How To Get Access To Holistic Practitioners No Matter Where You Live – mindbodygreen.com

Luckily, new tech-forward startups are finding ways to solve that problem. Enter: Begin To Heal, an online platform connecting patients with vetted holistic health professionals. Started by a former busy exec who found herself battling adrenal fatigue and frustrated by traditional medicine, Pooja Khanna finally found healing in holistic medicine. Determined to make this type of treatment more widely available, Pooja developed Begin To Heal. "The idea is to make alternative medicine as accessible as possible, especially to those who might be hesitant to seek less conventional methods of healing due to unfamiliarity with the industry," explains Pooja.

Begin To Heal is partnered with more than 200 licensed wellness practitioners, with services including everything from acupuncture, nutrition coaching, and integrative medicine to hypnotherapy, energy healing, reiki, spiritual coaching, ayurveda, and psychotherapy.

You can view practitioner profiles, sort by specialty, read reviews from other customers, and book your session, all through their website. The Begin To Heal team has even taken sample sessions with every practitioner on the site and verified their licenses and certifications.

And the best part: You can schedule virtual appointments, meaning even if you don't live in New York, where their in-person practitioners are based, you can have access to top holistic healers and alternative therapies through secure HIPAA-compliant video calls. Energy healing from the couch, anyone?

Plus, they offer online courses and guided meditations to round out your care. "Think of it like matchmaking for healing, and then add to it the comfort of being healed in your own home," Pooja explains. "Having it be an online service gives us the capability to create a global wellness universe."

Another New Yorkbased health practice, Parsley Health, just announced they'll start seeing patients virtually as well with new telehealth memberships. Billed as a primary care practice with a whole-body approach, Parsley's online membership is currently available in four states, with plans to go nationwide over the next six months.

When asked why they had expanded to online services, Parsley Health founder and mbg Collective member Robin Berzin, M.D., said it's all about access. While much of Parsley's practice was already digital, with doctor-patient messaging services and video call follow-ups, the first visit always had to be in person. "People shouldn't have to wait for a Parsley Health center to come to their area. We wanted to make Parsley accessible to them now," Berzin explained. "Our new telemedicine memberships will allow anyone, anywhere to do all of their visits online, including the first oneand that's really special."

Worried you won't be getting the "full Parsley experience" by doing it digitally? Robin promises, "For many, it will be even better. The convenience of anywhere access means you can kick off your journey with us from your home or office." Can't beat that.

Another newcomer, Milwaukee-based WellnessScript, has created their own virtual holistic health care program. To get you started, they offer a symptom quiz to learn more about where you are coming from. From there, you can book a one-hour phone or video consultation, followed by two 30-minute follow-up sessions with one of their licensed practitioners. Founded by two physicians, WellnessScript is committed to providing quality functional medicine to anyone, anywhere.

While not all of the services on these online platforms are covered by major health insurers right now, in many cases FSA/HSA benefits and out-of-network reimbursements can be used to cover most of the cost. Hopefully, as alternative medicine options become more widely available, the price will go down, make holistic health care even more accessible. As Robin put it, "This is just the next step. We have so many more steps to take to make comprehensive, holistic, personalized medicine available and accessible to everyone who needs it."

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How To Get Access To Holistic Practitioners No Matter Where You Live - mindbodygreen.com