We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Molly Harmon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Molly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Naturopathic Doctors are often referred to as the “unicorns” within the field of medicine. There are only 7 Naturopathic Medical Schools in North America making us a rare breed of doctor to begin with. There are 27 US states and territories that regulate naturopathic medicine and Indiana isn’t one of them. Practicing in a state that does not regulate, monitor or recognize the medicine I practice is risky, and naturally comes with its challenges. My thought process was that I wanted to bring naturopathic medicine to a place it didn’t really exist.

In fully regulated states and territories I can use my full scope of practice which includes prescription rights, performing minor surgery and even accepting insurance. In Indiana I am lucky to even be recognized as a doctor at all. Nobody knows what a naturopathic doctor is here. Naturopathic medicine often gets lumped into other titles like integrative medicine, nutrition, holistic medicine, homeopathic medicine, functional medicine and alternative medicine. In a way it is a part of all those titles, but not all of those titles are considered naturopathic medicine. Luckily, when people choose to see a naturopathic doctor, they realize their experience is different than anything they’ve ever encountered in medicine before.

The challenges that I’ve endured practicing in a state where my field is not recognized would not only be considered risky but also most other ND’s would see a lack of opportunities, loss of prestige honor and respect as a doctor, and several hoops to jump through. In the risk I sought and found opportunity. My biggest opportunity was simply the chance to educate other doctors about naturopathic medicine and how it helps achieve our common goal, which is to help people get better. When I first moved back to Fort Wayne and started practicing, I made a point to contact other doctors that my patients were seeing. I wanted us to work as a team, and it gave me the chance to show them not only our common ground on medical education but the different tools in my naturopathic tool box. They realized I wasn’t a witch doctor and indeed spoke and understood their language. Because of those intentional conversations I have become respected among my peers within the medical community, have had multiple job opportunities including within the hospital systems, and have established a referral network from other integrative practices, cancer institutions and several other doctors including MD’s, DO’s, DPT’s, DDS’s and DC’s. I have also been invited to come educate on certain topics regarding naturopathic medicine within the hospital.

Every time somebody did not understand my medical training I wasn’t offended, I just took it as an opportunity to teach. I’ve lost count of the number of times people or other professionals tried to feed me with, “well we believe in researched based medicine”, I responded with “That’s great me too! Here are 3 peer reviewed research articles on this topic and why I think it should be considered for our mutual patient. Also, let’s draw out the biochemical pathway where this treatment will have an effect and what its impact will be.” (Some would say I enjoy healthy confrontation).

But really, for me, it’s all about helping people and I am going to help more people by including the rest of their medical team and working together towards a common goal. I never feel like I have to prove myself, naturopathic medicine does that on its own because it works.

So sure, it’s risky practicing in a state where there’s no regulation, recognition or true knowledge of naturopathic medicine, but that just means the need for access to naturopathic medicine here is extremely high. I am here with my team to help meet the needs of so many looking for way to heal.

Molly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Naturopathic doctors are educated and trained in accredited naturopathic medical colleges. They diagnose, prevent, and treat acute and chronic illness to restore and establish optimal health by supporting the person’s inherent self-healing process. Rather than just suppressing symptoms, naturopathic doctors work to identify underlying causes of illness, and develop personalized treatment plans to address them. Their Therapeutic Order™, identifies the natural order in which all therapies should be applied to provide the greatest benefit with the least potential for damage.

Naturopathic doctors are extensively trained in evidenced based botanical medicine, homeopathy, human and nutritional biochemistry, oriental medicine, spinal manipulation, and pharmacology.

I want to restore function, not replace it. The word “docere” in naturopathic Medicine translates to “doctor as teacher” and I want to empower my patients to take back their health by giving them the tools to do so. Practicing naturopathic medicine allows me to investigate and treat the root cause of disease, to look at the patient as a human being, and treat them as a whole.

My practice, Thrive Holistic Medicine, helps people. Loving people, that’s where it all started and that’s how Thrive approaches the practice of medicine differently. Listening to people, empathizing with them, crying with them, praying over them. That’s how you seek cure, by evaluating and respecting how God made us. Our cells are composed of everything we eat, breathe, drink, and think. My vision for Thrive is meeting people in hard desperate places and teaching them about their Maker and how to respect His perfect design and to live in balance with it. Loving people, that’s where it all started. My vision for Thrive is care, community, and connection.

https://naturopathic.org/page/WhatisaNaturopathicDoctor

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Thrive Holistic Medicine is a small team of four. Naturally that makes us very close but there are a few, very important things that have created an exceptional culture within our office.

Our team meets 30min before the first patient walks through the door. Together we sit down, take a few minuets to review the day, tie up any loose ends, drink some coffee and grab a snack. Then, we check in with each other personally. I want to know if they are feeling okay. Is there anything going on that we can help each other carry inside or outside the office? Finally, we try and end every meeting in prayer for each other, or sometimes when we don’t have the words, we turn up some worship music and have a dance party. This sets the tone for the entire day, and it sets it off right. It prevents us from walking through the door and just jumping in without having checked in with everyone. I look forward to that meeting everyday.

The other special thing we do is we have a phrase that can be used at anytime. “Can I be current with you”. Our team knows this phrase is a way of saying there’s something I need to talk to you about. It creates an open door to friendly conversation and squashes gossip, resentment, and poor communication. We all mess up. This is an open door to talk to a team member about anything that rubbed them the wrong way, or an honest mistake that was made. Everyone has experienced a time where what you said was misunderstood. This phrase allows us to clear the air the same day something happens. This phrase helps us be honest with ourselves and one another, to show vulnerability and to admit fault instead of trying to be defensive. I highly encourage you to do this with your team, and the best way to implement it is sharing with them an example of when you, their boss or leader, has “dropped the ball”. Appearing “perfect” all the time doesn’t make others feel comfortable.

Thirdly, we have fun together once a quarter we plan something small, go out to eat, meet at a coffee shop, go to the spa, or shop for plants. It gets us together without work in the way and brings us closer.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I’ve been asked if I won the lottery would I still work and see patients. 100%, I can’t imagine not doing what I do, I absolutely love it and I feel the work I do is deeply important. I have purpose in my work. Those who know me well, know that I feel that naturopathic medicine is exactly where God placed me. There’s no better confirmation than that. I believe I still would even choose to practice in Indiana because of how many more people now know about naturopathic medicine and have experienced its benefits themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thriveholisticmedicine.com/
• Instagram: @thrive_holistic_medicine
• Other: Naturopathic.org – information on naturopathic medicine