Visit us in the VIVA Wellness clinic, talk to any of our team members or clients, or poke around our website and it won’t take you long to see that we specialize in an integrative approach to healing. We are focused on offering custom treatment plans designed to optimize both physical and mental health. This includes concentrating on nutrition, weight loss, detox, metabolism support, stress management, digestive optimization, and mindfulness. Our signature NP-managed Weight & Detox Protocols brings the best of Western and alternative approaches to create holistic, progressive healing and effective results. And what we’ve found is that when you start to look at any piece of the puzzle, a more complete picture about what’s missing begins to emerge—so, all you need to do is pay attention to that curiosity and begin to look.
Because there is often a lot of confusion and assumption around what these terms mean, we’d love to clear that up based on what the medical community has loosely agreed on:
Holistic Medicine: in relation to the whole human being—mind, body, spirit. Unlike what many may think, holistic does not mean only natural or alternative modalities, it means treating the whole being and not just symptom management and may include modalities and treatments that bridge all types of medicine. More here.
Western Medicine (also Allopathic Medicine): via the National Institute of Health, it is “A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Also called allopathic medicine, biomedicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, and orthodox medicine.”
Alternative Medicine: this is simply anything that would not be conventional or mainstream. It may include referencing energy work, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbalism, and anything aiming outside of Western medicine.
Integrative Medicine: similar to holistic medicine but less focused on the “whole” and more focused on the concept of using all available options to tend to the issue at hand and the patient’s goals. May use both Western and alternative therapies to get to the root of an issue and/or simply resolve symptoms alone.
Functional (Root-cause) Healing: using whatever type of medical approach (ranging from alternative to Western) to resolve the true root of the issue. In our work, we believe that the root is likely a combination of factors that we’ll likely need both science and western WITH alternative approaches to resolve. From the Institute for Functional Medicine, it “determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual.”
VIVA Wellness has practitioners that fall across the full spectrum of the above. All of our providers are open-minded, well-educated in their specialty, empathetic, and provide outstanding care. All of our team has pursued the required, if not an advanced aspect of their specialty. Research and continued education is a passion of VIVA Wellness Founder Jennifer Hruz, FNP-BC APNP, so rest assured we’re always evaluating the latest technologies in the wellness sphere as well as exploring modalities that have been tried and true for ages.
Where is our wellness-minded mission rooted?
VIVA Wellness was inspired and founded by Jennifer Hruz, FNP-BC, APNP, a Nurse Practitioner who began her own wellness journey years ago, going on to lose over 100 pounds and keeping it off for more than 15 years. Talk about having walked “in your shoes” — these are the insights that create programs and conversations that unlock lasting change. Jennifer has brought together a team that shares this passion for truly looking beyond the single presenting symptom to understand what the client is going through and what they require in order to achieve their health and wellness goals.
For example, consider someone who is coming in for a weight loss consultation. It might be determined they’re interested in—and a good fit for—one of the GLP-1 weight loss protocols (semaglutide or tirzepatide). Through the use of the medication AND supporting the whole system, suddenly the client’s other presenting issues (PCOS, hormonal imbalances, painful inflammation, blood sugar imbalances) disappear. While it’s commonly discussed that GLP-1 medications reduce those concerns, what’s equally as interesting is learning that those are the very pains that were some of the contributing factors to the habits that caused the weight gain. You truly, truly never know until you begin how these things are working together. When you start to unravel the story, there is often so much more to it than a simple equation. 1+1 rarely equals 2 in the world of wellness.
So, with Jennifer’s, each team member’s, and each client’s unique story as the inspiration, Jennifer and the ever-expanding team at VIVA Wellness help others feel their best by bridging the Western, more traditional medical practices with alternative and complementary treatments. This balanced approach, due to the VIVA Wellness team’s broadmindedness and creativity, opens new opportunities for healing—it’s TRULY holistic, progressive, integrative, root cause healing. Read more about our full Wellness Philosophy.
If you don’t know where to start but know that you’re called to, let us know. Share as much as you can in your contact or at your initial consultation with team VIVA Wellness, and trust that you’ll be supported as we co-create your own path to healing.
Explore our site and book your consultation to see for yourself.