Dr. Karley Denoon

Dr. Karley Denoon has made it her business to take care of Kootenay patients with her compassionate, holistic approach. She takes pride in her ability to help others, and she shared some of her vision with us.

How did you come to choose this line of work?

Being a naturopathic doctor was undeniably a vocation for me. After going down the path of allopathic medicine and then taking time off, I realized what I really wanted to do was continue to support patients, but in an entirely holistic way. A way where they were not broken up into body parts and pathologies and were not viewed as sick or well, but focusing more on the state of wellness or “dis-ease.” I knew that I wanted to work with people in a medical model that allowed for a patient’s values to be present in the treatment room and I wanted to have time to hear their stories.

I also am entirely in love with the medicines I use. Yes, I prescribe some drugs and lots of nutrients and supplements, but the medicine I use is trying to support your body to work optimally. Not stop, push or flood pathways, but work with the body’s natural processes to enhance innate function. I am also in love with the capacity of plant medicine and how truly intelligent this form of medicine is. So, needless to say, when I combined my love of long-term patient care with the passion for the approach and the medicines I know to work, naturopathic medicine picked me.

What is it about your work that has you excited to get out of bed in the morning?

I never know what I am going to have the honour of discussing or working on that day with patients. My curiosity and adoration for the textures of humanity, as well as the challenge of treating every patient with a complete customized treatment plan, excite me.

What’s your focus for 2016?

I have been working on my program, The Overwhelm Solution, for most of 2015. This program is a unique, highly customized medical program. It is designed for fully committed and motivated professional women who are looking for more support and wanting to either recover from burnout or prevent burnout. I had polled 100 professional women and heard the same thing time and time again, and from that need the program came to be created. I am focused on discussing, supporting and medically treating a hugely underserved condition that is now a rampant epidemic—stress!

Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur in the Kootenays?

I love the Kootenays, and like most people, I live here because of the lifestyle. The ability to practice what I preach, to head out on the trails for a mountain bike before work or to join a group of women for a ski on a Saturday morning outweighs any of the seducing factors of the city for me. I don't think I could do what I do without following my heart first, and my heart is in these mountains.