How is Hormone Wellness different to other hormone clinics.
We are different because we look at the body in a truly unique way. We look at every aspect of your health history that could be contributing to your symptoms such as gut and immune issues. These issues usually show red flags throughout our life that are often historically diagnosed as something else, incorrectly treated or mismanaged. These ‘red flags’ often stack up to become hormone imbalances or contribute to a challenging menopause.
We offer a ‘whole health approach’ meaning we work with all aspects of your health using: diet and food strategies, food intolerance testing, nutritional supplementation and the education around or provision of body identical hormones (through our registered nurses where medically safe). We assess all areas that could be involved in hormonal imbalances such as the gut microbiome, the liver and oestrogen detoxing, the immune system and blood sugar balance.
We believe deeply that the widespread use of the contraceptive pill for hormone issues and the synthetic hormones used in some types of HRT are not the answer. Hormone issues are often contributed to by gut imbalances, food intolerances, unsuitable diets, immune issues, toxic chemicals and toiletries and stress. All these areas need to be explored to establish the reason for hormonal symptoms, In the case of menopause – being a natural hormonal transition, we often see increased menopause symptoms due to underlying issues that need resolving which won’t happen by use of synthetic hormones.
We do not condone the use of high dose oestrogen therapy and have been actively involved in working with the media to expose this approach and have worked with many clients who have experienced symptoms because of this approach.
We feel that the current medical guidelines around menopause are unhelpful as they focus on the ‘post menopause’ phase (12 months without a bleed) and offer HRT for this phase, they do not focus on the many years of peri menopause before we stop bleeding. As such we find that much of the HRT advice given is not helpful to women in peri menopause especially as the medical approach won’t offer hormone tests to women over the age of 45 to establish the true hormonal imbalance.
This is compounded with a major medical blind spot around the necessity of progesterone and a systemic lack of testing for it. It is not just important for ‘uterine protection’. Progesterone is an essential hormone for sleep, good mood, healthy periods, bone density, sleep and feeling calm. This is repeatedly overlooked and therefore women are often mismanaged.
We believe in using functional tests such as DUTCH testing and thyroid panels that establish where your hormone levels are, as well as how you are utilising and detoxing your hormones rather than guessing or following a standard process. We prefer these to blood tests as they offer much more information and can indicate route cause of hormone issues. We also offer Gut mapping and SIBO testing.
Our founders Claire Snowdon-Darling and Laura Knowles have been in clinical practice since 2008. They are the authors of the book “Improving the Menopause Experience Through Nutrition and Lifestyle” and the creators of the ground breaking clinic model “The Triangle of Hormonal Health”.
All the coaches in the Hormone Wellness clinic have been personally trained by Claire and Laura in their approach and protocols. These protocols are taught through The College of Functional Wellness -an internationally accredited training school offering the highest standard in accredited practitioner training in Functional Wellness Coaching, Menopause Wellness Coaching and Functional Kinesiology. The underpinning knowledge of all these courses focus on the hormonal interaction between blood sugars, stress, sex hormones, digestion and the immune system. Our coaches are chosen because they stood out as being exceptional practitioners. Many of our coaches are also tutors delivering this training. Our coaches are also trained in emotional coaching and can offer support where needed.
Our Clinical Director, Claire Snowdon-Darling oversees all cases and consults with the coaches if her unique lens and experience is required. Our registered nurse has a vast amount of experience and is also trained in the ‘whole health approach’ to ensure that your journey with us and the care you receive is fully supportive. Even our administrator is a trained hormone practitioner. You are in truly great hands.
We support the use of either body identical HRT, low dose bioidentical hormones or the use of traditional herbs to manage hormone issues.
Whilst we appreciate that any private clinic is a financial outlay, we work hard to ensure that our work is accessible to as many people as possible. As such we also have a large offering of free and low-cost resources to ensure that our work can support whoever needs it.
We look forward to working with you. To book a discovery call click here