A local nutritional therapist is fulfilling a life-long dream of bringing together a wide range of Western and Natural health practitioners in a common cause.

"The best of both worlds," Sonia Funk explains.

Funk has worked abroad as an international Nutritional Therapist, working in New York, London and the Middle East before returning home to serve clients through her business, The Whole Avocado.

While the tension between Western and natural medicine presents a challenge, Funk says she was impressed with the open mindedness of the health care community.

"It was almost like everyone I talked to was just waiting for this idea because they said, "Yes, let's do that" almost immediately ... everyone was in."

Her latest effort, the Mommy Matters conference, was a local health care collaboration aimed at new mothers.

"There are no comprehensive postpartum care programs for new moms in Manitoba at all," Funk says, adding her Mommy Matters team which includes a variety of health practitioners, doctors and local agencies are changing that.

Presenters at Mommy Matters included, Dr. Jocelyne Rondeau, MD at Agassiz Medical Centre, Pelvic Floor Therapist Ashley Froese from Morden Physio Therapy, Dr. Andrew Bryk, ND at The Whole Avocado among others. Health care and resources present were Public Health, Pregnancy Care Centre, Health Baby, With women Doula Collective, and Southern Health Midwives.

"It's our job to safely, and without agenda, explain to you what your options are and how to effectively navigate them so that you can get the support you need to be the amazing mom that you already are," Funk says. "The practitioners and therapists participating don't all agree on everything, and we likely never will. But what matters is that what we do agree on is that moms need more support."

In the end, she says the more perspectives on health care, the better. "I think not agreeing is crucial for safety. Tension between two or three or five ways of doing things creates a context and a space to do better, be better, ask better questions and find even better answers."

Due to the positive reception from the inaugural event, Funk says they're planning on making the conference an annual event.

Related Article: Morden Native Returns Home To Bridge Western And Natural Medicine