Last week I shared my own story of coming off the pill, and so many of you got in touch afterwards. A lot of the messages ended with the same question: what’s it actually like to work with you?
So this week I want to pull back the curtain. Where this all started for me, how I work now, the kind of women I help, and what you can expect if you decide we’re a good fit.
Some of my earliest memories of natural medicine are of making my own cough and cold remedies at home: lemon juice, honey, ginger, apple cider vinegar. Then getting to know herbs like echinacea, elderberry and thyme. I was blown away by how effective simple food and herbs could be.
I’ve always loved creating things, and I’ve always had a passion for natural healing. Studying nutrition and herbal medicine felt like the most natural next step, and more than a decade later, I still get that same feeling every time I make up a remedy.
What has always driven me is wanting to be the expert in my own body. And alongside that, a real drive to help other women be the expert in theirs.
I’m a woman, and I wanted to understand what my body was telling me. What’s normal for my cycle? What should my period look like? How much should I bleed, and should it hurt? Your cycle is like a monthly report card. When something is off, it’s telling you something, and that’s an opportunity to make changes.
I believe every woman has the right to feel well and to be in control of her own health. Simple knowledge, the right changes to your food, and getting to know your body can make a huge difference. It really lights me up when a woman reconnects with her body and starts to trust what it’s telling her again.
When I first started practising, I saw a lot of women with digestive issues, and I became fascinated by gut health. Again and again, I saw that when digestion improved, so much else did too, including hormonal issues like hormonal acne, PMS, and heavy, painful periods.
I also noticed how often women with endometriosis had gut issues, with constipation coming up again and again.
That’s why, whatever you come to me with, I’ll ask about your digestion as well as your cycle. Not because the gut is the answer to everything, but because your body is one whole being, and your hormones and your gut are not separate problems. They’re one conversation.
As I write this, some of the women I’ve worked with come to mind. Their stories stay with me (no names, of course).
One woman had always looked “six months pregnant”, even though she was slim. She came to me with skin reactions, IBS-type symptoms, constipation and a real fear around food. She’d cut out food group after food group, and she never wore anything fitted because she was always bloated. By the end of our time together, her bloating was gone, her digestion was regular, her skin was clear, and she was back eating all the foods she’d cut out. She told me she finally understood her body. And she bought a fitted wedding dress she never thought she’d be able to wear.
Another woman came to me with severe PMDD and a lot of digestive issues alongside it. Over a few months, with changes to her food, herbs and supplements, her periods became more manageable and her PMDD eased a great deal.
I think of a woman who came to me with gut issues, a thyroid issue and fertility struggles. We worked together over a few months, her blood markers improved and her digestion was much better. She began another round of fertility treatment, and this time she got pregnant. She told me she felt everything she’d done had made a difference.
And I remember one of the first women I worked with who had endometriosis. As her digestion and constipation improved, her endo symptoms eased a lot too. I’ve learned so much more about endometriosis since then. It’s not a condition that simply resolves, and it needs ongoing support through food, lifestyle, supplements and herbal medicine. But I’ve seen how much focusing on gut health can improve how you feel day to day.
Hearing women like these tell me they feel better in themselves, lighter, and more in touch with their bodies is what makes me so happy to be doing this work, and to put so much of my time and energy into it. Every woman is different, and these aren’t promises, but they’re why I do what I do.
This is the part of my work that I think makes it really different. As well as being a nutritional therapist, I’m a registered herbalist, and I make each woman’s herbal tonic by hand.
I pick between seven and ten herbs, specifically for you. I look at everything: your symptoms, your tongue, what’s going on with your nervous system, your digestion and your cycle. No two bottles are the same. I call it “you in a bottle”.
I love formulating each one, because it supports you on every level. I believe we’re holistic beings: mind, body and spirit. The food we eat and the herbs we use help us on all of those levels.
When I first started practising, I wanted to give everyone all the information, all at once. I wanted every woman to know everything she could possibly do.
Twelve years later, I’ve learned that lasting change happens slowly. Smaller changes, made over time, stick far better than one huge overhaul. So now my job is to hold the space and the accountability for you, and to share things in a way that’s never overwhelming and never a shock to the system. We start with your foundations and build from there.
I love working this way, because I get to know my clients really well. We build a lovely rapport, and I care so much about each woman’s journey. I keep my practice small on purpose, so I have the time and energy to give each of them my all.
Our first consultation is where you finally get to tell your whole story, often for the first time to someone who has time to really listen. It’s very different to a ten-minute GP appointment. I listen to everything, and I often see links between things you’d never have thought were connected. A lot of the time, you already know more than you think, and I’ll reflect that back to you. Then we build your plan together.
I’ll look at any bloods you’ve had, and let you know which tests are worth asking your GP for. I can work alongside your GP too.
Everything is online, so you can work with me from anywhere in Ireland or beyond: video calls, messages, and your herbs posted to your door.
There are three ways to work with me:
Something I didn’t say enough in last week’s post: coming off the pill is often the first step towards getting pregnant. And preparing for pregnancy starts well before you try.
It takes around three months for an egg to mature. That means what you do in the three months before you conceive affects the health of that egg, and the egg is what nourishes those very first stages of your baby’s development. It takes roughly the same time for sperm to mature, so I always recommend that partners prepare too.
If you’re on the pill and thinking about a baby in the next year or two, this is what I’d suggest:
Ideally, give yourself a window of around a year. And remember that once you’re ovulating, you could get pregnant at any time.
If you haven’t already, you can download my free guide to coming off the pill, which walks you through the three months of preparation.
I don’t believe you ever reach a point where you’re in perfect health and harmony, forever. Life ebbs and flows, and so does our health.
So what we’re really working towards is you learning what helps your body and what makes you feel good, so you have a foundation you can always come back to on your own, without me.
That said, I still see some of the women I worked with when I first started practising. They come back when life throws something new at them, to realign and reset and get back on track. That means so much to me.
I always praise my clients for their effort, because I can give you the information and guide you every step of the way, but I can’t do it for you. You’re the one who makes the changes and stays consistent.
It’s easier to do nothing and ignore how you’re feeling. It takes effort, and sometimes real courage, to change your food, your habits and your lifestyle. When a woman tells me how much better she feels, and how supported she felt along the way, that makes it all worth it for me.
We’ll be a great fit if you want to get to the bottom of what’s going on, you’re open to natural ways of healing, and you’re ready to put in the time and effort, at a pace that works for you.
I might not be the right person if you’re looking for a quick fix, or you’d rather take a supplement and move on if it doesn’t work straight away.
A note on how I work: real change doesn’t happen overnight. We start with your foundations and build from there, and there’s always more we can do as your body responds. Anything hormonal takes at least three months to shift, so the real difference comes from consistency: sticking with the changes, giving your body time on the plan (your food, your lifestyle, and herbs or supplements where they’re needed), and being patient with yourself. There’s no magic pill that will fix everything at once.
Not sure where to start? Book a free 15-minute discovery call. Tell me a little about what’s brought you here, ask me anything about how I work, and together we’ll find the option that suits you best: a 1:1 consultation, the 6-Week Reset or the 12-Week Transformation.
Or, if you’re thinking about coming off the pill or preparing for pregnancy, start with my free guide.
Rachael x
I'm a nutritionist and registered herbalist, and I help women get to the bottom of what's going on with their hormones: painful or irregular periods, PCOS, endometriosis, coming off the pill, fertility and perimenopause. I also support mams through the postpartum years, when so much of the care stops. I work online with women across Ireland and beyond. Slowly, gently and bit by bit, so the changes actually last.
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