Naturopathic center now in Liberty Lake
Over the last 100 years, our food choices have changed to include things processed in laboratories for convenience and cost. No longer are we hunting and gathering what is found in nature; microwaves and fast foods fuel us and we are suffering. Jeremiah and Julia Stevens want to change that. “I do this because what seems so obvious and simple of an approach to me is considered alternative. When did eating good food, drinking clean water, breathing clean air, have your quiet time, say your prayers, get good rest, and love your neighbor become alternative?” Julia Stevens said.
“I do this because in my own little way we are trying to restore some peace in a crazy world.”
In September 2010, the couple moved their Naturopathic Center from Coeur d’Alene to 21950 E. Country Vista Drive in Liberty Lake. Though Idaho treated them well and they had a long list of clients, moving to Washington state offered them more insurance companies to work with and therefore more potential clients.
The center’s purpose is to help people feel better physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually to identify and fulfill their own purposes in life.
“All physical ailments have an emotional component, whether the emotion caused the physical or whether the physical symptom causes an emotional disturbance like worry that follows a physical symptom,” Jeremiah Stevens said. “True healing goes beyond just removing the physical complaint.”
The couple believe that the long list of prevalent diseases in our country like heart disease, depression, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, pain, anxiety, insomnia and digestive problems will not abate by making stronger drugs but by making changes in our lifestyles.
“Much of modern life has created shortcuts which have caused problems in our health. Poor dietary choices, sedentary lifestyles, chronic stress, poor sleep and exposure to environmental toxins have negatively affected our health,” he explained. “By teaching people how to recognize and change these habits, they become more likely to be able to interact meaningfully in communities which will feed people emotionally and spiritually, helping them to be well enough to help others. I remember I wrote my naturopathic medical school admissions essay on the value of community and that doctors can help with creating healthier communities and I still believe this to be true.”
Jeremiah Stevens earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and Julia Stevens earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Both earned degrees in naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, where the couple met. Their decision to start a practice where they did was because Western Washington had a lot of naturopathic centers and clinics but Eastern Washington did not. Jeremiah Stevens attended Coeur d’Alene High School. “We wanted to bring it here,” he said.
What they bring is change to a system that isn’t working for everyone. They integrate conventional medicine with natural techniques using ancient and commonsense practices that to some are considered alternative such as nutrition, homeopathy, herbs, counseling and physical medicine techniques like massage, craniosacral therapy, stretching, colon hydrotherapy and naturopathic manipulation. “It’s about having a commonsense plan to help guide people out of the forest onto a clear path towards health,” Julia said. “I am passionate about naturopathic medicine because it is simple, amazing, wholesome and fundamentally true.”