Jessica Turner Health Space Potts Point has successfully joined clinical services and whole foods, Ashleigh Sharman discovers.
A recurrent theme through SPA+CLINIC magazine and website is encouraging salons, spas and clinics to expand your offering to cater to a captive audience of people wanting to look and feel good on an holistic level.
Health Space Clinics offers a glimpse of how it could be done. Inspired by a team of health professionals, including chiropractors, nutritionists and naturopaths, Health Space founders Drs Nicholas and Kate Wood recently unveiled their 10th location in inner-Sydney Potts Point, with a whole food store that encourages its community to simply live better.
“We have had the main clinic in Potts Point for over 10 years, and the addition of the whole food store is just an evolution of our vision,” Dr Wood explains. “We have been listening to the needs of our clients and we are excited to be able to create this for them.”
“Health Space Whole Foods is the next step in our evolution. Our aim is to offer high quality, seasonal, fresh produce and groceries, from people concerned about sustainability.
“Most of our range is certified organic, but we believe eco-friendly farming practices and sustainability are just as important. It’s about making healthy and holistic living easy, convenient and affordable.”
The whole food store, purchasing only organic and ethically-standard natural goods, sits as a compliment to chiropractic, massage, naturopathy, nutrition, acupuncture and physiotherapy health services, with the addition of an infrared sauna, float tank – and, very shortly, GP services.
“Kate and I have access to great food and it’s something we wanted to share with everyone – organic produce at a non-organic rate so people don’t have the excuse not to buy organic!” Dr Wood says.
“The mark-up is minimal, if anything, as it’s more a value-add for our clients and exists purely to encourage them to go the ‘next level’ with their health. We want it to serve our clients alongside other services because you can’t go wrong when you’re hitting chronic health problems from every angle.”
The ‘excuses’ Dr Wood speaks of extend to many areas of a holistic lifestyle and, so, a menu of free community services has also been established; from cooking classes and health talks, to yoga and boxing training. The clinic also boasts community-focused pricing on acupuncture and chiropratic services, all aiming to take away barriers to entry of healthy living and clean eating.
“Stability of body and mind firstly means getting your gut and your stress levels under control.”
Dr Wood points out that a large majority of their clients present with issues such as anxiety and digestion concerns such as IBS alongside classic muscle injuries.
However what is new to the Health Space team is the rising number of clients who simply ‘don’t feel right’; a rare occurrence 10 years ago and a decided shift towards proactive, preventative health.
“Clients are seeking functional movement, they plan and set lifestyle goals for the future. That’s amazing for me. You’ve got to be able to do the things you want to do in life and so our team needs to find solutions for clients no matter how ‘out there’ it might sound,” Dr Wood adds.
Armed with a truly passionate team, Health Space regularly treats the chronic conditions that, plainly, no one else wants to deal with. But, as he says, it’s most often not about a 100 percent cure for such patients; it’s about improving quality of life even by a small fraction and the movement towarda 360 degree wellbeing.
Health Space Potts Point www.healthspacewholefoods.com.au
