Evan and guest co-host Oliver are joined by Raewyn Guerrero, founder of Well Works. They talk about functional medicine and how to improve your health.
Raewyn’s Bio from the Well Works website:
Wellbeing seems to be a huge focus in the world at the moment. But for me, this has been the focus of my entire life. I spent years going from Gastro-Enterologist, to ENT specialist, to Gynecologists, to Urologist, to Nutritional Therapist and finally, a Functional Medicine Practitioner made sense of what was happening to my body, after years of antibiotic overuse, chronic upper respiratory tract infections, eczema, poor sleep, low fat diets, IBS and hormonal imbalances.
My health issues mean that I’ve seen both sides of the therapeutic relationship, and deeply understand the frustration of going from specialist to specialist searching for answers to what conventional medicine deems as seemingly unrelated health issues.
On both my Mom and Dad’s side of the family, I witnessed the effects of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Dementia, Type 2 Diabetes, Hashimotos Thyroid Disease, Heart Disease, Lupus Autoimmune Disease, Stroke, and Cancer.
Growing up around so much ill health made me conscious that simply following doctor’s orders didn’t guarantee healing.
With vocal nodules ending my budding music career when I was 21, I inadvertently set off on a path to understand the lifestyle connection in the prevention of both physical and psychological illness.
My grandfather’s GAD, Stroke and subsequent Dementia were the main drivers for my pursuit of Psychology. In 2006, I graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London with a BSc Psychology. I am a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, and have practiced CBT Hypnotherapy since 2009. The loss of my Grandfather after his 7 year battle with Dementia was a catalyst for me, so that my practice was focused on anxiety reduction, addiction, personal development, stress and weight management.
My top Character Strengths are Gratitude, Zest, Curiosity, Hope, and Love of Learning, evidenced by the fact that I continued to undertake further practitioner training in Positive Psychology, Life Coaching, Hypnobirthing, Smoking Cessation, Nutrition, and Rehabilitative Pilates.
On the passing of my Grandmother in 2016 from pharmaceutical-induced heart failure, I was compelled to re-train as a Functional Medicine Health Coach. If only Functional Medicine had been mainstream a decade ago, I feel certain both my grandparents would still be alive and thriving.
I have lived and worked in London for 16 years, spending the last 6 years as the Global Wellbeing Manager at a multi-national bank. I developed group wellness programs for those struggling with 21st Century chronic health conditions, such as stress, anxiety, depression, IBS, back and neck pain, and obesity.
In 2012, I introduced 6 week Mindful Awareness workshops to employees with the aim of reducing stress, and improving focus, clarity and creativity. This was a huge achievement as meditation in a bank at that time was very much taboo. I’ll always remember the moment, I saw a Managing Director closing his eyes around a board room table, softening his shoulders and focusing on his breath.
I was a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Mindfulness in the Workplace from 2015 – 2016, as reducing the levels of anxiety and stress of modern life should be a priority for Government Policy and Public Health.