Our Mission
The mission of The Institute of Natural Health is to provide affordable, natural healthcare to help you achieve your highest level of vitality and well-being.
We believe that lifelong health and vitality is your birthright. Few of us know why we lose it or how to get it back. At The Institute of Natural Health, we are committed to helping you reach optimal health by using a Functional Medicine Approach that we have developed and refined over the last ten+ years of helping hundreds of patients.
We invite you to take a step into a new world—a world of possibility; a world of good health and happiness; a world where you are given the tools to take charge of your own health. We welcome you to experience the medicine of the future, available today.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century.
By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, Functional Medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.
Hallmarks of Functional Medicine
Patient-Centered Care
The focus of Functional Medicine is on patient-centered care, promoting health as a positive vitality, beyond just the absence of disease. By listening to the patient and learning his or her story, the practitioner brings the patient into the discovery process and tailors treatments that address the individual’s unique needs.
Science-Based Healthcare Approach
Functional Medicine practitioners look “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with both internal (mind, body, and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.
Integrating Best Medical Practices
Functional Medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what is sometimes considered “alternative” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on true healing and prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of medications, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, stress management techniques, and/or the most cutting-edge therapies available.
THE PROBLEM
Why do we need Functional Medicine?
Our society is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, and autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.
The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care—the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg. Physicians apply specific, prescribed treatments such as drugs or surgery that aim to treat the immediate problem or symptom.
Unfortunately, the acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic disease. In most cases, it does not take into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual or factors such as environmental exposures to toxins and the aspects of today’s lifestyle that have a direct influence on the rise in chronic disease in modern Western society.
There’s a huge gap between research and the way doctors practice. The gap between emerging research in basic sciences and integration into medical practice is enormous—as long as 50 years—particularly in the area of complex, chronic illness. The science is out there and you deserve better. Why settle for outdated practices?
At The Institute of Natural Health, we implement the latest research and science into our treatment plans and we believe this is just one of the keys behind our patients’ success.
OUR SOLUTION
About The Institute of Natural Health
The Institute of Natural Health was founded in 2015 by Dr. TJ Williams and his fiancé, Erin Flynn. Dr. TJ had spent the previous number of years honing his skills as a functional medicine practitioner and used those skills to help Erin regain her health after an illness that had been long denied as even existing and then eventually deemed untreatable by conventional medicine.
The Institute of Natural Health was created to be a safe space, offering patient-centered, not disease-centered, medicine where people can regain their health and find access to and benefit from medical science and information that has not yet been incorporated into conventional medical care; to experience the medicine of the future, today.
Dr. TJ Williams and his fiancé, Erin Flynn, made it their mission to find the best practitioners and nurses who are trained in functional medicine. The Institute of Natural Health team consists of some of the smartest, caring, most cutting-edge practitioners in the world who have helped hundreds of patients treat the root cause of their illness.
The Keys to Optimal Wellness
Environmental Inputs
Everything in our environment interacts with our genes to create health or disease. This is the revolutionary concept of epigenetics. Our diets, nutritional status, air, water, how much we exercise, trauma, psychological factors, and exposure to environmental toxins and radiation can all influence our genes and our health. Creating a healthy environment inside and out is our first step to balancing the system.
Inflammation and Immune Balance
When your immune system shifts out of balance, inflammation can run rampant—causing a chronic, smoldering fire inside your body that contributes to disease and weight gain. Managing inflammation is a key aspect to achieving optimal wellness.
Hormones and Neurotransmitters
Most Americans are living out of harmony with our biological rhythms. The reason is this: two kinds of small molecules, which we depend on to keep us in balance, are running haywire. They are hormones and neurotransmitters, and uncovering reasons for imbalances in these areas is essential.
Gut and Digestive Health
Optimal gut health has become a prominent focus in 21st century health. The links between chronic illness and an imbalanced microbiome keep growing. Our gut is at the core of our health. Understanding why it breaks down and how to repair it becomes of the utmost importance.
Detoxification
Detoxification is the science of how our bodies get rid of waste. If waste builds up, we get sick. The key becomes figuring out how to enhance our body’s capacity to detoxify and get rid of waste while minimizing our exposure to toxins.
Energy, Mitochondria, and Oxidative Stress
Energy—how we make it, why we lose it, and how to create more of it. Understanding how to optimize our mitochondria (energy factories) and how to reduce oxidative stress (which results from toxic insults, infections, allergens, stress, and just eating too much poor quality food) is an often overlooked yet vital component to becoming a thriving human.
The Mind/Body and Body/Mind Effect
The body and the mind are a single, dynamic bi-directional system. What you do to one has enormous impact on the other. What you do to your body you do to your brain. Understanding the importance of this relationship is key to achieving optimal wellness.
Our Results
We have helped hundreds of patients treat the root cause of their illness using a personalized approach. We work to achieve balance in all systems in the body so that it functions optimally. We partner with you to support your body’s natural ability to heal.
Make an Appointment
An initial consultation at The Institute of Natural Health is not your typical doctor’s visit. Each new patient experience is designed to uncover everything from an extensive health intake, thorough innovative lab testing, treatment, and support.
The first appointment with a Functional Medicine practitioner must be done in-person at our clinic. Follow-up appointments may take place in person or remotely via phone.
Meet Our Clinicians
T.J. Williams, DC, PhD
Nick Bodi, FNP
Lauren Skyles, FNP
Jaime Reise, FNP
Bryan Warner, MD
Lenn Wolf, DC
David Harshfield, MD
Meet Our Staff
Kate Rose, RN, BSN, NTC
Angela Wells-Peterson RN
Angel McDowell, RN
Morgan Brown, RN
Erin Britton, RN
Kisha Mason, RMA
Peggy O’Neill
Lauren Winkler
Ellen Gentry
