I was 15 years old, I had injured myself while playing Ringette, and I was receiving treatment on my ankle.
This is what led me to my career today.
I started playing Ringette when I was just 4 years old, so I had had my share of concussions and injuries over the years, but it was this particular ankle injury that began my journey to where I am today.
During my treatment at Progressive Sports Medicine, I realized I loved the environment and concept of helping athletes heal.
I inquired further about working with athletes and how I could get there one day, and was informed about the co-op program that I could do through high school.
A couple of years later, when I had the opportunity, I went back to that same clinic and scored a co-op placement there.
This placement at Progressive Sports Medicine, and the mentorship I received there, was monumental for my career.
This was where I first learned the importance of spending enough time with patients. Every patient would rave about how carefully and meticulously they were looked after in this clinic, they never felt like they were just a number in the system.
My mentor was as attentive to helping my education grow as he was to each of his patients , and I still credit him for inspiring me to get to where I am today.
My time as a co-op student at Progressive Sports Medicine solidified all of my passions to work with athletic populations.
This was because I saw how the athletes shared the same passion, determination and perseverance to get better as the health care practitioner working with them did.
I went on to the University of Guelph to get my BSc.(Hons). I heard about Naturopathic Medicine during my final years there, and decided it was the perfect career for me to combine my passion for treating athletes, with my passion for nature and holistic, integrative medicine.
Next stop after graduating from the University of Guelph, was 4 years at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, where I was chosen to be on the Sports Medicine Focus shift during my 12 month clinical final year.
I graduated from CCNM with my Doctor of Naturopathy degree, and soon after successfully completed all licensing exams and obtained my Naturopathic Doctor license with CONO.
I had kept in touch with my mentor from my co-op placement at PSM over the years , and always told myself -“I’m going back to work there one day!”
All this time, my fiancé, a lifetime athlete, had been battling multiple hip and back surgeries while he was a Div. 1 NCAA Hockey athlete. Among all the athletes I had seen in clinical experience, I had never seen one with as much perseverance and resilience as my fiancé.
You can see now that my desire to work with athletes is a deep rooted passion; it is part of me, my history , and my life.
Now 12 years later, I am accepting patients as a Naturopathic Doctor in the very clinic where my passion to help athletes began – Progressive Sports Medicine, in Burlington, Ontario.
Starting Dec 2nd 2019.
