Experienced, award-winning naturopath, mentor and keynote speaker, Keonie Moore, is the pioneering founder of ReMed, one of Australia’s leading naturopathic clinics. She and her team are committed to lifting the standards of naturopathic and complementary medicine in Australia and meeting the individual and changing needs of each individual.

"Many people are battling stress and also exacerbation of stress and anxiety, whether directly or indirectly due to the pandemic,"

Keonie’s first career was in the Australian army where she worked in electronics systems. The mum of four now-adult children, Keonie recalls that her second child often needed hospital treatment for gastroenteritis; part of his treatment included antibiotics. 

“I read a lot about the condition and then consulted a naturopath in search of help for my son. The naturopath did a full consultation and recommended herbs, zinc and other nutrients. We were all delighted when his condition improved.”

Thirst for knowledge

Inspired, Keonie continued to read and her thirst for knowledge led her to studying naturopathy at Southern Cross University. That was 14 years ago and Keonie has built on her passion for paediatrics which is now her professional speciality.

Keonie and her team are seeing patients via video conferencing and the practice remains busy. While Keonie’s patients have taken to this new form of consultation, the team has observed a few changes to patient needs.

Direct and indirect impact of the pandemic

“Many people are battling stress and also exacerbation of stress and anxiety, whether directly or indirectly due to the pandemic. Some people have had their whole life turned upside down.

Take for example, two working parents with two children trying to manage their work and online education. Families have lost their support structures and have needed to rapidly adapt, which naturally causes stress for everyone involved,” Keonie says.

“A lot of the families I work with have multiple children with one or more affected or unwell child. The family may be trying to manage home-schooling and both parents working from home all at the same time,” she adds.

Individual treatment for individual needs

From the treatment of constipation, eczema and food intolerances and other more generalised approaches to children’s health over years, Keonie became interested in neurological conditions which has led to her passion for treating the Clinical Management of Paediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS). She also specialises in working with children with OCD, anxiety ADHD and those on the spectrum.

Each person is treated according to their individual needs. But the focus is on a full, healthy diet including a variety of fruit and vegetables. Other dietary changes may include the removal of food allergens and MSG in particular if there are behavioural challenges. Treatment may also involve supplementation and the use of herbal medicine as well as the use other principles of naturopathic medicine.

Working with specialists and GPs 

“From my perspective, it is important to take a holistic approach to treatment focussing on the many components of health. Finding the underlying causes and understating that the body is always doing the best it can, our strategies help it do that.” Keonie says.

For her it is not a case of natural vs. conventional health – it’s about doing the best for the individual – and working with specialists and GPs can be a part of that.

“Working together is important,” stresses Keonie. “Different modalities bring different strengths, so if I need to get another professional involved, then it is important to do so for the patient. GPs, for example, are great at diagnostics and that is out of the scope of a naturopath. Building strong cohesive relationships equips the patient with what they need. Real strength comes from helping patients to build better diet and correct lifestyle behaviours,” Keonie says.

 

Conducting and publishing more whole-practice research 

“Certainly there significant global evidence for complementary medicines but what is going to be called complementary medicine – it’s not just one thing, there are so many modalities involved. Evidence already exists for herbs and nutrients such as fish oils and cardio vascular health but we need more a whole-practice research in a real-life setting with multiple strategies involved – as that is how we practice. We need to get better at conducting and publishing more whole-practice research to show the results of how we manage health conditions clinically,” ends Keonie.