We recently connected with Andrea Violette and have shared our conversation below.
Andrea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
What a question! I was in my last year of Chiropractic school and I did not want to stay in Florida where I was currently living. I knew that I didn’t want to move back home and in with my parents. With that in mind, I was desperate to find a Chiropractic practice that would allow me to do my final internship in their office so that I could get all my credits for graduation.
I happened to be traveling to Cincinnati, OH to visit my best friend from college and she mentioned to me, that I should do my internship in Cincinnati. We went to visit her grandmother in a nursing home and we passed by Woeste Chiropractic. I just picked up the phone and called the number on the sign and asked the front desk if they were interested in having a chiropractic intern. They said they were not sure, but to stop in the next day to talk to Dr. Woeste. I came by and after talking for a bit, Dr. Woeste welcomed me to start my internship the next semester.
I started as an intern in October 2011, finished all my final credits, and graduated in December 2011. Before flying down to Florida for the graduation ceremony Dr. Woeste asked me if I would want to practice at his office when I completed my licensure with the state of Ohio. I said of course!
Fast forward 11 years and I am sitting in the very office that Dr. Woeste was in when I stopped in for that first visit. I passed all my boards and received my license in January 2012 and have been practicing alongside Dr. Woeste since. It’s been a wonderful journey and sometimes the right people come into your life and the right opportunities just happen.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a chiropractic physician by training, but throughout my career, my path has evolved into the practice that I have now. I continue to treat chiropractic patients, however, the bulk of my patients that come in for care are looking for functional medicine.
Functional medicine is an innovative way of practicing medicine that considers the whole person. We study the body and how each organ functions together. We look for root causes and create treatment plans that use a variety of lifestyle modifications to help create wellness. We use a food-first model of practice that creates a diet that is sustainable and therapeutic to the body. One part of my job that I really enjoy, is finding the root cause of health concerns. I enjoy digging into tough cases and discovering the culprits of a person’s illness. I feel like a detective on a health case. I spend a lot of time reviewing blood work and helping patients optimize their health to their greatest potential.
I started on this path of functional medicine after just a year in practice when I realized how unhealthy I was. I had been in a car accident while in college and after breaking my leg and spending 10 weeks in a wheelchair I had gained a significant amount of weight. I was my own first functional medicine patient and after ordering bloodwork, hormone panels, a stool test, and more I was able to uncover some underlying issues that were wreaking havoc on my body.
I knew getting healthy would take time. I started intermittent fasting in 2012 and optimized my hormones naturally. I was able to lose over 80 lbs over the next year or so. Treating and applying functional medicine to myself showed me that I had the ability to help others and give them the quality care they deserved.
After doing lots of online research, continuing education classes, and reading, I decided I needed more structure to transform my practice. I found the Institute of Functional Medicine and over the past year I have been studying to earn my certification. I am hoping to finish all my classes and testing within the next year.
Over the past 2 years, a part of my career that I have worked super hard on is our CHI4Health product line. In treating our patients I was able to discover what products and ingredients worked best with our treatment protocols. Curating and developing our own product line allowed us to offer high-quality professional-grade supplements that we could confidently stand behind when healing our patients. Along with my colleagues, we have created a line that is focused on gut and mitochondria health. I believe that many issues start in the gut and I wasn’t happy with many gut support products that were on the shelf at most retailers.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Even though I hated reading in college, I became an avid reader once I began in practice. A couple of books that I have changed my mindset and really enjoyed are:
Atomic Habits- by James Clear
Inward- by Yung Pueblo
A New Earth- by Eckhart Tolle
Another resource that I love is Podcasts, I listen to a motivational one every weekday morning on my way to work, called Quote of the Day Show by Sean Croxton. Another podcast I love is The Joe Rogan Experience.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
If I could go back and change my career path, I don’t think I would. I think that each class I took was for a specific reason to get me to where I am today. I think the only thing I would do differently would be to start my functional medicine training earlier in my career.
Contact Info:
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Website: www.
thecincinnatihealthinstitute. com -
Instagram: @drandreaviolette
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
andrea.beaverdc
Image Credits
Janina Souders