Module 9 – Practice Concepts

What is NOT Functional Wellness

Symptoms, Labs and the Story

Reasoning by First Principles

The Holistic Practitioner

The Realities of Working With a Client

Information vs. Education

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Functional wellness has a process to follow with each client, starting with basic foundations like diet, hydration, digestion, etc. It is focused on restoring balance and bringing function back to the body.
Do not make assumptions or guess at what is causing symptoms. Work through foundational steps, make small changes, and track results. Let the client’s healing process guide you.
Educate clients on how changes to diet, lifestyle, environment etc. impact health and symptoms. Teach them to understand their own healing journey.
Avoid trying to “fix” clients quickly by just treating symptoms. Removing symptoms takes away clues guiding you. Relief care has a place but shouldn’t be the sole focus.
Be patient through foundational work like diet changes, don’t jump ahead to things like pathogen testing if diet is poor. Build a solid base.
What’s not functional wellness: No clear process, guessing at symptom causes, finding a supplement for each symptom, being determined to “fix” clients fast while ignoring teaching them.
Conventional medicine focuses on disease protocols, not root causes. Doctors are limited by regulations, insurance, and relationships with drug companies.
Functional wellness teaches clients lifelong tools for health. We empower them to understand their bodies and make informed choices.

Do not jump to conclusions about what a list of symptoms “screams” – it could be many things. Start with foundations.
Functional medicine uses 3 tools – symptoms, labs, and client story. Give them equal focus.
Symptoms alone don’t tell you anything, they are just a list. Labs show biochemical imbalances.
The client story connects symptoms and labs, reveals priorities, lifestyle, diet, etc. It brings everything together.
With labs showing dehydration, ask questions to understand why – how much water/day, electrolytes, environment, stress, etc.
Look for connections between symptoms and lab markers. Ask questions to reveal the links.
Don’t try to make too many connections that confuse you. Focus on what you know for sure from labs and story.
Use that information to work through foundational steps first. This will provide clarity on what’s going on.
Be comfortable not knowing causes of symptoms up front. Let the process reveal connections as you go.

Reasoning by first principles means breaking a problem down to fundamental truths, not making assumptions.
It requires asking questions to understand the basic facts of a situation before taking action.
Reasoning by analogy compares two things and applies the same method to both. This can limit new perspectives.
With a client, identify what you know for sure from symptoms, labs, lifestyle. Don’t assume causes.
Reason from first principles when doing something new, facing complexity, or dealing with discomfort.
It helps reframe problems and find creative solutions when stuck. Get to basic truths instead of assumptions.
Ask questions that reveal facts and truths about a client’s situation. Use that information to guide next steps.
We may need to trial supplements based on educated guesses, but explain it provides information either way.
First principles thinking improves by stopping assumptions, letting go of others’ frameworks, and naming truths.

Holistic healing focuses on balancing and correcting the whole body system, not just symptoms or specific diseases.
It involves assessing overall function and applying corrections to push the system toward health. As balance is restored, symptoms often disappear.
We can’t fully assess the entire functioning of someone’s whole system, so we start with basic foundations like diet, digestion, hydration as priorities.
The goal is to get the client into a healing environment by improving core functions. This allows the body to heal itself. Quick fixes or remedies may hinder this.
Nutritional supplements can help shift the body into balance. Use gently, start low and slow. The body chooses what to use.
Monitor if supplements help symptoms. If no change, they may not be needed or could be blocked. Experiment cautiously.
Reinforce foundations like food choices and hydration at each session. Clients may need ongoing support to sustain changes.
Focus on current diet, lifestyle, environment – not just health history. What matters is their willingness to make changes now.
See the client’s whole journey. Avoid getting stuck on one symptom, condition or lab result. Assessment involves the whole picture.

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