicine.
In a Naturopathic medicine appointment with Dr. Jessica Hebert, you can expect plenty of time to share your health concerns and goals, appropriate labs and testing, education and fresh perspectives about your concerns, and effective treatment plans. Attentive listening and thoughtfulness, and the encouragement and support for embracing food as medicine will also stand out. Dr. Jessica is careful to listen for challenges that are unique to you so that the treatment can be more tailored for you. The nutritional foundation plus the wide range of modalities that Naturopathic doctors are exposed to in their training help them to be especially skillful at working with people who have already tried a number of conventional approaches and not yet had success in their treatment. All these skills are also helpful in supporting people in creating lifestyles that prevent illness and help you optimize your health both in the short- and long-term.
Respect for the wisdom, theory, and usefulness of all systems of medicine is a particular perspective that Dr. Jessica brings to her practice. She knows there are many gifted healers practicing within all categories of healers, from conventional Medical Doctors to integrative medicine practitioners to Naturopathic Doctors to Ayurvedic practitioners, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners, energy healers, and more. A metaphor that illustrates her philosophy about the wide variety of different systems of medicine is the story of three blind men each standing at a different part of an elephant--the trunk, a leg, the tail--and describing to the other men what an elephant is based on that position. Every system or theory must start with some basic assumptions to build upon. One important basic assumption of conventional medicine is that we are all separate beings, whereas a number of energy medicine systems are founded upon the principle of unity between beings. Regardless of whether either or both of these assumptions are true or false, Dr. Jessica has seen situations in which they are both useful, and depending on which one is guiding the practitioner, the assessment of the root issue and the treatments will be very different. Looking at your life and health through the lenses of different systems to gather additional perspectives is also an important part of how she practices. Importantly, that also includes learning about and supporting your personal values and philosophy about healing and medicine.
Six Principles Guide Naturopathic Medicine Practitioners:

1. First, do no harm. The sentiment behind this first principle is common to the philosophy of all licensed healthcare practitioners in the United States. It may be more accurate to say that the goal is to maximize benefit and minimize harm. For example, a blood draw may cause the pain of the needle-stick and possible bruising, but the benefit and guidance from the resulting lab information is worth that risk in many cases. Also, sometimes when the diagnosis is not clear at the beginning, it is not possible to know the exact risks and benefits of different choices up front, so the best we can do is make both what we do and don't know as clear as possible and choose the next step together. Dr. Jessica sees respecting the autonomy of patient's choices in their health care as a facet of doing no harm, and emphasizing listening to make sure she understands patient perspectives and experience is foundational to respecting autonomy and to doing no harm.
2. Support the healing power of nature. Under the right circumstances, all biological creatures have an innate natural healing capacity. For example, upon getting a cold, most people can heal fairly quickly with no intervention besides extra rest. If it is taking longer for you to heal from a cold or you are getting them more frequently, you may be missing some key nutrients that your immune system needs or perhaps there is another obstacle to the innate healing capacity of your body bringing you back to balance. We will look for what is needed to support your natural healing process.
3. Identify and treat the causes. All doctors are seeking to do this, and it is part of seeking to do the most good and the least harm in the treatment of patients. Identifying the cause means seeking to make the most accurate diagnosis possible. There is a significant overlap in diagnostic and treatment training between Naturopathic doctors and conventional Medical doctors, and there are also some important differences. The main difference is that given many particular diagnoses, Naturopathic doctors are more likely to see lifestyle and nutritional factors as important factors in contributing to the development of the disease and essential to include in the treatment, and Naturopathic doctors are also more likely to recommend particular vitamins, herbs, supplements, or lifestyle practices as part of treatment.
4. Doctor as teacher. This includes educating about the risks and benefits of various choices in healthcare. In Dr. Jessica's philosophy, being the best teacher she can be also involves being an avid learner, including being a student of you as the expert of your life and health experiences and how you respond to the various ideas and treatments we work with over time. This education going in both directions supports individual autonomy in health care.
5. Treat the whole person. This includes treating the physical body, exploring and supporting healthy mental and emotional patterns, encouraging practices that connect individuals to greater meaning and purpose or soulful/spiritual practices, and supporting greater community health and connection.
6. Prevention. Dr. Jessica sees an emphasis on prevention in medicine as the best foundation of health and an embodiment of all four key medical ethics values common in healthcare professions: autonomy, justice, beneficience (intention for good), non-maleficience (do no harm). Prevention supports everyone's longest term health, is likely to be less costly over time, and works in alignment with doing the most good and the least harm.
2. Support the healing power of nature. Under the right circumstances, all biological creatures have an innate natural healing capacity. For example, upon getting a cold, most people can heal fairly quickly with no intervention besides extra rest. If it is taking longer for you to heal from a cold or you are getting them more frequently, you may be missing some key nutrients that your immune system needs or perhaps there is another obstacle to the innate healing capacity of your body bringing you back to balance. We will look for what is needed to support your natural healing process.
3. Identify and treat the causes. All doctors are seeking to do this, and it is part of seeking to do the most good and the least harm in the treatment of patients. Identifying the cause means seeking to make the most accurate diagnosis possible. There is a significant overlap in diagnostic and treatment training between Naturopathic doctors and conventional Medical doctors, and there are also some important differences. The main difference is that given many particular diagnoses, Naturopathic doctors are more likely to see lifestyle and nutritional factors as important factors in contributing to the development of the disease and essential to include in the treatment, and Naturopathic doctors are also more likely to recommend particular vitamins, herbs, supplements, or lifestyle practices as part of treatment.
4. Doctor as teacher. This includes educating about the risks and benefits of various choices in healthcare. In Dr. Jessica's philosophy, being the best teacher she can be also involves being an avid learner, including being a student of you as the expert of your life and health experiences and how you respond to the various ideas and treatments we work with over time. This education going in both directions supports individual autonomy in health care.
5. Treat the whole person. This includes treating the physical body, exploring and supporting healthy mental and emotional patterns, encouraging practices that connect individuals to greater meaning and purpose or soulful/spiritual practices, and supporting greater community health and connection.
6. Prevention. Dr. Jessica sees an emphasis on prevention in medicine as the best foundation of health and an embodiment of all four key medical ethics values common in healthcare professions: autonomy, justice, beneficience (intention for good), non-maleficience (do no harm). Prevention supports everyone's longest term health, is likely to be less costly over time, and works in alignment with doing the most good and the least harm.