My latest post glimpsed into how the dairy industry has deceived us and how our governments and healthcare institutions have failed to protect us.

As I go on to share more information on the various ways in which we may have been let down by various "authority figures", whether it is our healthcare institution or our government, I feel it is my responsibility to make it clear that I am not advocating for a mistrust of authority because that only generates fear and a sense of powerlessness.

✨ ✨I point out the flaws in our tendency to unquestioningly trust authority, not because I want to discredit authority but because I want to humanize them ✨✨—a reminder that every authority figure, whether it is our parent, doctor, government etc is a human with needs, flaws, fears, vulnerabilities etc.

In my experience with healthcare professionals, I am far too often challenged with my own research. My doctors would say things like "are you the doctor, or am I?" or "you're reading too much information online", "your symptoms are just all in your head". Such responses are very disheartening and discouraging because they only shut you down and further the "one way street" mentality, where the opinion of a medical professional is to be taken as a be-all and end-all, in other words—“providers know best”. Instead, I find a "two-way street" mentality where patients are encouraged to have a dialogue with their healthcare practitioners, thereby “empowered”—to be more helpful. If we feel something is not right, we should be able to safely raise our concerns and have our concerns addressed rather than dismissed. Providers know best only after fully engaging with a patient who is comfortable to disclose every symptoms without fear of seeming paranoid or crazy.

Personally, I have found a lot of healing in this patient empowerment approach and I want to share where I’ve learned all these from:

〰 @stephencabral and the Integrative Health Practitioner program @ihp_certification that I enrolled in the start of 2020

〰@doctor.g_ posts & his “Heal Thy Self” podcast

〰@plateful.health posts & her amazing cooking tips and recipes

#healing #wellness #empowered #informed #ihplife