The Nutritional Supplement

What Course(s) did you graduate from at CNELM and when did you graduate?

I completed the MSc in Personalised Nutrition, graduating Summer 2015.

What did you do before doing this course?

Prior to the course I was already practicing Nutritional Therapy with a special interest in mental health and oncology. However my background was music (piano) which I studied before my diploma in Nutrition.

What made you decide to embark on this course of study and what attracted you to CNELM?

I wanted to deepen my knowledge, explore other specialisms and add scientific weight to my existing knowledge – particularly in functional medicine. I felt the MSc would give me this grounding and it surpassed my expectations. I really enjoyed the variety of guest lecturers and their passion for their specialist areas.

I was working full time alongside the course so had to study the majority of the modules as a distance-learning student and CNELM were flexible enough to accommodate this.

What made you decide to specialise in CFS?

I suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for a very long time, which completely disrupted all the plans I had for myself! It forced me to address how I was going about my life. It was my personal journey to wellness that sparked my interest in nutrition. Suffering from the condition made me realise the complex intertwining of all my symptoms (psychological and physiological) that conventional medicine could never really address or give me a good answer for. I felt completely broken and dismissed by the system but soon realised functional medicine had some of these answers I was looking for. In getting well myself and also studying underlying mechanisms related to CFS I finally felt ready to take care of other people with a complex illness just like myself. 

Tell us a bit about your ideas around music therapy.

Music therapy is a huge passion of mine. I especially love all the positive research around mental health or even the most devastating of neurodevelopmental disorders.

For some children with autism we know that language or eye contact is a problem – in music therapy you can use certain techniques to ‘tap into’ their innate rhythms or motifs and set up a system of communication that way.  Their desire to ‘speak’ may be to use a proxy instrument or body noises as their language structure, not words.

It makes sense because music predates language. 

In most non-western societies around the world exposure to music is not just music being performed at you from a stage. It is an integrated part of daily life, used anywhere from basic communication, storytelling, prayer, celebrations and healing.

There is evidence to suggest that drumming synchronises the left and right hemispheres of the brain and improves integration of the different regions (such as pre-frontal cortex and the limbic system) which can have a positive effect on emotional regulation, mood disorders and stress. I certainly felt the benefits with each session!

How often do you use NLP in your practice?

Pretty much every time I speak or write to a client! In those first few minutes of meeting a new client, rapport and building trust are critically important.

Before I studied NLP it felt like an uphill battle ‘trying’ to motivate patients. I could have all the answers and spend hours presenting the information out to them, but getting them to take the actions and ‘want’ to get well was a losing battle.

It was amazing the immediate difference applying some of the linguistic tools had on client success.

I now work at the Optimum Health Clinic (OHC)  and our CFS patients are embarking on a long and uncertain journey to hopefully improve their health. But investing their money, limited energy and time when progress can be slow requires a huge amount of trust that you have their best interests at heart and are committed to finding answers to get them well.

What or who has most inspired you in your work?

Far too many to recall!

I really enjoyed the psychoneuroimmunology lectures at CNELM. Prof Leo Pruimboom and others in that field which offer evolutionary explanations that draw all the systems together.

Dr Daniel Goyal and Dr James Neil who supervised my MSc research dissertation in genetics/toxicology and Autistic spectrum disorders, from real-life clinical data.

I have a huge interest in Neuroscience and I like Prof Robert Sapolsky’s work on stress and comparative biology.

In the CFS-world, Dr Teitelbaum was one of the first doctors who talked about CFS in a way that related to me.

Helen Lynam (CNELM graduate and lecturer, and director of nutrition at OHC) along with all my colleagues at the Optimum Health Clinic (nutrition, psychology and admin staff) inspire me on a daily basis. I feel really lucky to be able to bounce ideas of such a knowledgeable, experienced and fantastic team.

Do you have any tips, hints, things you’d have done differently...?

As cheesy as it sounds, I wish I had consciously enjoyed the 2 years more. I was quite anxious and stressed at the time, but CNELM are very supportive and beyond the impending deadlines it is a great opportunity to meet like-minded people, new friends and connect with great people in the industry.

On a practical level, pre-reading always helps. Even without full understanding - but turning up to lectures knowing-what-you-don’t-know helps you zone in on novel information and retain that. The lectures are all recorded anyway so ditching the excessive note taking and just being present, engaged and interactive transformed my learning experience.