During the week of March 14, I had the pleasure and privilege to travel all over mid-Michigan with alumna, Leslie Nicholas, ND (’92). She has been in practice for over 23 years and has returned to her home state, Michigan (mine too). We traveled from Flint to East Lansing to Kalamazoo to Ann Arbor to Allendale (near Grand Rapids), and to round out our travels, Detroit.
We enjoyed each location that we visited and individuals we interacted with. At Grand Valley State University, we had great conversations with a number of Lakers and how natural medicine can be a part of their future education and/or career. Dr. Nicholas always has a bevy of great stories and explanations to share between her work as the first naturopath in the country hired full time by a public health department to serving as an assistant professor and attending physician for NUNM, leading teaching shifts in community clinics throughout Portland. While at NUNM, she piloted the first transgender medicine teaching shift at NUNM’s main clinic in 2012, which continues to remain even after her departure.
The last stop on our Michigan swing of travel was Source Booksellers in Detroit, MI. Source Booksellers is a special bookstore like no other book store I have ever visited, and I like to check out bookstores as I travel throughout the country recruiting for NUNM. They were even showcased in the Michigan Chronicle speaking to the gem of a resource they are in mid-town, next to Wayne State University. This bookstore is so much more than a store front that sells non-fiction books focusing in four categories, which are history and culture, health and well-being, books written by and for women, and metaphysical, spiritual, and new age books.
Dr. Nicholas and I hosted two different information sessions at Source Booksellers on Friday, March 18, 2016. The lunch hour conversation revolved around nutrition and health and had a smaller more informal conversation. The evening presentation covered a range of topics from health and wellness, to educational and career pathways in natural medicine, to ways Dr. Nicholas is able to practice as a naturopathic doctor in an unlicensed state.
I strongly recommend if you are visiting Michigan or live in Michigan, checking out Source Booksellers. This bookstore has a heart and soul and it is hard to not experience it immediately upon entering the store and likely being greeted by Janet or her daughter Alyson. One more great reason to love Detroit! I look forward to seeing how Source Booksellers will continue to serve as a great community resource.
Special thank you to owners Janet and Alyson Jones for being so warm and welcoming and letting Dr. Nicholas and I speak to some of the members in your community! We look forward to continuing to work together to spread the word on the power that natural medicine has. Also, I want to thank Dr. Nicholas for driving all over Michigan with me and switching between listening to Earth, Wind and Fire and classical music as we traveled.
by Caiden Marcus, Admissions Counselor