Flourish Clinic Cochrane
At Flourish Clinic our focus is to help you regain your health so that you have the energy to share your gifts and passions with the world.
When we’re healthy, we have the energy to pursue our passions.
When we’re sick, we’re tired. All we can think about is getting better.
The practitioners of Flourish Clinic: Ali Frederick, Chelsey Beda, Mark Volmer, Dr. Natalie Fox and Sheena Huculak use a wide variety of modalities. These include:
Ali Frederick, D.O.M.P., RMT
- Osteopathy
- Massage
- Nutritional Therapy
Chelsey Beda, RMT
Chelsey is currently on leave to fulfill a life goal. She will be back in the clinic October 1, 2022
- Massage
Mark Volmer, R.Ac, FMP
- Functional Medicine
- Laser Therapy & Shock Wave Therapy
- Acupuncture
Dr. Natalie Fox, DC
- Chiropractor
Sheena Huculak, RN, RHN
- Holistic Nutrition
- Nutritionist and Health Coach
- Coaching
Our Practitioners at Flourish Clinic
Mark
Hi, I’m Mark Volmer.
As the Functional Medicine practitioner, acupuncturist, and researcher at Flourish Clinic, I empower people just like you to beat fatigue (for good!) and focus their energy towards their passions. I studied acupuncture at MacEwan University and Functional Medicine at the Kresser Institute in Berkley, California. I practice Functional Medicine with an emphasis on natural solutions to fatigue and gut-related illness.
For me, health is so much more than the absence of disease. Health is a superior state of well-being.
But, it wasn’t always that way for me…
In my twenties, I was exhausted. And completely lost. Every morning was a struggle to get out of bed. I didn’t want to go to school or work. But, I was healthy, or, so I thought. I was exercising multiple times a week, ate a “nutritious” diet (according to the Canada food guide), and my lab tests were impeccable.
To combat the (now overwhelming) fatigue, I saw medical doctors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, energy healers, and shamans. All tried to help me get my chutzpah back. But it didn’t work. I was still tired all the time.
It wasn’t until I sat cross-legged in a 10-day silent meditation retreat that I had an a-ha moment:
My fatigue was not caused by a medical illness. It was a sign that I was not living a life aligned with my values. Meaning and purpose were missing in my life.
I left that retreat with a renewed sense of purpose and lots of energy. I was convinced that I wanted to study natural medicine. And that fatigue could be overcome by living a life aligned with your values.
I was so wrong.
Shortly after receiving my acupuncture license, I got tired again. Really tired. All that meaning and purpose I had in my life suddenly vanished. Another silent meditation clued me in.
Purpose and meaning are not finite destinations. They are processes. We have to keep working at them.
But in my work with patients, meaning and purpose didn’t help everyone. Neither did acupuncture. If I’m being completely honest, it hardly helped anyone. There had to be other causes of fatigue. What was I was missing in my training?
I dove into the medical research. Studied Functional Medicine, read every book and medical journal there was on fatigue. I learned that treating fatigue involved so much more than creating meaning and purpose. I learned the food we eat plays a pivotal role in our body’s ability to create energy.
I’ve spent the majority of my career studying the different causes of fatigue. It is one of the most complicated and multi-faceted conditions to treat. Its cause is often due to a combination of issues, including:
- Cortisol imbalances
- Unknown dietary allergies and/or sensitivities
- Hidden gut infections
- Blood sugar irregularities
- Toxic mold exposure
- And yes, even a lack of meaning or purpose in our life
Do you know the #1 reason why we stop pursuing our ambitions? I don’t either. But in my work with over a thousand patients, I’ve discovered that a lack of energy always plays a role.
I know that you have a unique gift.
At this point, you may be too tired to even think about that. But believe me, there’s something special inside of you. And when you share it with the world, we all benefit. And that’s why we created Flourish. To help you overcome fatigue and get back to sharing your passion(s) with the world.
To the right of the screen, there’s a sign-up form for my free e-Book. Please check it out. It has information about the 4 hidden causes of fatigue. Plus, unique strategies to overcome each!
I hope I get the opportunity to work with you in the not so distant future.
Warmly,
Mark
Ali
Hi, I’m Ali Frederick.
I’m a manual osteopath, massage therapist, and gluten expert at Flourish Clinic. I take complex health issues and break them down into simple, easy to understand pieces.
After years of a healthy, active life, I suddenly found I was tired all the time, had unrelenting gut issues (I’ll spare you the details), and couldn’t stay asleep if my life depended on it. On top of that, I had chronic neck pain that just wouldn’t go away – no matter how many massages I had.
I saw practitioner after practitioner in hopes of finding something that tied all my symptoms together.
Instead, I got one practitioner focusing on my neck, another on my digestion, yet another on my sleep, and one more for my fatigue. I was frustrated that none of my practitioners were seeing my body as the interconnected whole that it is. Everyone was focused on my symptoms – no one was looking for the root cause.
Fortunately for me, Mark started studying functional medicine. I learned I was allergic to gluten and changed my diet to not only eliminate gluten but to also include whole foods, free from any refined or packaged products. Through the simple act of changing what I ate, my fatigue and neck pain were eliminated. Turns out the food allergens were creating an inflammatory situation in my body, which caused my neck to always hurt. I found that the cause of my gut issues were due to a hormone imbalance – after remedying that, I now sleep like the dead and best of all, I have no gut issues.
After going through this on my own, I know that getting to the underlying or root cause of disease is the key to truly healing.
I work with patients at Flourish Clinic in two distinct capacities:
- For patients experiencing acute pain, I provide a combination of osteopathy and massage to ensure your nervous system is communicating with your musculoskeletal system. This gets my patients out of pain in short order and gets them back doing what they love.
- For my patients with chronic pain, I take a more systematic approach to their health. Most people come in for the management of a painful area in their body. I take a detailed history to see how this pain could be connected to other areas of their health. These are often areas that are overlooked by other practitioners. I look to see how your job may contribute to your condition and add exercises or stretches to help you remedy the problem. We discuss the food you eat and, if appropriate, I recommend easy, understandable changes that will positively impact your health.
If you’re like many of my patients, you feel overwhelmed with all of the varying opinions on which therapy is best for which illness.
That’s why I empower you
I give you simple information based on your wellness goals and address your musculoskeletal aches and pains through a targeted combination of osteopathy and massage.
I have specific training and experience in working with:
- Celiac + Gluten intolerance and related disorders
- Food allergies and sensitivities
- Abdominal pain
- Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
- Acute and chronic pain management
- TMJ and associated syndromes
- Swelling in the ankles and feet
- Headaches
- Sports injuries
- Tendonitis
- Stress management
- Low back pain
If you want a hands-on therapist who can perform treatment without causing you more pain and keeps the big picture of your health in mind, then I would love to help!
Hugs,
Ali
Sheena Huculak, RN, RHN
Healthy living and helping people reach their potential are two of my passions. I am forever a student of life and believe in the coaching process, the power of visualization and manifestation, but most of all the magic of accountability!
As a Holistic Nutritionist and a Bulletproof Coach™ at Flourish Clinic, I am committed to guiding my clients into alignment with their life.
We are all here learning to ride the waves of our own personal experiences and to understand that we all have our own current in life. Knowing ourselves and trusting in our purpose helps us to bravely blaze our unique path.
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken
–Oscar Wilde
I believe in energizing people through:
- A real food, high fat diet with selective supplementation;
- Getting really clear on what matters most (priorities, values, goals, visions);
- Taking the appropriate action to realize your highest potential.
I worked as a Registered Nurse for more than 10 years and became disillusioned with the medical world. I recognized the broken system that didn’t seem to be helping many people get healthy. It was all just quick fixes and band-aid solutions.
Where was the time to engage, educate and empower patients to make their own choices or teach them about lifestyle changes?
I finally decided ENOUGH!
I would honor myself and pursue a life I could be passionate and get really excited about.
So my thirst for personal development began.
I started down the path of Holistic Nutrition trying all different lifestyle diets. I’ve tried the following diets:
- Vegetarian,
- Vegan,
- Fruitarian,
- Paleo,
- Keto,
- Multiple cleanses,
- And so many supplements!
Basically, everything I was learning about I tried on myself.
However, self-doubt crept in. I gave up Nutritional Consulting and return to Nursing where I grew even more miserable. So I quit my job, sold my house, left my home, my family, and my friends in hopes of finding my true self.
I spent three months in Costa Rica learning:
- Yoga,
- meditation,
- energy medicine,
- emotional release techniques,
- and the teachings of the spiritual guru Osho.
I found a sense of belonging. This gave me a new perspective on the possibilities of life.
My heart opened, love and hope flooded in, and I started to feel lighter.
And yet years later I found myself struggling again. I was now married, a mother to two young children and working full-time as a nurse. I was exhausted, irritable, stressed, and struggling to keep up with all the demands of my life. Out of desperation, I went to see my Naturopath. In one appointment my identity as an intelligent, healthy, strong woman collapsed around me. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, Hypothyroid, Adrenal Insufficiency, and my hormones were all out of whack.
I left that appointment feeling shame and embarrassment that I – a nurse and a nutritionist – could have let my health slip away like this. But on the other hand, I felt incredibly relieved that I wasn’t going crazy!
There were solutions to my health troubles and I knew what I needed to do to fix myself!
It was a long few years, but I worked hard on my health by:
- Restricting my diet, cutting out inflammatory foods;
- Setting personal boundaries;
- Enrolling in courses;
- Taking a deep dive into self-study;
- Practicing mindfulness and meditation;
- Returning to my yoga practice;
- Living my life on my own terms.
I fought my way out of my darkness and came out on the other side with a brighter light than ever. Today I support my clients at Flourish Clinic with the same struggles I have encountered. I combine my medical background and nutritional knowledge into my coaching practice.
We are always growing and evolving into our higher selves; the learning never stops. My mission is to inspire and empower people to choose self-love, self-acceptance, compassion and kindness into their life journey.
Wholehearted living is not like trying to reach a destination. It’s like walking toward a star in the sky. We never really ‘arrive,’ but we certainly know that we’re headed in the right direction.
-Brene Brown
Check out my Instagram page where I offer inspiration and ideas for your healing journey.
Chelsey Beda, RMT
Chelsey is currently on leave to fulfill a life goal. She will be back in the clinic October 1, 2022.
At 25 years old I was bogged down with chronic pain. I looked young and fairly healthy on the outside, but on the inside, I felt decades older than I was. During this time the pain so bad that I was scared to exercise. Activity always aggravated my symptoms bringing on multi-day migraine headaches – something I couldn’t afford as a mother.
Feeling scared and slightly hopeless – I worried how could I be energetic enough to take care of my 3 children, all under the age of 5? I figured there must be a way to feel better!
And that’s when my healing journey began.
Over the years I have spent thousands of dollars on different varieties of health care treatments. Many of which were effective and others not so much. What amazed me was the variety of different practitioner’s attitudes. Some therapists took your case on as a mission, and others did things by wrote, seemingly half asleep.
After spending so much money on treatments over the years, I had many questions unanswered. How did these treatments work? Why were some effective, and others not? These questions ate away at me.
So, instead of continuing to find a therapist to ‘cure me’, I decided to figure things out myself.
I went back to school to learn how the body works on a deeper level. I’m happy to say that in 2019 I finished my 2200hr diploma in Massage Therapy at MH Vicars school of Massage Therapy and in 2020 I joined Flourish Clinic.
Right now I’m happy to report I am feeling healthy. I can now exercise without getting migraine headaches. Self-massage is part of my everyday routine. I have tools and techniques that help me remain pain free and active.
Learning for me will always be a passion – with a love of research and always discovering new areas of interest involving the body, mind, and spirit.
What makes me a great massage therapist is that I can relate to your aches and pains. I know what it’s like to feel ‘under the weather’. This life work of mine is not to only free myself of pain but to also help others out of their pain. Through my experience and education I am confident I can help you.
I know that nobody wants to live life on the sidelines. I am here to help maximize the greatest gift you possess – your health – so you can go on and rock your next adventure!
Follow me on Instagram for some of my favourite stretches, exercises and general tips for well-being!
Dr. Natalie Fox, DC
Hi – I’m Natalie Fox, chiropractor at Flourish Clinic. I grew up in Calgary, AB where my interests in competitive sports and athletics led me to study Kinesiology. After this I studied Chiropractic at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, and graduated in 2010.
I believe every patient’s injury is due to their own health circumstances. That’s why I follow an integrative approach when treating every one of my patients. I use a number of techniques including joint mobilization and manipulation, myofascial release, and exercise rehabilitation.
Each of my treatment plans are individualized using an evidence-based, functional and diversified model of care. I aim to heal you and get you back to your life in 3-5 visits. I provide a detailed treatment plan, plus exercises and stretches you can do at home to continue healing between visits and after your treatment is complete.
Follow my Instagram page where I post my favourite exercises and stretches.