Sessions

Women and men respond differently to stress, and this may reflect the higher rates of anxiety experienced by females. The current pandemic has led to a crisis in physical and mental health that has touched most people in some way, driven by fear, uncertainty, job loss, economic crisis, new ways of working and social isolation. The way we view and treat our mental health could be improved remarkably by taking a view through a lens that focusses on strategies to strengthen brain health and fitness and takes into consideration gender-specific differences in stress and mental health.

In this session, you will learn how to apply neuroscience and neuroplasticity techniques to improve brain condition and function. There are few people that understand that the brain can be trained, has untapped potential and capacity for change. We are fully aware of the benefits of physical fitness, but do we really consider the importance of brain fitness in clinical practice.

Selena will shine a light on the neuroscience and neuroplasticity in this area, the latest developments and applications, and how to leverage brain imaging and digital technology platforms to enhance your brain health and fitness knowledge. There will also be practical applications for countering stress, anxiety and low mood to improve overall mental health and well-being for your patients.

Selecting the most appropriate and efficacious course of treatment for our fertility patients is a skill honed through study and clinical experience. Nonetheless, dealing with heavily medicalised cases such as assisted reproductive treatment (ART) and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) can be challenging, and at times overwhelming. Adding to this is the complexity of navigating herb-drug interactions.

Many women undertaking IVF in Australia are likely to seek natural medicine support and therefore literacy and clinical competency is of high value for the naturopathic practitioner.

Rhiannon will deconstruct and discuss examples of clinical assessment and pathology interpretation, safe herbal prescription, and the importance of a collaborative dialogue with the patient's medical practitioner.

You will gain a deeper understanding of treatment strategies to further enhance fertility outcomes in this highly sensitive patient group and a greater confidence with interdisciplinary co-operation.

Regrettably, in Australia, 50 women suffer a heart attack every day and one woman dies from heart disease every hour. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is therefore a leading cause of illness and death and kills around three times as many women as breast cancer.

Heart disease is underdiagnosed and undertreated in women and several aspects of both CVD prevention and treatment are unique to women. Women tend to develop symptoms at a much later stage of the illness than men, and their symptoms are often non-specific. Furthermore, some diagnostic tests are less accurate in women than in men.

In this presentation Kerry will share key aspects of the clinical management of CVD in women including gender differences in pathophysiology, symptoms, diagnoses and treatment; conventional as well as emerging risk factors unique to women; CVD and its co-morbidities in women; and key therapeutic strategies for both prevention and treatment.

Female biology is far more variable and dynamic than the male system. This is due to a myriad of changes produced by fluctuating hormone levels, not only through the menstrual cycle, but also throughout the various life stages. Women often more so than men, experience dramatic changes in their social, economic, reproductive and family lives, and in addition to these biological variabilities this also influences nutritional demands and overall health. Understanding female specific patterns of pathology can help identify underlying drivers of suboptimal health and disease.

Beth will share some important biomarkers of female health, interpretation of healthy reference ranges and how they can be used to illuminate underlying disturbances. She will highlight key clinical solutions utilising diet, and nutritional and herbal medicines to manage these issues.

The clinical presentations of endometriosis are often insidious in nature, and can progress with serious impacts on fertility, development of fibrotic lesions and ovarian cyst development. Even though endometriosis affects approximately 10 % of women of reproductive age, the path to diagnosis is frequently long, due in part to the varying presentations and symptomatology, as well as underlying disease drivers.

Our understanding of the various factors contributing to endometriosis has advanced significantly in recent years. Angela will share her insights and most recent understandings, delving into the roles of genetics and epigenetics, endocrine disruption, infection, inflammation, oxidative stress and immune dysregulation, in endometriosis. Essential approaches to early identification will also be discussed.

Angela will guide you through herbal and nutritional approaches to help manage endometriosis, as well as sharing clinical case studies to demonstrate her approach to clinical management of patients with endometriosis for positive outcomes.

The finer nuances of female genitourinary health are often overlooked in clinical practice for a variety of reasons. As practitioners, we are comfortable questioning about personal areas like digestion and mental health, but shy away from the details of vaginal, urinary and sexual health. Reluctance from both practitioners and clients to broach a topic that is personal means that a critical component of holistic health is neglected, compromising the holistic approach to the detriment of our client’s wellbeing.

An explosion of research into the microbiomes of the vagina, bladder and endometrium has progressed understanding of health and disease in this vital area. The literature and its practical translation to practice opens new strategies of support for client care.

Pattern recognition and holistic understanding is an essential component of successful clinical management. Being able to recognise clinical cues that could open a discussion on genitourinary health is an important skill set for any practitioner. These cues can be hidden in simple responses and overlooked parts of past health history. Successful integration of clinical information that could be influencing the genitourinary microbiomes can support optimal client care and sustained health changes.

Are you aware of all the clinical cues which indicate microbiome imbalance in the female genitourinary system?

What do we really mean by preconception health care? Which of our patients will benefit from it, and how thorough should the practitioner be in our assessment and treatment approaches?

Preconception health care is, these days, a well-understood concept, and many naturopathic practitioners offer this service for their patients. For the last 40 years and more, Francesca has actively promoted the importance of preconception care for the health of a conception, pregnancy, and baby. Professional preconception care impacts the health of future generations, as well as its role to support fertility and other related reproductive problems such as recurrent miscarriage. During these years of clinical practice Francesca has seen significant advantages for prospective parents and their children that this type of health care can bring.

In this session Francesca will review the basic principles and emphasise the importance of thorough preconception health care, for both parents, including essential investigations – sharing over 40 years of experience and several case histories to demonstrate how a thorough approach has prevented sometimes severe problems occurring or recurring, as well as optimising reproductive outcomes.