Vermont Catholic Professionals Networking Breakfast

Vermont Catholic Professionals is a group of individuals involved in the business and professional communities in Vermont.

A naturopathic doctor and Creighton Model FertilityCare pracitioner and medical consultant will be the speaker at the January meeting of Vermont Catholic Professionals.

Dr. Jessica Whelan, a parishioner of Holy Angels Church in St. Albans, will address common hormonal and reproductive health struggles women and couples are experiencing and how she can help bring them to restored hormonal balance, optimal fertility and a more thriving, vibrant life with healthier relationships.

“Through naturopathic medicine and the Creighton Model, I am able to provide healthcare that upholds the fully human dimensions of sexuality: spiritually, physically, emotionally, psychologically,” she said. “Both naturopathic medicine and the Creighton Model evaluate and treat the root cause of health imbalances. Spending greater one-on-one time with my clients and getting the full picture of their health (physically — all the body systems work together — mentally, spiritually, emotionally, relationships) helps me do the detective work and put the puzzle pieces together.”

She was drawn to naturopathic medicine because it “looks at the whole person and is a helping profession,” she added.

Whelan attended medical school at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and did a 1-year primary care residency with Dr. Michel Moreau at his private practice, Health Integrative, in St Albans. She began her own a private practice in St. Albans in 2021.

She explained The Creighton Model: It is world-class, revolutionary and comprehensive women’s healthcare. Through charting the reproductive and gynecological signs that their body gives them each day, women have an objective language that doctors trained in this method can understand. It evaluates and treats health issues in ways that work cooperatively with the body, without suppressing or destroying fertility. It upholds and promotes the fully human dimensions of sexuality. It empowers couples to understand their shared fertility so they can precisely identify days of fertility/infertility to naturally achieve/avoid pregnancy as well as enjoy deeper intimacy, improved communication and stronger marriages.

She said it is important for Catholic professionals to gather because their faith “intersects every aspect of life — it’s not something we compartmentalize.”

“We are called to share the Good News of the Gospel in the midst of our daily lives and professions,” she continued. “Having the support of each other is so important.”