If you’re a naturopathic doctor, or just deeply geeky, please mark April 6 in your calendar for two upcoming talks I’m doing about climate change and health. I’ll be presenting these the Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physician’s Spring Seminar, Environmental Medicine: Our Physical, Mental and Emotional Response. It’s all online and I hope you’ll join me.
(Spoiler: Naturopathic doctors and herbalists have unique tools to help patients in a climate-changing world.)
The first is with my colleague Dr. Janet Lewis, from the Climate Psychiatry Alliance. Our presentation is Feeling the Heat: Adapting Naturopathic in a Climate-Changed World. This offers an overview of the health effects of climate change, heavily slanted toward the mental-health effects since she and I specialize in managing mood issues for our patients. The talk will include issues of trauma, heat, air quality, effects on our food and plant medicines, and basic counselling
My second talk is solo, Brain on Fire: Naturopathic Approaches to Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Wait, what? Summer blues?
Those of us who live with dark winters are familiar with the winter version of seasonal affective disorder (check out my webinar and recent Instagram series to learn more about this.) But as climate change brings the heat (and the fires), summer S.A.D. is getting more recognition, too.
In this talk I’ll talk about the problems caused by summer heat, sunshine and air quality (hello, wildfires) as well as some of the unique solutions naturopathic doctors have to address these.
Naturopathic doctors can earn up to 9 general and 1 cultural competency CEUs (pending OBNM approval.) Early-bird pricing runs through Feb. 26.
I hope to see you there!
Salúd!
—Dr. Orna
P.S. If you check out the OANP seminar, you may notice my bio mentions the Naturopathic Climate Alliance. This is just starting to be a thing; if you’d like to learn more, check out NDClimate.org.
