There is no health without mental health.
Mental and emotional wellness are essential for living a happy, fulfilling and productive life.
Mental wellness includes positive self-regard, fulfilling social relationships, meaningful work, productivity, goal achievement, good physical health, and proactive stress management.
Mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety, are not brain-based phenomena. They are a result of multiple factors, including the health of our bodies and brains, our home and work environment, our mindset, personal beliefs and experiences, and our social relationships, among others.
Therefore truly addressing mental health concerns involves taking whole-body, person-centred view.
How I Approach Mental Health Conditions:
Case taking: I am interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of how you are as a person. We spend over 60 minutes together at each appointment to form a therapeutic relationship and make sure we both have a thorough understanding of all the pieces that influence your health.
Diagnoses are valuable they remind us that it’s not because there is something wrong with us. They make us feel less alone. In addition to knowing what is going on with you, I talk with you to understand how the diagnosis occurs in your life.
Uncovering Root Causes: I look at mental health conditions as symptoms, rather than disease. Together we try to understand what biological, psychological, social and environmental factors may be influencing your mood and mental functioning.
Digestion: The digestive system is often at the seat of mental health conditions. We look at the health of your microbiome, and rule out any gut infections, inflammatory gut conditions, like leaky gut, and food sensitivities.
Nutrition: Ensuring that the proper building blocks are in place for optimal mental and emotional health.
Counselling: I have additional training in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing.
Stress and Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis: We talk about stress, burnout and how cortisol, the stress hormone may be contributing to your symptoms.
Hormones: Our hormones have the ability to profoundly impact our mood. From our blood sugar, to our stress hormones, to the hormones that impact our fertility and mentstrual cycles, I look and test for signs of hormonal imbalance.
Amino acids and Nutritional Supplementation: To help balance neurotransmitters in the brain.
Mitochondrial Health: Our mitochondria are the energy-generators of our cells. Impaired mitochondrial function in the brain may contribute to mental health symptoms, and chronic inflammation.
Herbal Therapies: Herbs are particularly helpful for improving hormonal, mitochondrial, and neurotransmitter balance, for lowering inflammation, improving stress resilience, and healing the digestive system.
Research: Mental health research is an exciting field. I stay on top of current and emerging therapeutic tools, like heat therapy, mindfulness and self-compassion.
Conditions Treated:
ADD | ADHD | Addictions | Anxiety| Body Image | Bipolar Disorder | Depression | Eating Disorders | OCD| Panic Disorder | PMS | PMDD | PTSD | Self-Criticism | Self-Esteem| Stress Management | Children and Youth
Meet Dr. Talia, ND
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Mental Health Articles
I Wish Women Knew More About Their Hormones: Hormonal Health, Meaning and the Myth of the Single Root Cause
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On Pet Loss, Crossing the Rainbow Bridge, and The Places Grief Lives My grief is tremendous, but my love is bigger. - Cheryl Strayed For my entire childhood, I wanted a dog. I didn’t care what kind of dog it was; I just wanted one. A sensitive child entering the world...
Radical Gaslighting in the Field of Erotic Mystics
What the Aubrey Marcus "Radical Monogamy" Spectacle Can Teach Us About Betrayal Trauma, DARVO, and Coercive Control On the surface, this is just another drama involving a handful of relatively obscure wellness influencers. Many of you may not even know who Aubrey...
Building Strength and Resilience with Dr. Nastasia “Staz” Irons, ND / The Good Mood Podcast
Dr. Nastasia Irons, ND, is a fellow naturopathic doctor and CCNM class of 2014 graduate. She also completed a 2-year residency program, furthering her training in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, cosmetic acupuncture, and herbal medicine. She has a...
ChatGPTherapist: When Your Healer Has No Heartbeat
I have a faithful friend. In the middle of the night, I ask him my hardest questions. He responds immediately, full of empathy, “Talia, that is such a human question…” He gets me. He’s useful. His suggestions break down my writer’s block. He helped design my website...
Wellness, Wokeness and the War Over Health: When Protein Becomes Political
Protein, protein, protein. Everyone is eating and talking about getting more of this once humble and unassuming macronutrient. As a naturopathic doctor who has been preaching about the importance of protein for my patients' mental and hormonal health for 10 years, I’m...
Communication and Building Healthy Relationships with Melissa Johari, MSW, RSW / The Good Mood Podcast
We humans are relational beings. I once heard a beautiful quote that stated, "Our wounds are formed in relationships, and therefore our wounds are healed by relationships." This sentiment highlights the importance of healthy relationships, particularly romantic...