01 May A System Under Pressure: Why Naturopathic Doctors Matter More Than Ever
For many Canadians, navigating the healthcare system can feel like an endless maze – but for Dr. Robyn Stanley, ND, it’s a challenge she meets head-on every day. From advocating for patients without access to a publicly funded primary-care provider to managing complicated post-surgery care, she sees firsthand the gaps that leave people underserved. In this interview with the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, she opens up about the barriers patients face, how naturopathic medicine can fill critical roles in care, and what a more collaborative healthcare system could look like.
Can you share a bit about your journey into naturopathic medicine and what motivated you to serve your community in this way?
“I saw naturopathic physicians as a child, which is not as common,” and her parents gravitated to natural approaches, says Dr. Robyn Stanley, ND. Being “extremely evidence-based,” she describes the draw to naturopathic medicine: “What really sang true to me was that I could treat the cause…I could use the curiosity in my brain, and the way I think about medicine, to help me understand patient scenarios and be creative.”
“When I started [naturopathic] medical school, I was really passionate about making a difference in people’s lives, and I liked the fact that it prioritizes non-invasive treatments first.” That early attraction to mindful medicine continues to influence her practice. “I use medications…But I evaluate them fully. I constantly decide if we need to continue to use them. I’m very proactive in my healthcare.”
Opening her clinic sharpened her focus more intentionally towards women’s primary care – hormones, perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause – areas she describes as “a really underserviced region.”
Over the years, she has become the ND that patients see when they have run out of options. “I see patients for whom I am the end of the line. There’s nobody else left, and if I don’t fix it, that’s the end of their hope.” Surgeons often sent her cases where they were out of options. “They would refer to me when their patients were, to the patient’s disappointment, non-surgical or the surgery did not work as expected.”
Stanley finds that often, transformation starts with simple corrections – “less coffee, electrolytes, and protein intake” – sometimes combined with targeted injections to help change muscles and release nerves. Patients returning feeling “so much better” and those sometimes-overlooked steps are part of what continues to drive her. “My motivation would probably be curiosity, which to me is a really good quality in a doctor, to be curious.”
When you think about the patients you see every day, what are the most pressing roadblocks you see them facing? How do those barriers affect health outcomes?
One patient’s story highlights the cracks in the system. “This has been a patient of mine for a long time…she has no medical doctor…I’ve had to advocate for her every step of the way.” Including sending her to the hospital’s emergency department with a note, after “no one could decipher” that she had bladder strictures. Stanley could not refer directly to a gynecologist, but the ER staff listened to a note she had sent along with the patient. They followed her recommendations, and the patient eventually received the care she needed.
After that same patient’s hysterectomy, which occurred after Stanley wrote a note to a Telehealth doctor to get a gynecology referral, the lack of coordinated care became even more obvious. The patient developed “a full-blown bladder infection”, and with no access to surgical records, an unreachable surgeon, and a pharmacy unwilling to prescribe without a medical review of the patient, “you’re basically putting yourself at risk…because you don’t have all the right information to make a good, educated clinical choice.”
Situations like this are becoming more common. “Close to 70% of my patients do not have a GP.” Without centralized care, she ends up managing prescriptions, monitoring chronic conditions, and ongoing advocacy – on top of what patients originally came for. “I have five million steps,” and much of that work is unpaid.
Virtual care has helped in some ways, yet not in others. “I had a patient today who hasn’t had her thyroid checked in three years, and she’s got hypothyroidism symptoms…the doctor has never seen her.” Missed routine testing can be devastating, as she recalls a patient whose prostate cancer was caught only after metastasis because a PSA test, typically a routine test, was never ordered.
Filling the gap, functioning as the default care provider, while also providing the care the patient booked for, “that’s a whole job on top of a job…I do what I can, but I have so many more steps– something that GPs often do in seconds.”
How are you and other NDs responding to these challenges? Where do you see opportunities for collaboration?
Prescriptive authority is one of the biggest opportunities. While British Columbia has a very robust prescriptive authority for NDs, other provinces are still catching up. “That will elevate the profession…it is a pretty big endeavour for sure.” Government funding for basic private tests would also remove friction, “because I can run all the labs, it’s just the patient has to pay”, which is an unnecessary barrier, and makes it harder to verify medication use, as one example.
Demand for her skills alone could make the case for inclusionary care. “My waiting list is 400 patients.” Healthcare providers are scarce in her region, and “when you practice medicine in a way that suits multiple people in need, and you have time to take care of them, they want that service.”
Collaboration, says Stanley, is about practicality rather than politics. “No one has time to manage everything – the physical concerns, the mental/emotional, the biological, labs, imaging, medication interactions. Really, we should just all work together and optimize everybody’s strengths.”
She sees partnership potential at the ground level, sharing her experience at a recent medical conference, “one-third were naturopathic doctors, and two-thirds were medical doctors,” and the interprofessional blending was natural.
If you had a few minutes with a healthcare policymaker, what would you want them to understand about the reality of naturopathic medicine?
“My goal for this would be to bring more understanding and political attention to the fact that we have a bigger role than is being understood and utilized.” Insurance priorities are changing – people want access to naturopathic care coverage – and the economic costs of delayed care are adding up. “Patients waiting for hip surgery substantially longer…means they’re out of work longer, and it’s costing Canada significantly.”
To policymakers, she would ask, “How come you can’t see the power of our role in helping the system?” The perception of NDs as oppositional is fundamentally inaccurate, in her view, and discounts the education-centred, patient-first premise of the profession. “It would be really advantageous if they started seeing us as a puzzle piece as opposed to an opponent.”
In British Columbia, NDs are considered primary care physicians, basically in line with a nurse practitioner’s role, yet are not part of the provincial Medical Service Plan (MSP) system. “There must be a way to make this more collaborative, because primary care is literally almost non-existent. With more than 3,000 NDs across Canada, it’s not a large profession, but we would still make a dent in patient care.”
Looking ahead, what does a more inclusive, accessible healthcare system look like to you?
“The ability to refer, the ability to run diagnostic imaging, and the ability to run diagnostic lab testing. If we had those, we could fulfill that role very well.”
She believes the path forward is clear: “collaborative medicine is going to be the direction we go.” And as the system continues to strain, she hopes policymakers will finally recognize that “maybe there are more resources that could be utilized to help the situation.”
In the meantime, Stanley will continue to do the work that compels her, for the good of her patients: “It’s often not paid, but it’s good medicine, and that’s what is important.”
Dr. Robyn Stanley is a naturopathic doctor who combines evidence-based training with a safe and responsive atmosphere of care. She earned her degree from the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in 2014, where she was awarded the prestigious “Spirit of Boucher” award. She’s built a practice focused on pain management, hormone balancing, and optimizing health for all of her patients. Stanley holds advanced certifications in PRP, neural and peri-neural therapy, and is among the few naturopathic doctors in Canada performing ultrasound-guided injections. Passionate about physical medicine and holistic wellness, she also served as an advanced physical medicine instructor at Boucher. When not at the clinic, you’ll find her outdoors, mountain-biking, hiking, and spending time with her family.