Exploring Life & Business with Lauren Deville of Nature Cure Family Health

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Deville.

Hi Lauren, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I came to naturopathic medicine in a roundabout way. When I was fifteen, my father died of cancer, after which I planned to devote my life to cancer research.

But I quickly discovered that research was not for me. Years later I planned to attend traditional (“allopathic”) medical school, but I was frustrated by my volunteer experience, which seemed to consist only of treating symptoms, rather than searching for and addressing underlying causes.

I stumbled upon Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (which has recently changed its name to Sonoran University) almost by accident, but the moment I walked in the doors of my future medical school, I knew that was what I had been searching for all along. I consider myself incredibly blessed to have found a career that is also a calling.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I never wanted to be a business owner. I tried everything I could not be… but the road to naturopathic medicine isn’t well paved, and was even less so when I graduated. I knew nothing about running a business, and just kind of had to figure it out as I went! When I was first out of school and building my practice, there were times when I had very few patients and very high debts to pay off, and had to really keep my eyes focused on God and His promises to provide for me. I remembered being told when interviewing for naturopathic school that most people die with their loans and to not expect to pay them off. Well–I paid mine off in 5.5 years!

Then there was the time when I was looking to move to a bigger location. My landlord at the time had promised me that I could stay month to month when my lease was up, only to tell me a week prior to the end of the lease that he’d leased it to someone else, and I would have to be out in less than 7 days! I was on vacation the week before this, so, during vacation, I scrambled to find other properties to tour as soon as I got home. I had several of them lined up for the following morning, and then we were told that our flight would be delayed possibly all night due to a hurricane. But we prayed, and the flight was only delayed for one hour. I got home at 1 am, in time to wake up and view properties at 9 am the following morning. The first place I looked at was exactly what I’d prayed for, at just the right price… but it did need a paint job and new floors, and I didn’t have time for any of that, much less to allow it to “off-gas” (release all the solvents) prior to moving in since I have so many chemically sensitive patients. But then it turned out the renter at my old place fell through, and my real estate agent was able to negotiate an extra two months at my old location: time enough to get the walls and the floors done in the new place, and allow it to off-gas before moving in!

I have a lot of stories like this. There’s always a crisis. It’s always down to the last possible second. Then, I pray and believe God for an answer, and He comes through.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Nature Cure Family Health?
We tend to specialize in complex chronic diseases: we get the people who have been everywhere and can’t seem to get a diagnosis, and who are hypersensitive to medications, chemicals, and sometimes even foods and supplements. I love to play detective, and try to get to the root cause. I have a firm belief that the body is designed to heal itself, and from a big-picture perspective, my job is to identify and remove obstacles to cure that prevents it from healing, identify and supply and building blocks it needs to do this that might be missing, and (when necessary) stimulate the body’s natural ‘vital force’ to do the rest.

I’m also a Christian if that wasn’t already obvious (I’m also the host of the weekly podcast, Christian Natural Health). Many of my patients come to me for this reason, as I address body, mind, and spirit, when appropriate in a given case.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
When I first entered naturopathic school in 2007, I’d often come across someone who didn’t know what naturopathic medicine was. Now, that’s quite rare (unless I’m traveling–in some parts of the country it’s still relatively unknown). I think more and more people are frustrated with the “sick care” model of treating symptoms, and they are increasingly searching for practitioners who search for the reason why they’re sick and treat that.

To that end, this past year I’ve been trying to grow and promote a database of other like-minded physicians around the country, called WholeHealthDr.com. My vision is to make it easy for patients to connect with the kinds of doctors they’re looking for (whether NDs, DOs, MDs, NPs, etc.) in their area, who will truly search for the root cause of illness. Someday I hope to expand it worldwide!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.naturecurefamilyhealth.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NatureCureFamilyHealth
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatureCureFH
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE0sgS6uL3uZTtrjVdChsnw
• Other: https://www.drlaurendeville.com/podcast/