Welcome And Guest Introduction

Dr Andrew Greenland 0:00

So, hello, and welcome to another episode of Voices in Health and Wellness. I'm Dr. Andrew Greenland, I'm your host, and on this podcast I speak with clinicians, practice owners, and healthcare leaders about what it's really like to deliver healthcare and build a healthcare business today. The opportunities, the frustrations, the operational challenges, and more importantly, where healthcare is heading next. And today's conversation is going to take us into a particularly interesting area. I'm joined by Dr. Rachael Clark, a family physician and functional medicine practitioner at Village Health and Healing. Rachael's clinical journey has increasingly led her beyond addressing physical problems alone. Through her work with patients, she's become interested in why people can sometimes do all the seemingly right things physically and still remain stuck and whether emotional and energetic aspects of healing may be part of that missing piece. So with that, Rachael, I'd love to welcome you to the show. Thank you so much for joining us for the conversation today.

Dr Rachael Clark 0:51

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Choosing Family Medicine And Meaning

Dr Andrew Greenland 0:54

Thank you. So for somebody discovering you for the first time, could you take us back a little and tell us what originally led you into medicine and family medicine in particular?

Dr Rachael Clark 1:02

Yeah, so I really don't know why ever since a child I always said I wanted to be a doctor. My neither of my parents were doctors. I did have an uncle that is a general surgeon. But it was really high school that solidified it for me. I did a program my senior year of high school called called Allied Health. And I was able to um I was able to shadow doctors and in different fields, pharmacists, pretty much. I'm sorry if you can hear my tongue. And it really solidified for me that, oh, this is what I definitely want to do. You know, we'd spend half the day with a nurse who would teach us, you know, basic medical, um, you know, basic, very basic medical knowledge. And, you know, half the class basically decided this is not for me. So they knew they didn't want to go into undergrad, pre-med. For me, I was just so excited every single day, ate it up. So that pretty much, you know, solidified my decision to go in as pre-med in undergrad. Um, and then in medical school, I kept an open mind, you know, I was like, I don't know what I want to do. Um, you know, I figured out I didn't want to wake up at the crack of dawn and get to the hospital at 5, 6 a.m. Um, I always knew I wanted a family, so I kept that in mind when picking my specialty. And I just really liked everything, and I really liked the idea of having longitudinal relationships. So family medicine it was in the end. Um and and yeah, and I and I did love it, but as we know, there's a lot of things with the medical system that makes it not exactly the dream we once envisioned.

Dr Andrew Greenland 2:51

Thank you. Love to hear about the journey of inspiration. Um, obviously, yours came from an early age. What did you imagine that your career in medicine was gonna look like at that stage when you had that kind of initial starry big-eyed view of it?

Dr Rachael Clark 3:04

Yeah, so when I was younger, I just think I, you know, I just think I liked helping people and the idea of helping people. Um, I think it probably looked like the person that you come to, right, when things aren't going well and when you're in, you know, your most vulnerable state. And I liked the idea of A, having the knowledge of like what's going on, and I was always fascinated with the human body, but then B, being able to be the person that's like, oh, I can help you and and you know, help you through this.

Frustrations With Chronic Care

Dr Andrew Greenland 3:40

Thank you. And obviously, there's been an evolution and a movement into functional medicine. I'm just really curious to know what drove that move, and was it something about the conventional medical model that wasn't really giving you everything you needed to help the patients in front of you? Was there something else?

Dr Rachael Clark 3:57

Yeah, I'd say it was a combination of things. So um I was definitely getting increasingly frustrated with um not having answers for my patients with chronic medical issues, not being able to provide them much support beyond referring out to a specialist or prescribing a pharmaceutical medication. You know, I'd have patients in front of me who, you know, I believed what they were saying, I knew there was something deeper. I was just so frustrated that I didn't know. And I'm like, I know there's something that I didn't learn in medical school, and especially after COVID, really, um, you know, when so many, I was seeing so many young people, even medical residents and med students, you know, develop all these like autoimmune type symptoms after the COVID era. And I'm like, what is going on? And so it was, you know, and obviously not being satisfied with the amount of time I was getting with my patients, um, and all the all the things that come with working in a large health system. So it's a combination of that, but then I did get sick myself after a COVID infection. I would have technically had long COVID, and it sent me on my own healing journey. And I reached my breaking point of working full-time with two young children and um started actually a program, like a burnout um program before I quit my job. And that really started me down healing a lot of the like mental and emotional aspects of burnout, um, really redefining, remembering who I am as a person and not just as a physician and a mom and a wife. Um, and that really started, kickstarted my healing journey. And then I eventually found um physical root causes going on, realized that I most likely had a reactivated Epstein Barr virus infection from from COVID, um, and slowly was able to revive my physical health. And so somewhere along the way, I was like, oh, I can practice medicine like this. Like exactly kind of it doesn't have to be in the order that my healing journey happened. Um, but I for a while after I quit conventional medicine was like, I'm never going to be a doctor again, because that's the only way I knew, you know, that's that's all I knew. And then it dawned on me there's a different way. Like I don't have to, you know, I I went down this um pathway and had this journey for a reason. Um, and you know, it all happened how it was supposed to.

Long Covid Burnout And Recovery

Dr Andrew Greenland 6:37

And how have you used that um personal healing journey, that personal um health experience to shape what you do with the clients that you now see in 2026?

Dr Rachael Clark 6:48

Yeah, so I make sure to address all aspects of health. So now I have my own practice called Village Health and Healing. Um I did functional, I did my training in functional medicine. So I technically call it functional integrative medicine. Um, I'd say I have trouble like saying exactly what type of medicine it is. It's really just like holistic care. Um, and I really, you know, make sure to address not just the physical root causes, but what are the mental health pieces, what are the emotional health, what are the spiritual health pieces, and um, you know, basically the energetic component, not just the physical root causes. And um it's tricky. It's it's I'm realizing that um I can't do it alone, basically. And I'm I have a big vision for the future, and I'm my practice is called village health and healing because I truly believe it takes a village. Like I don't have to be the one, right, that does all the the energy healing and the you know the mental health coaching and the you know emotional healing. Um that's kind of where I'm at right now.

Dr Andrew Greenland 8:05

Really interesting. So if a regular inverted comas functional medicine practitioner was sitting in the corner of your room, what would they see differently to perhaps what they do in you know, for very, very straightforward

Integrating Energy Healing With Root Causes

Dr Andrew Greenland 8:17

by the book functional medicine? How does your practice look different?

Dr Rachael Clark 8:21

Yeah, I'd say um, well, the most different I'd say is, you know, in the middle of the session, I might say, hey, I think you might benefit from some energy healing. Would you like to get on the table? Um, and that can be really powerful. I'm I'm currently getting certified in the process of being certified as an energy healer, already completed some courses, but kind of going on. And um, other than that, just really taking the time to talk about okay, this is all stemming from your gut, right? Like, we know there's bacterial imbalances, there might be a slow motility problem, we know this, we know that. But where are you giving away your power in your life? Where are you not standing in your power? Because your gut is your power center, and so like it's bringing in the energy component, not just lay on the table and I'm gonna clear all that energy. It's like a lot of the healing part is bringing things to awareness.

Dr Andrew Greenland 9:29

Thank you. And how do you introduce something like this to patients who may have originally come to you expecting more of a conventional function functional medicine approach, but clearly you have more to offer on your menu? How do you introduce them to that?

Dr Rachael Clark 9:41

Yeah, so I say, you know, like I explain really what energy is, because you know, most of us know just the term energy and like, oh, I have lots of energy or I don't have energy today. But I explain that like every cell in our body needs a steady flow of life force energy to it as just as much as it needs the nutrients and just as much as it needs oxygen from the air we breathe. And without that steady energy flow, it could there can be too much or too little to an area of our body. And I explain how that literally plays into our physical health and our physical healing. And then I talk about how we can do all the things right uh for physical root-cause healing, and we might still hit walls and still get stuck. And so I explain kind of my journey and what I've seen with patients so far, and and most people are very open to that concept.

Dr Andrew Greenland 10:39

And do you I mean I was gonna say, do you think they're more receptive to exploring something new with you because you have the kind of the functional medicine background rather than them going to see somebody different? Do you think you have that um additional credibility for doing this kind of work on top of functional medicine?

Dr Rachael Clark 10:54

Yes. And I think that it's also nice sometimes for people not to have to jump around from practitioner to practitioner and get really comfortable with someone else. Like I have a patient who I've been seeing, I had been seeing for at least six months, and we had talked about energy healing for a few times, and it wasn't until really six months in that we did an energy healing session on her as well. And you know, we had developed that relationship, she trusted me. And since I also kind of, you know, have been able to piece together what's going on on a physical level in her body and energetic when I feel like the energy healing session was that much more potent and powerful just from knowing her so well instead of having just you know someone walk in for you know the first session.

How Village Health And Healing Works

Dr Andrew Greenland 11:46

Thank you. So moving from the kind of philosophy of medicine into the reality of the practice, could you maybe paint us a picture of village health and healing as it exists today? And what does the practice look like and what does a typical day look like for you now?

Dr Rachael Clark 11:58

Yeah, so um village health and healing, it's I'm the only um practitioner, um, provider, physician in in the practice. Um, I see patients virtually and in person. Um, I'd say maybe of I do maybe like 60 to 70 percent virtually in the rest in the office. Um I structure my my week, my weekly schedule, like I do like alternate days. I work from home when I do the virtual sessions or I go into the office uh for the other sessions. Um when before patients see me for the first time, they you know complete a very detailed intake questionnaire. They they they you know tell me all of their past medical history, what their top health concerns are now. And then the first session, we kind of dive in deeper, talk a little bit about you know what their their top concerns are and dive more into that history. And then we talk about you know what the root, what I think could be the root causes are, maybe some testing we're going to pursue, either blood work or some of the functional medicine tests, how to get started, you know, with diet, um diet recommendations, supplements, and any lifestyle recommendations or any other additional practitioners I'd recommend in the community. Um, and I see patients either for six-month um six-month memberships or yearly memberships. And so it's pretty regular follow-up every month or two. Um and then I also offer one-time kind of like wellness visits as well. So some people like doing those too.

Dr Andrew Greenland 13:31

And does I mean, excuse my ignorance because I don't know a huge amount about energy energy healing, and that's why I've got you on the show to talk about it. How does that work remotely? I mean, does it work remotely, or is that something you have to do in your in-office uh visits?

Dr Rachael Clark 13:43

Yeah, so I was actually shocked too. So I didn't know energy, I was always skeptical of energy healing remotely. Um, but I actually have learned to do both, both in person and virtually, and can actually sometimes focus more when I'm remote and kind of in my little safe space. And it's it's actually very potent still. Um, it is it is remarkable.

Dr Andrew Greenland 14:13

And I guess you have to look after your own energy when you're helping patients with theirs. How do you look after yourself in the roles that you have?

Dr Rachael Clark 14:21

So that's a great question. So part of my burnout was because I'm such a uh sensitive, I'm very sensitive to others' energies. And my whole life I had never learned how to protect my own energy. I was basically just an open field. So, you know, I was literally taking on the energy of all my patients, back to back to back to back to back all day long. I had nothing left to give when I got home at night for my children. So um the part of the energy healing course I took, the very first one, he really dives deep into how to protect your own energy field. And so now I do it on a daily, you know, it's a daily practice for me. Every single morning I do it in between clients and patients. Um, I, you know, you also learn how to protect their energy field as you're you're doing the energy healing. Um, so now I don't feel, I'm not, you know, I don't live in fear at all about like my energy um kind of being affected.

Protecting Energy And Avoiding Burnout

Dr Andrew Greenland 15:22

Very good. So obviously you've built a very successful practice and you've been telling us about it as we've been talking. What are you most proud of in the practice from a business point of view? What are you uh what's particularly successful in in your opinion?

Dr Rachael Clark 15:36

Hmm. So from a business point of view, um I think I'm just most proud that like my let my team and I have a business partner, I have a um health coach, um, I have someone that does our marketing, and I have a nurse that helps us with client or patient relations. I'm most uh proud of us just doing it, like building it from nothing, building it from scratch. It was such an amazing learning experience. Like none of us had started a business before, and we were like, yeah, let's do it. And um, and and we did it. And so that's what I'm most proud of. And you know, slowly building on on everything. And um, you know, we all bring different skills to the table. So I think we are a very good team of like, you know, hearing each other and being able to um be honest with each other. Um, there's not a lot of like feeling like you can't bring up how you really feel, um, you know, and so I think that's part of what makes a business successful is just like being open to new ideas and growth and being able to like, you know, truly work together.

Dr Andrew Greenland 16:53

Well, congratulations on what you've built. And on the other side of the coin, what are the the challenges that you're currently having to overcome in the practice that are perhaps things that you would regard as bottlenecks? Because I guess everything is not always plain sailing. I just wonder what the kind of things are that uh keep you up at night at the moment or things that you're having to work through.

Dr Rachael Clark 17:11

Yeah, I'd say the bit biggest bottleneck is really how to expand and grow without trading more hours, like more of your time. Like, since I'm the only physician and you know, the the appointments are long, like they're all at least one hour long. And then the protocols afterwards take, you know, take time. And I am answering patient messages, they have access to message direct message me at any point. Um, I think it's really figuring out like, okay, how can I help more people, but without trading, you know, my my time uh one-on-one. You know, how can we expand? How can we grow? Um, I definitely I already have done one online course that was live. I have plans to record courses and to try to reach more people and across state lines and making it more educational and you know, have live coaching with those courses, but you know, it's not necessarily all live sessions from me. Some is pre-recorded and some will be live. Um, so I guess that's the biggest bottleneck is like how to how to expand and grow without more hours.

Dr Andrew Greenland 18:22

Got it. And I guess as the CEO founder, clinic owner, um, you wear all the hats all the time, uh, pretty much. What's what do you would you say is the biggest time drain from you that takes you away from the things that you really find meaningful in the work that you do?

Dr Rachael Clark 18:36

Hmm, the biggest biggest time drain. So I think it's just the the technical aspect of keeping up with the clinical like protocols. Like I

Business Growth Bottlenecks And Pricing

Dr Rachael Clark 18:48

know in my mind um what the protocol is and what I want it to be, but I just um like the technical aspect of creating it and getting it out and and things like that. So um as far as the business side, my business partner is great. She she's like she's like the business part most for the most part. And then I get to mostly focus on clinical and you know, like ideas, and then we so we work really well together in that way.

Dr Andrew Greenland 19:20

Thank you. And what's been the biggest um lesson you've learned about being a business owner that you didn't really ever learn as a physician?

Dr Rachael Clark 19:30

I think just like how much really how much money everything costs to like run on the back end and like to keep things going and to like you know, pay employees. And um, it's you know, you have to I think I was shocked of like how much you truly have to invest in the beginning and then how long it takes to like you know see that turnover of like okay, getting past the investment phase and like, oh, some money's coming in, and you know, um, so I'd say that was a big shock of like the the initial investment.

Dr Andrew Greenland 20:07

I guess you're operating outside the traditional insurance model. Is that you the model that you practice?

Dr Rachael Clark 20:12

Yes. So we are cash pay. The um I are my patients can submit the you know insurance claim to get reimbursed afterwards. Um, and it really depends on their plan whether they are getting reimbursed, but it's out of network coverage. So um not everybody is getting reimbursed, unfortunately. So I, you know, I'm really hopeful that eventually our healthcare system will catch up and you know start actually paying for this kind of care because this is true preventative care.

Dr Andrew Greenland 20:45

But just coming from family medicine, you've had to kind of switch your model. And I just wonder how that's sort of shaped the way that you've built your practice from moving from one model to another.

Dr Rachael Clark 20:55

Yeah, so so in what way, like in how I treat preventative.

Dr Andrew Greenland 20:59

Well, I was thinking for you, you've come from family medicine, presumably that was an insurance-based model, you've gone into functional medicine, and I just wondered how you've structured you and built your practice around that shift in mindset about the two different models that you've had to navigate through during earlier work and your current practice.

Dr Rachael Clark 21:17

Yeah, it was really hard at first because you know, I went from seeing patients that mostly always had insurance, or if they didn't, I worked for a long time at a federally qualified health center where you know there was a sliding scale fee. So it was a very small fee to um to see the the doctor. Um and then when and and you know, not having to worry about who showed up or who didn't, you know, I was getting paid my salary from the healthcare system. It was and and just seeing patients all day. Whereas, you know, switching to like, you know, it it uh almost like more of like sales, you know, it was it was totally new. Um, and I really didn't like it for. And then then I, you know, learned how much it it costs, like I said, to actually run a business and a good one. And that took a while for me to like even be able to uh determine my worth of like even how much I charge for the visit. So that that took a lot of like mindset uh work around that. Um and then I'd say it's just tough because I know that this kind of care is really important and it's what people need, and our healthcare systems just lagging behind in like what they're covering. And so even though I'm not happy with how much it costs and how it's not accessible to everyone, I feel like this is just a necessary bridge of like what I need to do right now. Um, and eventually I do think the systems will merge um as far as access.

Dr Andrew Greenland 22:56

Yes, I hope so too. It's a very different model in the UK, so functional medicine is purely private. Um, but we you know we have a healthcare system which is covered, but functional medicine is completely private. There's no nothing gets um covered by our health service for functional medicine, which is a chain.

Patients Want A Merged System

Dr Andrew Greenland 23:14

So in 2026, what are your um what are you seeing in terms of client expectations from what clients are expecting from healthcare in 2026?

Dr Rachael Clark 23:24

Um you mean from village health and healing in particular?

Dr Andrew Greenland 23:27

Yeah, the clients you see. I mean, you must get some some sense of um shift in expectations over time. I just wondered if you'd seen any particular trends in the last year in terms of what people are expecting from healthcare.

Dr Rachael Clark 23:39

Yeah, so so sorry, I still don't totally understand like healthcare, like in our in my co in the United States.

Dr Andrew Greenland 23:47

United States, functional medicine, energy healing, your practice specifically, whichever one you want to take. I don't know.

Dr Rachael Clark 23:55

Yeah, I mean, I think so. What I hear so many of my patients say is just like there needs to be a merging and a con like a so basically what they're doing right now is they're going to conventional doctors, hearing one thing, not hearing like anything about what I talk about with root cause healing and supplements and herbs. And then, you know, even the specialists, right? They're like going to, for example, their endocrinologists and being told your thyroid disease is you just have to take this medication the rest of your life, right? And then they're coming back to me and I'm saying, no, we can heal this. We, it's, you know, it could be this chronic viral infection, and we're going to reverse it and we're going to get you off your meds. And they're just like, I'm so confused. They're like, how can there be all these doctors? And I'm getting such different opinions, and they just really want to see emerging. And um, you know, more and more people are waking up and realizing that this holistic healing is really important. And um there's even um energy healers now doing, I don't know if you've heard they're doing uh research on um like for cancer treatment. It's right now just in like petri dishes, but they'll have the cancer cells and they're they're bringing in energy healers. Um and they're realizing like, oh wow, like energy healing is stopping the cancer from spreading. And you know, so there is like actually larger scale research going on on energy healing. So I just feel like this is a really exciting time. I think we're still in you know, very early stages of this type of healing, not just being the weird woo-woo like alternative stuff, and like bringing it into you know, actual, you know, medical practice and merging the worlds. So that's what I'm seeing my patients want the most is just like doctors kind of all getting on the same page in a way.

Advice Future Plans And Closing

Dr Andrew Greenland 25:56

For sure. Um, there'll probably be lots of other practitioners listening and they're thinking, I'd have to go and build my own practice. What would you want them to understand before they take that leap?

Dr Rachael Clark 26:09

I I would say you you can't do it alone. Um, unless you want to. But you know, I'd say the best advice I can give is surround yourself with people that don't have the skills that you have andor the skills that you don't want to do, and that drains your energy because you want to save your energy for what you're good at and what you will be able to really bring to the table for your patients and your community. And it's okay to invest in those things, you know, and and it'll all pay out on the back end because you'll move forward quicker and you won't get burnt out.

Dr Andrew Greenland 26:49

Magic wand. I'm gonna give you a magic wand. If there's anything you could fix with a magic wand in the practice, the business, what would that be, if anything?

Dr Rachael Clark 26:57

Magic wand. I would have someone following me or have a system that as soon as the visit were was done and I like knew what the protocol and all the afterwork would is supposed to be, I would wave my wand after every visit and it would automatically be sent to the patient. Yeah.

Dr Andrew Greenland 27:21

And if you were gonna start again tomorrow and do it all again, um, would you do anything differently?

Dr Rachael Clark 27:29

Did I do anything differently? No. I think it was all how it was supposed to be. And it was, you know, every part of it was a great learning experience. And it's only been two years, honestly, um, since my practice launched, and um I feel like we've come so far and you know, already planning the next phase. So I just think that uh each step is you know necessary for the learning.

Dr Andrew Greenland 28:02

Great answer. And where where are you headed in the future? Where would you like to be in the next 12 months or so with village health and healing? Any ambitions or ideas?

Dr Rachael Clark 28:13

Yes, um, I definitely within the next 12 months would like to have my course developed, my first one at least. Um I um eventually also want to um make a course for physicians and um healthcare workers. Um because I truly think we need to heal the healers because we're the ones, you know, reaching the most people. And so many of us are wounded healers. Um, so I think it's important to I I hope that a course like this would, you know, eventually be in medical schools because um, you know, we all carry wounds and then you know, different parts of our life open them and then you know, different aspects of working in the healthcare system. So that's pretty much the next 12 months I'd like to really figure out the courses and um for village health and healing, um, just continuing to grow, probably really start to bring in the energy healing um more frequently in my patient visits.

Dr Andrew Greenland 29:25

Lovely. And with that, Rachael, I'd love to thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a really interesting conversation hearing about your approach, how you've managed to weave in energetic medicine to functional medicine to give that really holistic approach to your patients. So, thank you for sharing that. Also, thank you for sharing the behind the scenes stuff of actually growing and growing a new clinic and a new idea from the ground up. It's been really enlightening. So, thank you very much.

Dr Rachael Clark 29:49

Of course, I really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for having me.