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	<title>Gill Stannard</title>
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	<item>
		<title>Semi-retired life: 3 month update</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2026/03/02/semi-retired-life-3-month-update/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2026/03/02/semi-retired-life-3-month-update/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Journey women]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical research matters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mentor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monique ryan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[naturopath]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[retirement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[semiretirement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[solopreneur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8342</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[How are you going? It&#8217;s been over 3 months since I stepped down from clinical practice. I&#8217;m looking a bit wild and woolly after a road trip, reflecting on how (semi)retired life and what I&#8217;m doing with my time! The short video includes also some great tips for self-employed people,...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How are you going?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been over 3 months since I stepped down from clinical practice. I&#8217;m looking a bit wild and woolly after a road trip, reflecting on how (semi)retired life and what I&#8217;m doing with my time!</p>
<p>The short video includes also some great tips for self-employed people, solopreneurs and naturopaths about how to plan ending clinical practice.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9phHDm8B72o?si=y2o2iqHVmtipV1qH" width="500" height="280" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>A few bonus videos</h2>
<p>Speaking of travel, I got asked to share my recent Malaysian travel experience on a video for  <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2671774356225593" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Journey Women</a> (a Facebook group for solo women travellers over 50).</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/umwhL9pebw8?si=ZqBSVnkVNA1qcj1_" width="500" height="280" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>There are more Penang tips on my <a href="https://travelover40.wordpress.com/2026/01/24/penang-third-times-a-charm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quiet side project</a>!</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Medical Research Matters</h2>
<p>Dr Monique Ryan (Independent MP for Kooyong) has an amazing campaign to increase medical research funding in Australia. The outcome of this campaign impacts us all!</p>
<p>A quick link to the <a href="https://www.moniqueryan.com.au/medical_research_matters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Medical Research Matters campaign</a> (it will take 30 seconds to sign).</p>
<p>An 8 minute watch &#8211; discussing why the campaign matters to people like me and my colleague Jacinta Frawley.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPDBowmYyr0?si=V1smGKAnzGXBKUi9" width="500" height="280" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2020/10/13/life-after-cancer-subject-to-collaborator-update/" rel="bookmark" title="10/13/2020">Life after cancer: subject to collaborator update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/01/15/whats-next-january-2025-clinic-update/" rel="bookmark" title="01/15/2025">What&#8217;s next? January 2025 clinic update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2016/07/18/july-update-2/" rel="bookmark" title="07/18/2016">July update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2017/08/16/august-update-2/" rel="bookmark" title="08/16/2017">August update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/04/11/autumn-bugs-and-more-april-update/" rel="bookmark" title="04/11/2022">Autumn bugs and more: April update</a></li>
</ul>
<p><!-- Similar Posts took 0.695 ms --></p>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>5 habits for a healthy business</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2026/02/06/5-habits-for-a-healthy-business/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2026/02/06/5-habits-for-a-healthy-business/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:23:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[mentoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accountability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthy business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microbusiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[small busines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[support]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8331</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[We’re experts at helping our clients create healthy habits but the same mindset applies to creating a rewarding business. Create these 5 habits for a smoother professional life. Regular solo business meetings Make a date with yourself for a short check-in at the beginning of the work week so your cl...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We’re experts at helping our clients create healthy habits but the same mindset applies to creating a rewarding business. Create these 5 habits for a smoother professional life.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Regular solo business meetings</strong><br />
Make a date with yourself for a short check-in at the beginning of the work week so your clinic can run easily. Equally important is a monthly or bimonthly planning session with more time to deep dive. Regardless of whether you are part of a team or work solo, it’s important to create space to troubleshoot and dream up broader intentions. My favourite ritual is a ‘business meeting with myself’, preferably a leisurely session in a café or somewhere outside of work.</li>
<li><strong>Connect with colleagues</strong><br />
The most effective way to prevent feeling isolated is staying connected to your professional community. Isolation is one of the biggest triggers for practitioners becoming disillusioned and closing their business. Beyond your modality, get to know other clinicians in your locality or broader niche. Take the initiative to create a meet-up if none already exist.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8332" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8332" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8332" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-tatiana-castrillon-191861460-11805157-300x240.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="400" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-tatiana-castrillon-191861460-11805157-300x240.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-tatiana-castrillon-191861460-11805157-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-tatiana-castrillon-191861460-11805157-768x614.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8332" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="3">
<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ol start="3">
<li><strong>Be strategic with continuing professional development</strong><br />
In one of your first solo meetings of the year, do some journalling or mind mapping around conditions, techniques or business skills you want to learn more about. Rather than retrofitting your CPD requirements to what companies are offering, start with your interests and research the options. If you don’t know where to begin, consider auditing your clinical or business skills to identify the issues that challenge you the most. If a seminar doesn’t exist, look for an experienced mentor who can provide 1:1 support.</li>
<li><strong>Plan down time</strong><br />
When running your own practice it can be challenging to fully disconnect from work. It’s not relaxing to invest in a holiday but have to keep checking and responding to client messages. Planning time out involves not only choosing a destination and blocking out the diary but also putting systems in place beforehand so you can truly be ‘out of the office’.&nbsp;</p>
<p><div id="attachment_8333" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8333" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8333" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-n-voitkevich-7235894-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-n-voitkevich-7235894-300x200.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-n-voitkevich-7235894-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-n-voitkevich-7235894-768x512.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-n-voitkevich-7235894-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pexels-n-voitkevich-7235894-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8333" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a></p></div></li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong>Embed accountability</strong><br />
Like the idea of starting the year with a <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/06/08/mentoring-mini-annual-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">simple auditing exercise</a>, but forgot to schedule enough time to complete it or diarise the follow up required to commit to the necessary follow through?<br />
So many failed businesses were built on good intention. Don’t be one of them! If you lack the skill or discipline to actualise your plans, get help through peer support (DIY your own praccie support group) or <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/services/mentoring-supervision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">formal mentoring</a> to make them happen.</li>
</ol>
<p><em><br />
What are the healthy habits have you entrenched in your business?</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;<strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/04/03/how-to-collaborate-to-grow-your-business/" rel="bookmark" title="04/03/2025">How to collaborate to grow your business</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/10/11/mentoring-making-the-dash-to-the-end-of-the-year-easier/" rel="bookmark" title="10/11/2023">Mentoring: making the dash to the end of the year easier</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/05/16/what-i-learned-from-the-2025-nhaa-naturopathic-symposium/" rel="bookmark" title="05/16/2025">What I learned from the 2025 NHAA Naturopathic Symposium</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/08/07/the-secrets-of-being-a-happy-practitioner/" rel="bookmark" title="08/07/2023">The secrets of being a happy practitioner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/12/02/best-of-2025-mentoring-articles/" rel="bookmark" title="12/02/2025">Best of 2025 mentoring articles</a></li>
</ul>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>Best of 2025 mentoring articles</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/12/02/best-of-2025-mentoring-articles/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/12/02/best-of-2025-mentoring-articles/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:59:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[mentoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best mentoring articles for naturopaths]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8324</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[What an emotional week it has been. When I began planning to transition out of clinical practice over a year ago, the focus was on the logistics not the feelings. Now I’m taking some time to reflect and recover from a full-on year, and where better to do that than a tropical destination to rest and ...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/09/03/the-big-announcement-clinic-closing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> an emotional week</a> it has been. When I began planning to <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/06/10/transitions-in-practice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transition</a> out of clinical practice over a year ago, the focus was on the logistics not the feelings. Now I’m taking some time to reflect and recover from a full-on year, and where better to do that than a tropical destination to rest and relax (you can travel vicariously with me on<a href="https://www.instagram.com/herbalgill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Insta</a>!) I’ll be back to resume mentoring in 2026.</p>
<p>While packing my bags, and curating this mentoring update, I’ve looked back on the past 34 years of practice and found only one difference from what I learned after three decades in the clinic. <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/02/23/what-ive-learned-from-thirty-years-in-practice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Can you spot the difference? </a>And check out the cute photo of this remarkably young practitioner with her favourite herbal mentor Sue Evans!</p>
<p>I’m taking a break from mentoring until the end of January. I have said goodbye to Bookeo (a great low-cost booking system), which has served me well over the past twelve years. So, for now, <a href="mailto:coaching@gillstannard.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">please contact me directly if you’d like to arrange a mentoring session.</a></p>
<p>I’ll see you next year, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy catching up on the best mentoring articles from 2025.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-8304" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-240x300.jpeg" alt="It's a wrap!" width="400" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-240x300.jpeg 240w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-819x1024.jpeg 819w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-768x960.jpeg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5.jpeg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Best of 2025 mentoring articles</h2>
<p>These mentoring deep-dives provide insight from decades of clinical and business experience, reflecting some of the core issues mentees have raised this year.</p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/02/06/helping-clients-get-it-how-to-improve-communication-and-comprehension-in-practice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Helping your clients ‘get it’ </a></p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/04/03/how-to-collaborate-to-grow-your-business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to collaborate to grow your business </a></p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/05/16/what-i-learned-from-the-2025-nhaa-naturopathic-symposium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What I learned from the NHAA symposium</a></p>
<p>Your time is precious &#8211; <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/08/10/mentoring-are-you-wasting-your-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> how to simplify your work flow</a></p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/10/10/mentoring-remedy-for-feeling-overwhelmed-in-practice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What to do when you feel overwhelmed in practice </a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3 class="null"><strong>Bonus</strong></h3>
<p>From my recent general articles:<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/04/will-ai-replace-your-naturopath/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Will AI replace naturopaths?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/11/27/the-best-mentoring-articles-for-naturopaths-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mentoring top tips from 2024 </a></p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/11/23/mentoring-end-of-year-business-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Don&#8217;t forget to make some time to reflect on your year using these business and life prompts.</em></a></p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/services/mentoring-supervision/learn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All mentoring resources</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><div id="attachment_8325" style="width: 385px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8325" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8325" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/9C86720E-AEF0-4ED7-99EC-1C7C816E04E9_1_105_c-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="375" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/9C86720E-AEF0-4ED7-99EC-1C7C816E04E9_1_105_c-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/9C86720E-AEF0-4ED7-99EC-1C7C816E04E9_1_105_c.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8325" class="wp-caption-text">See you next year!</p></div><strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/11/27/the-best-mentoring-articles-for-naturopaths-2024/" rel="bookmark" title="11/27/2024">The best mentoring articles for naturopaths 2024</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/05/16/what-i-learned-from-the-2025-nhaa-naturopathic-symposium/" rel="bookmark" title="05/16/2025">What I learned from the 2025 NHAA Naturopathic Symposium</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/02/06/mentoring-if-you-find-your-passion-will-the-money-always-follow/" rel="bookmark" title="02/06/2024">Mentoring: If you find your passion, will the money always follow?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/06/10/transitions-in-practice/" rel="bookmark" title="06/10/2024">Transitions in practice</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/10/10/mentoring-remedy-for-feeling-overwhelmed-in-practice/" rel="bookmark" title="10/10/2025">Mentoring: remedy for feeling overwhelmed in practice</a></li>
</ul>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>Thank you!</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/27/thank-you/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Nov 2025 04:24:41 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[announcements]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8303</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[This has been my last week in clinic, a significant milestone which comes with many emotions. I want to thank you for your support over the past 34 years. I really appreciate all the clients, RRR listeners, colleagues and friends who’ve been with me on this professional journey. As I will continue m...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This has been my last week in clinic, a significant milestone which comes with many emotions.</p>
<p>I want to thank you for your support over the past 34 years. I really appreciate all the clients, RRR listeners, colleagues and friends who’ve been with me on this professional journey.</p>
<p>As I will continue mentoring next year  this website will remain live, so there’s still time to access the articles, recipes and other online resources for a while longer.</p>
<p>Finally, I’m overwhelmed by the heartfelt emails and messages I’ve received recently.  Your words and sentiments are much appreciated. It means so much to know I’ve made a difference in your lives.</p>
<p>All the best,<br />
Gill</p>
<p>PS After tying up a few loose ends, I’m heading overseas for some R&amp;R. If you’re interested in how this next stage of life unfolds, you’re welcome to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/herbalgill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">follow me on Instagram</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-8304" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-240x300.jpeg" alt="It's a wrap!" width="400" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-240x300.jpeg 240w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-819x1024.jpeg 819w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5-768x960.jpeg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/44F9FF3F-D512-4AE6-B14E-4ADB2BA38AA5.jpeg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /><strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2016/01/20/january-update/" rel="bookmark" title="01/20/2016">January update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2017/01/07/cancellations-change-booking/" rel="bookmark" title="01/07/2017">Cancellations: how to change your booking</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2021/03/16/march-update-overwhelm-and-rage/" rel="bookmark" title="03/16/2021">March update: overwhelm (and rage!)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2013/03/14/turning-21-and-march-newsletter/" rel="bookmark" title="03/14/2013">Turning 21 and March Newsletter</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2020/04/20/april-update-the-new-normal/" rel="bookmark" title="04/20/2020">April update: the new normal</a></li>
</ul>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>Final weeks: November 2025 update</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/07/final-weeks-november-2025-update/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/07/final-weeks-november-2025-update/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 01:50:01 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clinic updates]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8293</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[In recent years I’ve taken “No”vember as my mantra. It’s a handy strategy to get through the pointy end of the year in one piece, by being more selective about what we take on in November. While it sounds negative, underpinning  the philosophy is creating space for ‘yes’! This year I’ve created a lo...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In recent years I’ve taken <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/11/09/no-vember/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“No”vembe</a>r as my mantra. It’s a handy strategy to get through the pointy end of the year in one piece, by being more selective about what we take on in November. While it sounds negative, underpinning  the philosophy is creating space for ‘yes’!</p>
<p>This year I’ve created a lot of space for ‘yes’ by; adding extra consultations, more <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2020/10/13/life-after-cancer-subject-to-collaborator-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">consumer engagements </a>and a load of fun activities. Why? Because these are my final weeks of naturopathic practice. If you missed the <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/09/03/the-big-announcement-clinic-closing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">big announcement </a>in the last newsletter, I’m taking a step towards semi-retirement after 34 amazing years in clinic.</p>
<p>Over these last few months I’ve seen a lot of ‘old’ faces, sometimes after a long hiatus, including clients I first worked with over 30 years ago. These enduring therapeutic relationships are an incredible privilege.</p>
<p>It’s never easy saying goodbye but many clients have found it important to reflect on their health journey with someone who has been involved and put protocols in place for the next phase. There are still a few appointments available before the <strong>clinic closes on 26 November</strong>, so please grab one if you’d like me to dust off your file while I still can.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-4229" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_2078.jpg" alt="YES LGBTI mental health naturopath Sydney" width="500" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_2078.jpg 256w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_2078-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="null">Will AI replace naturopaths (and how to find a human practitioner)</h2>
<p>A lot has changed in naturopathy since I graduated in 1991. The latest iteration of the digital age has bought AI into daily life.</p>
<p><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/04/will-ai-replace-your-naturopath/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How valuable are AI generated prescriptions and tips on how to find a new (human) health practitioner when needed.</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="null"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-2538" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_4348-Version-2-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_4348-Version-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_4348-Version-2-75x55.jpg 75w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_4348-Version-2.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="null">Top five articles</h2>
<p>The website is still a treasure trove of health information. Some of the most popular<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/articles/%20%C2%A0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> articles </a>include:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/05/07/dadirri-the-aboriginal-art-of-deep-listening/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dadirri</a>: the Aboriginal art of deep listening</li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/03/11/how-to-future-proof-healthy-aging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to future-proof healthy aging</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/01/13/the-sleep-toolkit-cognitive-shuffling-and-other-tools-to-overcome-insomnia/%20%C2%A0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The sleep toolkit and cognitive shuffling</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/05/02/confused-about-menopause/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Confused about menopause?</a></li>
<li>…and the winner of the most googled article of all time is a tie! According to my website statistics, people around the world still want to know <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2018/04/20/treating-bruises-swelling-naturally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how to treat bruises and swelling naturally</a> and <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2011/07/04/can-you-eat-earwax-waxing-lyrical-on-earwax-candles-and-other-aural-obsessions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can you eat earwax!</a></li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="null">The top 5 recipes</h2>
<p>These are my favourites that I make regularly</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/09/08/recipe-okonomiyaki-waffles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Okonomiyaki waffles</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/03/03/recipe-soba-noodle-bowl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Soba noodle bowls</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2014/02/18/recipe-muesli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DIY muesli</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2015/07/17/recipe-green-goddess-five-ways/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Green goddess salad dressing</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2016/05/06/how-to-make-fabulous-stir-fries-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stir fries</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Speaking of food, I still do the<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2017/10/09/healthy-gut-mind-body-forty-foods-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 40 plant foods challenge</a> every month or 2  to keep on track for a healthy gut microbiome.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-4617" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_4219-300x225.jpg" alt="kale recipes naturopath stannard" width="500" height="375" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_4219-300x225.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_4219-768x576.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_4219-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_4219.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></p>
<h2></h2>
<h2></h2>
<h2></h2>
<h2 class="null">On a personal note</h2>
<p>I recently hit a major milestone of 12 years since my cancer diagnosis. I continue to celebrate my good fortune and wellbeing by being involved in research to improve outcomes for everyone. Since 2020, I’ve had the privilege to collaborate with a team of gifted scientists across three universities, working on repurposing drugs to treat ovarian cancer recurrence.</p>
<p>My cancerversary coincided with the opening of our first clinical trial using an oral,low toxicity drug as an alternative to traditional chemotherapy. While this isn’t exactly ‘naturopathic’, it does fit with finding treatment options with minimal side effects, to extend life for people living with a cancer which still has poor survival rates. I look forward to having more time to be involved in research next year.</p>
<p><em>Thanks for all your delightful messages in response to my announcement about ending clinical practice. It’s always lovely to <a href="mailto:coaching@gillstannard.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hear from you.</a> I’m not quite ready to say goodbye yet, so please stay tuned for one more update.</em></p>
<p>Kia kaha (stay strong)<br />
Gill</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><div id="attachment_8296" style="width: 385px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8296" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8296" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IMG_1493-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="375" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IMG_1493-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IMG_1493.jpeg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8296" class="wp-caption-text">©Gill Stannard</p></div><strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2020/10/13/life-after-cancer-subject-to-collaborator-update/" rel="bookmark" title="10/13/2020">Life after cancer: subject to collaborator update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2013/03/14/turning-21-and-march-newsletter/" rel="bookmark" title="03/14/2013">Turning 21 and March Newsletter</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/03/08/pop-the-party-streamers-its-time-to-celebrate-30-years-in-practice/" rel="bookmark" title="03/08/2022">Pop the party streamers – it’s time to celebrate 30 years in practice!</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2019/12/13/what-a-year/" rel="bookmark" title="12/13/2019">What a year!</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2019/02/21/february-update-fun-sun/" rel="bookmark" title="02/21/2019">February update: fun in the sun</a></li>
</ul>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>Will AI replace your naturopath?</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/04/will-ai-replace-your-naturopath/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/11/04/will-ai-replace-your-naturopath/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:04:50 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[articles on wellbeing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chronic illness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clinical notes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[herbs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[naturopathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nutrition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[treatments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buying health supplements on line]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to find a naturopath]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minerals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vitamins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[will AI replace naturopaths]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8280</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Can naturopathy survive in the age of AI ? I’ve asked myself this question increasingly over the past year. Fellow practitioners have shared stories of clients presenting AI generated health protocols and found that superficially some are actually ok. However, this strategy can fall short in the fol...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Can naturopathy survive in the age of AI ? I’ve asked myself this question increasingly over the past year.</p>
<p>Fellow practitioners have shared stories of clients presenting AI generated health protocols and found that superficially some are actually ok.</p>
<p>However, this strategy can fall short in the following ways.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Correct diagnosis:</strong> My rule is ‘never accept someone’s diagnosis without personally assessing the client’. I’ve lost count of the number of times clients have shared incorrect diagnoses, including some life-challenging conditions that were missed. An AI protocol is useless if it doesn’t include the true cause of the symptoms.</li>
<li><strong>Multiple complex health issues</strong>: This further complicates the picture and how you treat the person living with these conditions. Often an experienced practitioner can prescribe a clever multi-tasking herbal, which covers many of the issues in one bottle, rather a massive list of remedies for each condition.</li>
<li><strong>Polypharmacy</strong>: Can an AI protocol for a conditions take into account all the prescribed over-the- counter medication and supplements a person is taking? Can it rule out symptoms that are caused by polypharmacy and avoid drug/nutrient interactions?</li>
<li><strong>Quality</strong>: Australia has some of the most stringent therapeutic goods regulations in world. Supplements and herbs from other countries (including the US and China) notoriously don’t always contain what’s stated on the label, with substitutions, contamination and incorrect dosages. Even in Australia, there can be a big difference between ‘<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2010/03/11/what-are-practitioner-only-products/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">practitioner only’</a> and over-the-counter products.</li>
<li><strong>Posology</strong>: When treating an individual there’s rarely a ‘standard’ dose. After selecting the right herb/nutrient dosage, you need to account for other factors like timing and absorption. How long you need to take a supplement, monitoring for effectiveness and potential interactions are skills that most Australian-trained naturopaths/herbalists/nutritionists spend four years studying to acquire.</li>
<li><strong>Expertise and care</strong>: Sometimes I don’t prescribe anything other than individualized, holistic support. Knowing how and when to implement change is an art. A single dietary or lifestyle tweak, can often make a positive difference without an extensive and hard to follow treatment plan.</li>
<li><strong>Human connection:</strong> Developing trust and collaborating together to prioritise your health needs is an art. Everyone is different and requires individualised care.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8281" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8281" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8281" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-shvetsa-3683074-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-shvetsa-3683074-300x200.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-shvetsa-3683074-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-shvetsa-3683074-768x512.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-shvetsa-3683074-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-shvetsa-3683074-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8281" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Is AI prescribing dangerous?</h2>
<p>Using AI for health information is no different to consulting Dr Google and wellness influencers. In fact artificial intelligence trains on these often-dubious sources. It takes medical and CAM knowledge to know if the information is correct.</p>
<p>As much as I love exploring AI for research, I still need all my clinical knowledge to check the references cited, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-ai-hallucinations-why-ais-sometimes-make-things-up-242896" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AI is prone to hallucinating</a>. AI makes stuff up (including fake studies!)</p>
<p>A central tenet of naturopathy is <em>‘treat the individual not the disease’</em>. A health professional who follows this philosophy can bring far more to the healing journey than a diseased-centric source – human or AI.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8282" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8282" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8282" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-cottonbro-5473956-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-cottonbro-5473956-300x200.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-cottonbro-5473956-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pexels-cottonbro-5473956-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8282" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Finding the right practitioner</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Naturopathic care is more than the sum of its parts. But finding the right practitioner, or any new member of your healthcare team can be challenging.</p>
<h4>What I look for when searching for a naturopath:</h4>
<ul>
<li>A website that is easy to navigate and provides the information required.</li>
<li>How long they’ve been practicing? This is a tricky one as years in practice doesn’t always equate to the number of clients they’ve worked with. Aim for at least five, but ideally a minimum of 10 years.</li>
<li>What are their qualifications? A bachelor degree is considered a minimum qualification for naturopaths who completed training since the late 1990s or early 2000s. Before this a diploma (or advanced diploma) of applied science was standard. The only legitimate Australian ‘ND’ (naturopathic diploma) qualification relates to few graduates earlier than the late 1980s who are still in practice. There is no ‘naturopathic doctor’ accreditation.</li>
<li>If they claim to have a specialty – what backs this up? My professional association defines a ‘specialty’ as a practitioner with a minimum of 10 years’ experience and post-graduate study in the specialised field.</li>
<li>How are consultations conducted? How to make bookings and what are the fees? Do they need to be online or in person?</li>
<li>Is additional ‘testing’ standard and, if so, what’s the science backing it up and the costs?</li>
<li>About the practitioner. Do they have an ‘about’ section that gives you a sense of who they are, why they do this work and whether this gels with what you’re looking for?</li>
<li>Beware of testimonials. As of 2025, only testimonials (including a social media photo, words in a thank-you card or review) regarding a client’s experiences of the service (ie non-clinical aspects, like the friendliness of staff or convenient parking) are permitted. Testimonials referencing anything clinical such as symptoms, treatments, or specific outcomes of care, remain forbidden. It’s wise to work with practitioners who comply with <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2019/07/01/can-naturopaths-health-practitioners-share-testimonials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">professional regulations and national law</a>.</li>
<li>Word-of-mouth recommendations can be useful. Especially when asking a trusted friend or relative what they like about working with the particular practitioner, what they typically come away with, how easy is it to follow the treatment plan, and how much do the extras (remedies, tests etc) usually cost?</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>As of December 2025 Gill is no longer working in clinical practice with naturopathic clients. She continues to mentor health practitioners .</em></p>
<p><em> </em><strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2019/07/01/can-naturopaths-health-practitioners-share-testimonials/" rel="bookmark" title="07/01/2019">Can naturopaths and health practitioners share testimonials?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2010/03/11/what-are-practitioner-only-products/" rel="bookmark" title="03/11/2010">What are &#8220;practitioner only&#8221; products</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2021/12/01/gift-vouchers-for-birthdays-christmas-or-just-to-say-thanks/" rel="bookmark" title="12/01/2021">Gift vouchers for birthdays, Christmas or just to say thanks</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2007/04/30/preventing-colds/" rel="bookmark" title="04/30/2007">Preventing colds</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/09/08/health-checks-in-your-40s-that-could-save-your-life/" rel="bookmark" title="09/08/2022">Health checks in your 40s that could save your life</a></li>
</ul>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>Mentoring: remedy for feeling overwhelmed in practice</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/10/10/mentoring-remedy-for-feeling-overwhelmed-in-practice/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 20:43:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[mentoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[keep it simple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[naturopath superpowers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[naturopathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overwhelm in practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[supervision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[witnessing]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8269</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[It’s common to feel overwhelmed when starting in practice. We’ve all been there and, even with experience, will feel this again. But sometimes clients with complex presentations provide the greatest opportunities to learn. &#160; Keep it simple In my first clinic year I had a profound interaction wi...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It’s common to feel overwhelmed when starting in practice. We’ve all been there and, even with experience, will feel this again. But sometimes clients with complex presentations provide the greatest opportunities to learn.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Keep it simple</h2>
<p>In my first clinic year I had a profound interaction with a client that has stayed with me. With hindsight and decades of experience, the case doesn’t seem particularly complex now. A woman in her 20s with endometriosis was also a heavy drinker, smoker, recreational drug user and very overweight. Her blood pressure was high, she likely had undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and a ‘suboptimal’ diet at best. Though she admitted they were not ready to have children, the woman and her husband were considering IVF.</p>
<p>While I had protocols for endo, there was something about all the concomitant issues that made me pause. I spent the initial consultation building trust and gaining a full picture of her life and health. I said I wanted to do more research before prescribing any remedies, and negotiated the simplest dietary changes to begin with. Instead of feeling under treated, she later told me she felt special.</p>
<p>To my absolute surprise, two weeks later the client bounded into the clinic full of energy. The shift in her was remarkable. Surreptitiously, I looked back at my notes to see what the magical herbs were! I couldn’t believe such a turnaround came from the simplest lifestyle tweaks.</p>
<p>Of course she was still ‘clinically obese ’, smoked and partied. But she was motivated  someone understood her and negotiated changes without judgement – that were actually working! The client had new-found confidence that she could improve her health, working with a professional who listened and backed her.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8264" style="width: 444px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8264" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8264" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-260x300.jpeg" alt="woman with dark hair in a bun face down on desk surrounded by work" width="434" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-260x300.jpeg 260w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-889x1024.jpeg 889w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-768x885.jpeg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-1333x1536.jpeg 1333w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-1777x2048.jpeg 1777w" sizes="(max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8264" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The whole person</h2>
<p>We say this so often it’s become a cliché, but a central principle of naturopathy is treating the ‘whole person’. The client isn’t an ‘endo case’, she’s a person with complex physical, psychological and even spiritual needs.</p>
<p>This client inadvertently taught me so much that decades later I still remember her clearly. Instead of zoning into the biomedical diagnosis, I took a step back and looked at the whole picture. It reminded me that when confronted by too many conditions to ‘treat’, start simple, go back to the basics of diet and lifestyle <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/05/07/the-goldilocks-prescription-not-too-little-not-too-much-finding-the-just-right/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a way that won’t be overwhelming</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8266" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8266" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8266" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-300x200.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-768x512.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8266" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The power of witnessing</h2>
<p>After a few years into practice I joked, “naturopathy has become the new confessional”. In an increasingly agnostic culture, we sometimes have the privilege of witnessing our clients’ greatest fears or deepest regrets. At times it feels like the ritual of confession &#8212; a role most of us aren’t trained in.</p>
<p>While we can refer the client to a psychologist, simply acknowledging how tough their situation may be or how unsupported they feel is a <a href="https://ndnr.com/neurology/the-body-remembers-and-bears-the-burden-when-biography-becomes-biology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deeply therapeutic act.</a></p>
<p>Witnessing comes with the job of caring for the whole person and, when mastered, is one of our naturopathic superpowers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8267" style="width: 343px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8267" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8267" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-200x300.jpg 200w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8267" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The remedy for feeling overwhelmed in practice</h2>
<p>We frequently work with people who have increasingly complex aetiologies and highly stressful lives. While mentally triaging what to tackle first, I often step back to consider where are they struggling the most. Surprisingly it’s often not the shopping list of pathologies farmed off to various medical specialists for treatment. Usually it’s about having enough energy to deal with children, aging parents, work and relationships, or less critical symptoms such as reflux or strained muscle.</p>
<p>Use <em>what you know</em> and spent years studying, when feeling overwhelmed by clients with complex presentations. Rather than by immediately going down the research rabbit hole, go back to the basic tenets of naturopathy.</p>
<p>1. First do no harm.<br />
2. Treat the underlying causes.<br />
3. Treat the whole person.</p>
<p>Start simply, take a comprehensive case history and gain your client’s trust. It’s still important to use the experience to learn more about presentations you’re unfamiliar with. However by beginning with what you know, you can grow your confidence instead of spiralling into self-doubt.</p>
<p>At a time when many clients have already consulted AI or googled complementary protocols or for their conditions (which a practitioner recently admitted was as good or even be better than their own), our holistic and very human skills are more important than ever.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Gill works with established health practitioners and business owners, big and small, to create a balanced and sustainable career.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://bookeo.com/gillstannard" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Book your exploratory mentoring session.</em></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;<strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
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<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/08/09/will-ai-replace-naturopaths/" rel="bookmark" title="08/09/2024">Will AI replace naturopaths?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/08/07/the-secrets-of-being-a-happy-practitioner/" rel="bookmark" title="08/07/2023">The secrets of being a happy practitioner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/10/11/mentoring-making-the-dash-to-the-end-of-the-year-easier/" rel="bookmark" title="10/11/2023">Mentoring: making the dash to the end of the year easier</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/12/02/best-of-2025-mentoring-articles/" rel="bookmark" title="12/02/2025">Best of 2025 mentoring articles</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/02/06/mentoring-if-you-find-your-passion-will-the-money-always-follow/" rel="bookmark" title="02/06/2024">Mentoring: If you find your passion, will the money always follow?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><!-- Similar Posts took 0.734 ms --></p>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>Mentoring: remedy for feeling overwhelmed in practice</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/portfolio/mentoring-remedy-for-feeling-overwhelmed-in-practice/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/portfolio/mentoring-remedy-for-feeling-overwhelmed-in-practice/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 23:15:23 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?post_type=portfolio&amp;p=8263</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[It’s common to feel overwhelmed when starting in practice. We’ve all been there and, even with experience, will feel this again. But sometimes clients with complex presentations provide the greatest opportunities to learn. &#160; &#160; Learning on the job In my first clinic year I had a profound in...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It’s common to feel overwhelmed when starting in practice. We’ve all been there and, even with experience, will feel this again. But sometimes clients with complex presentations provide the greatest opportunities to learn.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8264" style="width: 444px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8264" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8264" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-260x300.jpeg" alt="woman with dark hair in a bun face down on desk surrounded by work" width="434" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-260x300.jpeg 260w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-889x1024.jpeg 889w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-768x885.jpeg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-1333x1536.jpeg 1333w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A6515E31-4292-4612-A424-17AEC5EFE888_1_201_a-1777x2048.jpeg 1777w" sizes="(max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8264" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Learning on the job</h2>
<p>In my first clinic year I had a profound interaction with a client that has stayed with me. With hindsight and decades of experience, the case doesn’t seem particularly complex now. A woman in her 20s with endometriosis was also a heavy drinker, smoker, recreational drug user and very overweight. Her blood pressure was high, she likely had undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and a ‘suboptimal’ diet at best. Though she admitted they were not ready to have children, the woman and her husband were considering IVF.</p>
<p>While I had protocols for endo, there was something about all the concomitant issues that made me pause. I spent the initial consultation building trust and gaining a full picture of her life and health. I said I wanted to do more research before prescribing any remedies, and negotiated the simplest dietary changes to begin with. Instead of feeling under treated, she later told me she felt special.</p>
<p>To my absolute surprise, two weeks later the client bounded into the clinic full of energy. The shift in her was remarkable. Surreptitiously, I looked back at my notes to see what the magical herbs were! I couldn’t believe such a turnaround came from the simplest lifestyle tweaks.</p>
<p>Of course she was still ‘clinically obese’, smoked and partied. But she was motivated  someone understood her and negotiated changes without judgement – that were actually working! The client had new-found confidence that she could improve her health, working with a professional who listened and backed her.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8266" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8266" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8266" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-300x200.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-768x512.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-shvets-production-7176026-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8266" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></p></div>
<h2>The whole person</h2>
<p>We say this so often it’s become a cliché, but a central principle of naturopathy is treating the ‘whole person’. The client isn’t an ‘endo case’, she’s a person with complex physical, psychological and even spiritual needs.</p>
<p>This client inadvertently taught me so much that decades later I still remember her clearly. Instead of zoning into the biomedical diagnosis, I took a step back and looked at the whole picture. It reminded me that when confronted by too many conditions to ‘treat’, start simple, go back to the basics of diet and lifestyle i<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/05/07/the-goldilocks-prescription-not-too-little-not-too-much-finding-the-just-right/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">n a way that won’t be overwhelming</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The power of witnessing</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>After a few years into practice I joked, “naturopathy has become the new confessional”. In an increasingly agnostic culture, we sometimes have the privilege of witnessing our clients’ greatest fears or deepest regrets. At times it feels like the ritual of confession &#8212; a role most of us aren’t trained in.</p>
<p>While we can refer the client to a psychologist, simply <a href="https://ndnr.com/neurology/the-body-remembers-and-bears-the-burden-when-biography-becomes-biology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledging</a> how tough their situation may be or how unsupported they feel is a deeply therapeutic act.</p>
<p>Witnessing comes with the job of caring for the whole person and, when mastered, is one of our naturopathic superpowers.</p>
<div id="attachment_8267" style="width: 343px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8267" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8267" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-200x300.jpg 200w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pexels-cottonbro-4098362-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8267" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The remedy for feeling overwhelmed in practice</h2>
<p>Now we frequently work with people who have increasingly complex aetiologies and highly stressful lives. While mentally triaging what to tackle first, I often step back to consider where are they struggling the most. Surprisingly it’s often not the shopping list of pathologies farmed off to various medical specialists for treatment. Usually it’s about having enough energy to deal with children, aging parents, work and relationships, or less critical symptoms such as reflux or strained muscle.</p>
<p>Use <em>what you know</em> and spent years studying, when feeling overwhelmed by clients with complex presentations. Rather than by immediately going down the research rabbit hole, go back to the basic tenets of naturopathy.</p>
<p>1. First do no harm.<br />
2. Treat the underlying causes.<br />
3. Treat the whole person.</p>
<p>Start simply, take a comprehensive case history and gain your client’s trust. It’s still important to use the experience to learn more about presentations you’re unfamiliar with. However by beginning with what you know, you can grow your confidence instead of spiralling into self-doubt.</p>
<p>At a time when many clients have already consulted AI or googled complementary protocols or for their conditions (which a practitioner recently admitted was as good or even be better than their own), our holistic and very human skills are more important than ever.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Gill Stannard is a mentor and naturopath with 30+ years experience. If you&#8217;re a health professional f<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/services/mentoring-supervision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ind out more about mentoring and supervision</a> to grow confidence, navigate transitions and practice and streamline your business.</em><strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">None Found
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
		<item>
		<title>The big announcement – clinic closing 26 Nov</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/09/03/the-big-announcement-clinic-closing/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/09/03/the-big-announcement-clinic-closing/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:51:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clinic updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clinic news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[retirement]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8253</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[With excitement, and a touch of trepidation, it’s time to take a step towards retirement. After 34 years, I’m winding down my naturopathic practice later this year  Currently there are still appointments available before my last clinic day on November 26th 2025. The plan is to continue some legacy p...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>With excitement, and a touch of trepidation, it’s time to take a step towards retirement.</p>
<p>After 34 years, I’m winding down my naturopathic practice later this year  Currently there are still appointments available before <strong>my last clinic day on November 26<sup>th </sup>2025</strong>.</p>
<p>The plan is to continue some legacy projects dear to my heart. <strong>I will continue <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/services/mentoring-supervision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mentoring health professionals</a></strong>, passing on my skills and experience to up-and-coming naturopaths and herbalists.</p>
<p>I also look forward to having the time to expand my <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2020/10/13/life-after-cancer-subject-to-collaborator-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">consumer in research and advocacy</a> roles. For the past seven years I have worked with cancer researchers, lab teams and advisory panels – utilising my lived experience to help improve health outcomes especially in ovarian cancer.</p>
<p>From my brush with this disease,  I know how precious life is and how lucky I am.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="null">How HALE has encouraged me to consider early retirement</h2>
<p>A few months ago I did a deep dive into <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-disease/australian-burden-of-disease-study-2024/contents/interactive-data-on-disease-burden/health-adjusted-life-expectancy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘health-adjusted life expectancy’</a>(HALE). Rather than the average age of death, this measure considers the number of years a person could expect to live in full health, without disease and/or injury. While the average life expectancy for an Australian woman is around 81 years, the good/unafflicted years can run out at around 73! For men, the numbers are 81 and 71 years.</p>
<p>These are sobering statistics. Even more so now I’m in my early 60s.</p>
<p>If you’ve hit <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/03/11/how-to-future-proof-healthy-aging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">middle age or the other side of menopause</a>, how do you intend to live your best remaining years?</p>
<p>Of course, these HALE estimates are just an average and like the ‘average’ diet, there’s certainly room to <a href="https://gillstannard.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ae6dd779036f2e630116a9694&amp;id=f0554c53a1&amp;e=fc0b5443ea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optimise lifestyle choices</a> to maximise wellbeing!</p>
<h2>Don&#8217;t miss out</h2>
<p>While I&#8217;ve stopped taking new clients, until the end of November I am continuing working with anyone I&#8217;ve seen in the past (even if it was decades ago). If you&#8217;d like a check up, <a href="https://bookeo.com/gillstannard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">please book your consultation</a> asap.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-8259" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Retirement-announcement-2-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="500" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Retirement-announcement-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Retirement-announcement-2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Retirement-announcement-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Retirement-announcement-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Retirement-announcement-2.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;<strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
<ul class="similar-posts">
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2015/11/25/november-update/" rel="bookmark" title="11/25/2015">November update</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2019/03/25/march-update-easing-autumn/" rel="bookmark" title="03/25/2019">March clinic update: easing into autumn</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/07/13/update-july-2022/" rel="bookmark" title="07/13/2022">Update: July 2022</a></li>
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			<dc:creator>Gill Stannard</dc:creator></item>
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		<title>Mentoring: Are you wasting your time?</title>
		<link>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/08/10/mentoring-are-you-wasting-your-time/</link>
					<comments>https://gillstannard.com.au/2025/08/10/mentoring-are-you-wasting-your-time/#respond</comments>
		
		
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2025 01:33:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[business mentoring resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Professional Supervision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boundaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[burnout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mentoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patient journey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patient management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work life balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workflow]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://gillstannard.com.au/?p=8240</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Excessive time demands are a common gripe in clinical practice. Particularly the non-billable hours spent on admin, social media, research, report writing and other client communication. Do you know the amount of time spent on tasks outside consultations? Have you considered the return on this inves...]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Excessive time demands are a common gripe in clinical practice. Particularly the non-billable hours spent on admin, social media, research, report writing and other client communication.</p>
<p>Do you know the amount of time spent on tasks outside consultations? Have you considered the return on this investment?</p>
<p>The following mentoring article explores tracking your time to identify the rub points and ways to reduce unnecessary work for both you and your clients.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Before a successful booking is made</h2>
<p>The client journey begins long before the initial consultation. A potential client first needs to be aware of your service (aka marketing). It’s important they’re assured you can offer what they are looking for in order to book an appointment and <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/10/01/mentoring-how-to-avoid-no-shows-and-late-cancellations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turn up for the consultation</a>.</p>
<p><em>Is the process straightforward? Do you have FAQs on your website, online booking (and ideally prepayment), automated pre-consultation information and reminders?</em></p>
<p>If bookings don’t always occur without your involvement, you’re likely wasting time fielding avoidable enquiries that don’t always result in consultations.</p>
<p>Do you track how often potential clients make contact before booking a consultation? This includes questions via social media comments, email, your contact page, phone calls and texts. What time is involved and, more importantly, how frequently does it lead to a ‘sale’?</p>
<p><em>Look at the frequency and source of enquiries to understand what prompts the contact. (For example regarding a social media post on social media, a referral from another health professional, etc.)  Do you spend long replying to a single enquiry and in what level of detail? Is this a single brief reply that results in a booking, no booking or a long interchange?</em> <em>Or does the process feel like a consultation by proxy?<br />
</em><br />
Consider the return on your time investment? When you’re getting messages from a post or other source that doesn’t lead to a booking, consider if the subject or kind of post aligns with the type of clients you want to work with.</p>
<h3>Discovery calls</h3>
<p>Free ‘15 minute’ chats, aka discovery calls, are sometimes offered as an alternative to this kind of interchange. However if you offer these how long does this unpaid interchange take from first interaction to either no further contact or a paid consultation? How often does it lead to a paid consultation, especially an ideal or <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/02/09/golden-clients-how-to-identify-and-nurture-your-hidden-assets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘golden client’</a>?</p>
<p>Are you aware of when discovery calls attract clients that would not have booked without one? Types of discovery calls often fall into three categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>tyre kickers (those who want information but have no intention of booking a paid consultation)</li>
<li>uncertain clients who have a lot of questions and if they become a client tend to need a lot of assurance and make frequent contact between consults</li>
<li>people who had essentially decided to see you but chose a discovery call anyway because one was offered.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Track your time and results from discovery calls. What effort does it take to set them up? What’s actual the duration of each call and does the interaction end there or in a paid consultation?  When the call results in a consultation, be brave and ask if they’d have booked anyway without a discovery call.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8247" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8247" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8247" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-black-ice-551383-1314544-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-black-ice-551383-1314544-300x200.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-black-ice-551383-1314544-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-black-ice-551383-1314544-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8247" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Simplifying the process for your client</h2>
<p>Is it easy for clients to book a consultation? Is your booking system fully automated online including sending any pre-consultation information, payment, reminders and enables clients to change the appointment themselves? If not fully automated, note your time involved in the process.</p>
<p><em>Is the info on your website sufficient to answer possible queries so clients don’t need to contact you? If there’s an FAQ section, make sure it’s easy to find. Ideally when using a booking system, the client knows in advance how to make changes and your cancellation policy. If not, consider the time these issues cost you.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Your time before, during and after the consultation</h2>
<p><strong>Before:</strong> do you manually need to chase up pre-consultation questionnaires or spend hours preparing for the consultation<em>? Do you ever find yourself making a diagnosis, excessively researching or overthinking the information the client supplies before you see them?</em></p>
<p><strong>During</strong>: are you good at running to time? <em>What’s your approach if a client is late, takes the session off track or has too many issues to address within the booking time? How often do your sessions run over time and by how much?</em></p>
<p><strong>After</strong>: If a treatment plan isn’t created during the consultation, how long does it take to do so afterwards. This may include research, writing up notes, prescribing remedies, sending clients a summary or plan, ordering tests or writing referrals? <em>Set the timer, what’s the average time spent per client?</em></p>
<p><em>Read more:<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/10/01/mentoring-how-to-avoid-no-shows-and-late-cancellations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Avoiding no shows and cancellations</a></em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_8246" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8246" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8246" src="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-energepic-com-27411-313690-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" srcset="https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-energepic-com-27411-313690-300x225.jpg 300w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-energepic-com-27411-313690-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-energepic-com-27411-313690-768x576.jpg 768w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-energepic-com-27411-313690-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://gillstannard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-energepic-com-27411-313690-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8246" class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.pexels.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a></p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When you’re in the early years of practice, understandably you don’t know everything. Each client offers a potential opportunity to expand your knowledge. However there may be a tendency to overthink, over-prescribe lifestyle hacks or remedies and overwhelm the client in your quest to give them every possible solution. If that’s sound familiar, read more about the <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/05/07/the-goldilocks-prescription-not-too-little-not-too-much-finding-the-just-right/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goldilocks prescription</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQCyl6GwKcw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">layering treatment plans.</a> This both saves you time and sets your client up for success.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Your time is important</h2>
<p>Why is time such an important issue? From mentoring practitioners for several decades it’s clear that spending more time than necessary on these client related matters is a considerable factor in <a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2024/04/03/strategies-to-prevent-practitioner-burnout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">burnout</a>. Work/life balance is vital for everyone, but when you run your own business<a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/08/07/the-secrets-of-being-a-happy-practitioner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> happy practitioners are more likely to succeed!</a></p>
<p>First identify the problem areas by tracking your time. Next try implementing the solutions. If this is not enough, there may be other issues around confidence, gaps in knowledge, boundaries or even self-worth at play. Mentoring can be an effective way to identify and work through these challenges.</p>
<p><em>Gill works with established health practitioners and business owners, big and small, to create a balanced and sustainable career.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://bookeo.com/gillstannard" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Book your exploratory mentoring session.</em></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;<strong>Similar Posts:</strong></p>
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<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2023/10/01/mentoring-how-to-avoid-no-shows-and-late-cancellations/" rel="bookmark" title="10/01/2023">Mentoring: how to avoid no shows and late cancellations</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/10/05/are-you-quiet-quitting-your-business/" rel="bookmark" title="10/05/2022">Are you quiet quitting your business?</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://gillstannard.com.au/2022/10/10/face-your-fears-understanding-your-finances-the-economy-and-recession-planning/" rel="bookmark" title="10/10/2022">Face your FEaRs – understanding your Finances, the Economy and Recession planning</a></li>
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