About Sonya Carl
Dr. Sonya Carl completed her pre-med studies at the University of Toronto, with an Honours Bachelor degree in Biology. She then completed the four year post-graduate program at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, an AANMC accredited member school and received her doctor of naturopathic medicine in 2002. Her internship was completed at the Robert Schad Naturopathic Clinic and Anishnawbe Health in Toronto, a government-funded multi-disciplinary clinic.
Her interest in alternative health began at age 16 when she visited a holistic doctor for her own health issues and was inspired by the dramatic improvement she experienced.
Having had extensive experience within the standard medical system, and seeing its limitations, she decided to preceptor with other naturopaths and their patients to gain a better understanding of the field. While at University she had the opportunity to work for the esteemed Dr. Srajeldin, whose passion and success made it easy for her to decide that pursuing a naturopathic medical education rather than the standard medical one was the right choice. The healing nature of the profession, the holistic approach, and the ability to provide several different treatment modalities (and not several medications) was very appealing.
In her general practice, Dr. Carl sees patients of all ages, and focuses on addressing all the factors that have contributed to her patients' health concerns. A complete health history including nutritional status, hormonal, digestive, and immune function, mental health as well as current and past medical treatments are all assessed in order to get a full understanding of what the underlying problems are. Various laboratory tests may also be recommended. With this information, she is able to develop an individualized treatment plan that addresses her patients' concerns holistically.
Dr. Carl has been a board-certified and licensed naturopathic doctor since 2002, and is trained in a wide range of therapies, including clinical nutrition and dietetics, botanical medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, hydrotherapy, gemmotherapy, biotherapeutic drainage and counseling.
She is known for her caring, thorough and common-sense approach.
My Approach
I believe that the conventional health care system in North America is limited, that there are treatment methods beyond pharmaceuticals that empower the individual and treat the whole person. People need an integrative, whole-person approach, that doesn't view a person as a collection of symptoms that are treated separately.
Much of the current health care system is based on controlling symptoms with medications, ie. Cholesterol lowering drugs, high blood pressure medication, or corticosteroid cream for eczema. Certainly, pharmaceuticals save lives and can provide enormous relief from symptoms, but the problem is that they don't actually create true health. While taking your medication, your symptoms are controlled, but if you stop and your symptoms return, then what have you really achieved? The underlying problem still exists. Symptoms are the body's way of telling you that something is wrong, and when we block them with medications, given time, they will simply reappear somewhere else, or require stronger and additional medications to treat.
My goal is to help people who would like to achieve and maintain better health and quality of life by treating the underlying causes of illness, by developing a clear treatment plan that will provide you with the knowledge and tools required to help you achieve your health goals. My long term goal is to support, educate and inspire you to achieve true health and vitality, and prevent future illness.
