Our Process

Understanding the Patient | Working with the Patient | Educating the Patient

developmental pediatrics

Who is Our Patient?

We will see children and teenagers of all ages, gender, personality, religion, race, culture, class, socioeconomic status and ability. The majority will be gifted neurodiverse individuals between the ages of 4–12 years old who are dealing with a behavioral challenge at home and/or school; their caregiver has “tried it all” to help their child and either feels alone in their goal for wellness or feels dismissed by traditional providers. That common and unfortunate experience led us to these realizations

All children are born to thrive.

You are the expert on your child. We are guides to support your child’s well-being.

You are not alone. You matter. Your child matters.

Our typical patient is also deeply feeling and sensitive which can be an advantage but can also contribute to some of the health issues since the world we live in isn’t designed for that level of sensitivity and can be hard hitting.

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What Our Patients Want

No matter what anyone says, we all typically want the same thing when it comes to health—we want to be healthy and feel happy. We want our children to thrive and unfold to their full potential. We want a community that sees us, believes us and cares about us. But ideally we don’t have to do anything to get there. Even if we are open to making changes, ideally we want them short term – we don’t want to or find it very difficult to make lasting, permanent changes. 

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What Other Practitioners Want

Ideally, the practitioner wants to swoop in, deliver the wisdom they’ve fought so long and hard to learn and have the patient do exactly what they say, so both can celebrate in the absolute transformation that is sure to follow. 

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Where the Rubber Meets the Road

The reality is that the quick, easy transformations are fabulous, but it is your toughest cases that will take up the most of your mental space. There will also be many families who do some things and not do others, who are happy with modest change and not interested in transformation. So what to do? You meet them where they are. 

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Working with the Patient | Our Patient Philosophy

Meeting patients and caregivers where they are means that you strive to help them meet their goals, not yours. It doesn’t mean you can’t broaden their horizons and expand what they think is possible regarding health and happiness, but it means to always be mindful they are the experts on their child and their opinion matters. Children’s opinions also matter, and their goals are important.

A lovely, natural goal is to never need medicine or surgery, to only eat organic, local-farmed food, to avoid chemicals and all electronics – however…that is not realistic. It is important and an imperative OP philosophy that you never make anyone feel bad for their choice to use medication or medical intervention. It could be life-saving for them, or sanity saving or just the best they can do at the moment. Let your work with the patient and caregiver be a “soft place to land” instead of a bootcamp or space that makes them feel guilty, bad or chastised. This led to something else we have often said: No shame. No blame. 

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Focus on Education

Always Learning, Challenging Beliefs, Evidence-Based + Mind/Spirit

At Orchid Pediatrics, we are always learning and expanding our knowledge. I have done this my entire life, even more so during the last 2+ years with Orchid Pediatrics and created a space where this is expected and encouraged with our team. Our clinic offers more education than any I’ve ever encountered. We focus on evidence-based holistic care at all levels, with the understanding that there are some things we can’t quantify in a study or things that have yet to be explained. 

This requires maintaining an open mind. I’ve unfortunately heard of others teaching false information because it was part of their “brand and marketing”. That is not the Orchid Pediatrics way. I don’t want us to ever be so tied to an idea that we can’t grow if presented with better evidence or a new experience. We’ve already had to change supplement companies, labs, software – you name it—anything/anyone that didn’t stay “top-notch” or continue to grow as we did, meant that we soon outgrew them. Being flexible to make those changes keeps you engaged, relevant and providing excellent care. 

Some Things We Are NOT Flexible About

Honesty, integrity and compassion. These are non-negotiable. There’s never a reason to hide or lie because we can deal with any challenge that comes our way. Perfect honesty is required, perfect execution is not.

Contact Orchid Pediatrics​

developmental pediatrician

Phone

(902) 700-4977

developmental pediatrician

Email

hello@orchidpediatrics.ca

developmental pediatrician

Fax

(902) 418-6101

developmental pediatrics

Office Location

5991 Spring Garden Rd.
Suite 587
Halifax, NS B3H 1Y6