A Career in Naturopathy – Naturopathy Graduate talks about her work at Harvest, Grey Lynn.
Wellpark College Naturopathy Graduate, Meredith Gallagher – Life after College and working as a Naturopath at Harvest, in Grey Lynn, Auckland.
Meredith tell us about your job at Harvest.
Well, working as a naturopath at Harvest is pretty varied. It’s a mixture of serving customers who want naturopathic advice or herbal formulas made for them and doing the “behind the scenes” kind of jobs – ordering or processing ordered herbs and supplements, liaising with supplement companies when they send the wrong thing or they change a product, looking after the other staff working in the shop, filling and measuring bottles of herbs for the shelves… I guess you could say it’s always different and there’s always something to do!
What do you particularly like about it?
I am really grateful for the practical experience that I’m getting – working with a full herbal dispensary right at my fingertips is a joy, and getting used to thinking on my feet is something I needed to do. There are always two naturopaths working together here, so I also enjoy discussions with the other practitioner who’s on, and getting different perspectives on naturopathy. I think we all learn a lot from one another.
How does it feel being out in the real world?
To start with it was a really scary prospect to not have the support of College and the student clinic to work out of. I also felt quite frustrated, as I really like clinical practice, but starting up as a self- employed naturopath can be quite a slow process, and I felt that making money was going to be tough! Now things are coming together a bit more and I’m finding that there are plenty of opportunities for me in the natural therapies industry especially if I think outside of the box a bit. Harvest is a good solid backbone for my clinical practice at the moment as it gives me a fixed income, ongoing education and practical experience, as well as a community setting in which to meet people and network with others.
