Get To Know Us - Dr. Hayhlee Clarence
roots
So that is a bit of a complicated question because I’ve lived all over the place. Primarily on the West Coast - but I’ve lived everywhere from Alberta, to BC, to Quebec to Ontario. But I most recently moved from Vancouver to Toronto to study naturopathic medicine, and decided to make Toronto my home.
background
I was actually planning on coming into naturopathic medicine from the early days of my undergraduate degree. I studied kinesiology and had planned to go from kinesiology into the pre-med stream into naturopathic medicine.
A number of years kind of filled in between that and I ended up working full time in a number of different industries. I did finance, I worked in immigration settlement work, I did business and entrepreneurial for new Canadians, and then ended up coming into naturopathic medicine from there.
My background is almost as varied as my location, but a lot of what I studied came down to supporting people, supporting health, and helping people find where they’re most comfortable.
inspiration
In BC, which is where I did a lot of my high school and undergrad studies, naturopathic doctors are very commonplace. It’s not unusual to have an ND alongside your family doctor overseeing your health long-term. For me, I have always managed my health through the support of an ND, and really recognized how valuable that care was and realized how reasonable it can be in terms of supporting your health long-term.
Once I was on track to do pre-med I was thinking about how I was going to help people, and realized naturopathic medicine resonated with me a lot more strongly. I love the collaborative nature of naturopathic medicine, I love how there’s never just one way to treat something. We can look at what makes sense for someone, we can really look at how they want to address their health, and go from their in terms of formulating a tailored treatment plan for them. Something that they can take long-term that won’t just benefit their initial concerns, but will help their health long-term.
integrative cancer care
So this is an area that I'm really passionate about because there’s not only a need for safe and effective care, but also advocacy for patients that are thrown into something very chaotic and need a stable place to think through all the decisions they have to make, and understand all the information being thrown at them.
This all really came about when I was in my undergrad degree and my dad was diagnosed with cancer. I had a chance to see firsthand how complicated the road is, and how emotionally charged it can be.
It’s not only a decision about treatment you’re doing, it’s also a decision about how you want to go about treatment, what that means for your current situation and your future, and what that means for your family. There’s often so many different opinions that can start to cloud your judgment. So what I’m most passionate about in this is helping patients recognize what they want, what they need, and help them find a middle ground that they feel comfortable with.
practice
A lot of what I’m actually seeing are hormone-sensitive cancers and reproductive cancers. Things like breast cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, where more and more women are getting diagnosed earlier.
Although scary and unfortunate, getting diagnosed with cancer earlier in life means you have more treatment options, and with continual improvements in treatment, people tend to do very well long-term.
If I see someone during an active cancer treatment, my primary goals are that they feel as well as possible going through treatment, we’re ensuring treatment is as effective as possible, we assess and monitor for the most likely side effects, and we’re of course supporting recovery after treatment ends, so you can go back to your life and what you’re excited about.
I’m also treating a lot of concerns that are impacted by a previous cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment. Things like fertility, digestive complaints, menopause, chronic fatigue or pain, and sleep disturbances that people don’t expect to be long-term challenges following their cancer treatments but often are. Basically things that we assume are side effects of cancer treatment, but then years go by and it’s still impacting a person’s quality of life.
Another thing that comes up is the emotional toll a cancer diagnosis takes on someone. Often when we’re in the midst of a cancer diagnosis and treatment, we’re so focused on the physical side of things, and emotions take a backseat. Once you’re in recovery though, and as the years go by and we’re considering your long-term health, we need to discuss the emotional toll that diagnosis has taken. Emotions play a big role in our physical health, so this definitely can’t be ignored.
unexpected
Something people don’t know about me or wouldn’t expect is that although I spend all day taking care of people and ensuring people are well, I can never keep plants alive.
An added layer of irony to this is that my husband is a farmer and is excellent at keeping plants alive. Whenever he comes home from a season of farming, he’ll often find I’ve let all of his plants die. Luckily I’m much better at taking care of people than plants!
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Want to learn more?
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In support of your health,
Dr. Hayhlee Clarence & Dr. Alessia Milano