From Paramedicine to Naturopathy

A Decade in Health

The Back Story

So where does the story begin? For me, it was in my Year 11 biology classroom. I remember flicking through an anatomy and physiology textbook for the first time and feeling completely at home. Biology just clicked in a way that the more abstract concepts in mathematics never did.

I spent hours studying, fascinated by everything from microscopic images of cellular structures to the big-picture concepts of disease progression. By the end of that year, I had already decided: my future was going to be in healthcare.

A Turning Point

In Year 12, on the eve of my HSC trial exams, my uncle passed away tragically in a farming accident out west. The paramedics who responded left a huge imprint on my family.

Graduating high school, that loss left a lasting imprint on me too. I knew I wanted to help in a tangible way, and I began to picture myself working as a rural doctor — someone who could support families like mine when crisis struck.

Sydney University

I was accepted into a Bachelor of Medical Science at the University of Sydney. Wide-eyed and eager, I threw myself into first-year chemistry, psychology, and anatomy. My plan was clear: sit the GAMSAT, maintain a good GPA, and hopefully get into medicine.

But the reality of it was tough. The chemistry was intense, and with my uncle’s death still fresh, the finish line of medicine felt very far away. By the end of my first year, I was starting to question whether the pathway I had chosen truly aligned with me.

A Shift Into Paramedicine

That’s when I decided to transfer into a Bachelor of Paramedicine at the Australian Catholic University. It felt more practical, more hands-on, and more immediately aligned with what I wanted to do. The idea of working as a rural paramedic, helping farmers and people in remote communities, felt like the right step. Medicine was still at the back of my mind, but paramedicine seemed like the path that would get me out into the world faster, building real experience.

Living With Endometriosis

During my paramedicine degree, though, another challenge was running in the background: stage 4 endometriosis. I noticed how the stress of exams and university deadlines would make my pain flare, and I worried about how I’d cope on the road as a paramedic.

My OB-GYN and GP recommended I go on the oral contraceptive pill and spoke about further laparoscopic surgeries to manage my symptoms. At the time, I did what I was told, but looking back, I can see how much I was already pushing my body to keep up with the demands of study and clinical placement.

Working on Road

After graduating, I was fortunate enough to land a job with NSW Ambulance. My first posting was in the same zone where my uncle had passed away. It felt significant — like I had come full circle. I was living out the plan I’d made years earlier: to help rural communities in a tangible way, to be there for families like mine when crisis struck.

By my second year on road, I was moved far north, almost to the QLD border. It was a huge shift — new community, new landscape, and a new set of demands. I was working on-call hours, which meant 6am–6pm shifts, then taking the ambulance home overnight and responding to jobs throughout the evening, only to head back into another 12-hour shift the next day. The lines between “work” and “rest” blurred until it felt like I was never really off.

At the same time, I was still managing stage 4 endometriosis with the oral contraceptive pill and regular analgesic medication. My GP’s approach felt like it stopped there: “Stay on the pill, take more pain relief, consider another laparoscopy.” There was no bigger picture, no plan for how I was supposed to sustain my health while working under such relentless conditions.

The truth was, I was struggling.

I was isolated from my family and support networks. My diet was poor, often dictated by whatever I could grab between jobs. I was under-fuelled and constantly running on coffee. Gut issues began creeping in, but there was no space to deal with them. Stress had no positive outlet — I just carried it shift to shift, job to job.

Layer onto that the physical environment: 40+ degree heat, long stretches in the back of an ambulance, and the emotional weight of the work itself. It was a pressure cooker.

Instead of feeling like a strong, capable paramedic, I started to feel like a shell of myself. My health was deteriorating, and the system around me wasn’t giving me the tools or the support to get back on top of it. I had wanted so badly to excel at work, but I was running myself into the ground in the process.

I became a living example of how to fast-track burnout. I was burning the candle at both ends — physically, emotionally, and mentally. I learned so much during that time about what not to do that I eventually wrote a book on it.

The end result was inevitable: I was completely burnt out. I went back to my GP and, once again, the only options I was given were pharmaceutical. I was prescribed antidepressants and handed a PTSD diagnosis. On paper, it explained a lot. But inside, I felt like the root causes of my suffering were still being overlooked.

While I was on leave, trying to make sense of what PTSD meant for my life and career, I decided to see a naturopath. And that’s when everything started to shift.

I loved the way my naturopath went through my entire medical history, from birth to now. She pieced together all of my major diagnoses and hospitalisations, and worked with me to create a plan that actually felt right for me. For the first time, I felt like my story mattered — not just the symptoms in front of me, but the whole journey of how I had arrived here.

The more I experienced that kind of care, the more I realised: the only way forward for me was to study to become a naturopath myself.

I had already spent years on the front line, seeing what health crises looked like in real time. I knew how it felt to burn out, to break down, and to rebuild. And I also knew what it was like to feel dismissed or given quick fixes that didn’t address the bigger picture. I wanted to be able to combine that lived experience with evidence-based natural medicine, and give others the kind of care that had finally helped me heal.

Once I started recovering from PTSD — with the help of my naturopath and with my own dedication to learning about things like HPA axis dysfunction, nervous system regulation, and burnout recovery — I began to feel stronger. I could see how many strategies existed beyond what I’d been offered in the conventional system. Tools for prevention, for resilience, for long-term health.

So instead of sitting the GAMSAT and pursuing medicine, I chose a different path. I went back to university, this time to study naturopathy. It wasn’t the route I had imagined back in Year 11 biology class, but it felt like the truest one for me — one that allowed me to bring together my real-world frontline experience, my personal health journey, and my deep love of science!!

FAQ:

Where are you studying? I study a Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) at the Endeavour College of Natural Health in Queensland. Why naturopathy? I didn’t want to only witness people at the end stages of disease, like I had so often in paramedicine. I wanted to step in earlier, to support prevention, resilience, and quality of life. Naturopathy gave me that pathway.

Studying naturopathy became a way to bring both worlds together — the clinical, fast-thinking experience I gained on the frontline, and the slower, root-cause, whole-person lens of natural medicine. I also felt a deep sense of disillusionment with the way my own care was handled through the conventional system. With both PTSD and endometriosis, I was offered the same narrow set of options over and over again — medication, suppression, or more surgery. None of it addressed the underlying drivers or gave me tools to support myself day-to-day. It felt like I was being managed, not truly cared for. Naturopathy helped me rebuild in both instances.

Do you miss Paramedicine? Sometimes! but i’ll always be grateful for what I learned and for the people I worked with. But I also know that stepping away was the right decision for my health, my family, and my future.

What are your goals after graduation? My aim is to work in clinical practice, marrying my understanding of western and naturopathic medicine to be a well rounded, non biased, evidence based naturopath. I also want to educate as many paramedics / front line workers that i can about how to manage shift work whilst optimising their own wellbeing by hosting online seminars / visiting universities or new grad paramedics on station. Did you get credits from your previous degree? Yes i did, but this did not change the length of my degree. It is still a four year degree. How are you finding the degree? Is it more difficult that Paramedicine? Paramedicine is emergency medicine — fast, high-pressure, and protocol-driven. You’re trained to quickly assess, prioritise, and follow the guidelines that will give your patient the best chance in those critical minutes. It’s necessarily reductionistic — you narrow down to the most immediate, life-saving problem.

Naturopathic medicine, on the other hand, is slow and layered. It requires sitting with someone’s entire health history, exploring the connections between body systems, and asking why things are happening — not just what is happening in the moment. It’s less about following a single set protocol, and more about pattern recognition, critical thinking, and tailoring a plan that honours the whole person.

So is it “harder”? In some ways, paramedicine is harder because of the urgency. But naturopathy stretches me differently — it demands patience, deep study, and the ability to hold complexity without rushing to fix. Both challenge me, just in opposite directions. ... i'll also add - the phytochemistry subjects in naturopathy were way harder than any paramedicine chemistry subjects, each medicinal plant and herb are broken down into their molecular constituents - you learn about how these act on different receptors and systems of the human body to achieve their therapeutic effect. An example below:

plant constituents.

What is the work load like, can i work and study at the same time?

The degree requires mandatory face to face classes and clinical prac that lasts up to a year (on campus). It is a full time degree - there are options to do it part time but i'd imagine this would take almost 8 years? What are the Job prospects like ? Paramedicine offers clear demand and potential for vital work—but competition for traditional roles is increasing, especially in certain states.

Naturopathy may not be as high-velocity in job availability, but it offers a sustainable, flexible, and emerging space, especially for practitioners willing to build their own path. How has your previous knowledge impacted your practice? Has there been any crossover? Naturally, my brain will always default to the worst-case scenario. In clinic, I see this as a strength — it makes me very thorough. For example, if someone presents with blood in their stool or gastrointestinal pain, my mind immediately runs through the most serious (but realistic) possibilities first, before working backward. It also means I’m very comfortable referring a patient on when needed — because sometimes the best care is collaborative care.

Working on the frontline also gave me a strong foundation in anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology, but more importantly, it showed me how health plays out in real life. I often saw people at the end stages of disease progression: end-stage emphysema, cardiac arrests from unmanaged high cholesterol, strokes from untreated hypertension, and severe mental health crises stemming from unaddressed depression.

Those experiences left me deeply passionate about preventative health care. I don’t want to see people only when things have gone too far. I want to help people recognise early warning signs, support their bodies through stress, and put strategies in place that can prevent those late-stage outcomes.