• Judy’s special areas of interest and expertise lie in the field of chronic illness and functional disorders. Functional disorders are health problems that may cause considerable distress or discomfort but have no pathology that doctors can identify. A common example is irritable bowel syndrome. Experience over 20 years in clinical practice has shown her that almost all conditions are treatable when they are addressed with the aim of improving the individual’s ability to nourish, detoxify and coordinate their minds and bodies. Judy’s specialist areas of study are cancer support (working in conjunction with conventional treatment), metabolic imbalances associated with blood sugar imbalances, persistent weight problems, fertility difficulties, stress related disorder and all types of digestive dysfunctions.

• Although starting her undergraduate studies as a medical student in Edinburgh University, Judy Patterson changed her study direction after a year and subsequently graduated from Exeter University in 1978 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. An interest in nutrition and healthy eating developed during holiday work in Cranks vegetarian restaurant . On graduating Judy put her skills into practice by cooking for a small group of primary school children at a private boarding school in Dartington, Devon. This was followed by a period of time living and working on an a organic small-holding and managing the wholefood café at the Centre of Alternative Technology in mid Wales. She later devised and ran residential courses in wholefood cookery at the Centre.

• Seeking a vocation, Judy looked for a way to combine her interest in healthy eating, organic growing and a lifelong affinity for wild plants with her medical interests. This led her study a distance learning course in Medical Herbalism with the School of Herbal Medicine in Tunbridge Wells. She qualified as a medical herbalist, with the NIMH (National Institute of Medical Herbalists) in 1989 and has since practiced in Bristol, Nottingham and Inverurie. Constantly seeking to add depth to her holistic approach to healing, she undertook reflexology training at the Midland School of Reflextherapy and later followed up her interest in nutrition by studying for a distance learning BSc in Nutritional Medicine with Thames Valley University. A Diploma in Iridology was a valuable adjunct to this training. Judy was awarded a BSc in Nutritional Medicine in 2008 and Membership of BANT (British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy) in early 2009. She worked as a student practitioner for the Nutrition Cancer Therapy Trust and followed up her interest in cancer support by setting up the Nutrition Service at CLAN (Cancer Link Aberdeen and North East) in 2006.

• Judy has always been attracted to a holistic approach to health, with a natural inclination to ask the question “why ?” . She seeks to understand the path that led to a breakdown of health, in order to identify the route back out again. The tools of Natural Medicine are then applied to this task - they work on healing the root cause of (chronic) disease by altering the terrain in which the condition developed.

• As part of a programme of Continued Professional Development she is presently engaged in a two year programme of web-based seminars given by doctors and naturopathic physicians from the Institute of Functional Medicine www.functionalmedicine.org. This organisation is at the leading edge of the rapidly expanding systems-based medicine movement founded in 1991 in USA. It is a science-based field of health care this is grounded in the principles of naturopathic healing.