Katherine Willow N.D.

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Jack in the pulpit

After a year of cleaning up, restructuring and tending to family, CREWC will re-open this fall with programs on health, healing and sustainability; spaces to rent for holistic health practitioners and workshops; an online store; and a holistic assessment service.

For those of you who haven’t visited Carp Ridge EcoWellness Centre, it’s on 190 acres of rocky wilderness overlooking the Carp River valley, about thirty minutes northwest of downtown Ottawa. Trails wind through magical wetlands filled with wildlife. White pines, ash, spruce and ironwood are home to songbirds, hawks and owls. There is a holistic clinic, a learning centre, a yurt, two straw bale cabins, a pond cabin and three colourful office cabins as well as two tents on platforms, each with their own woodstove and composting toilet which practitioners can rent for treatments or workshops. A large deer-fenced garden awaits planting and is growing wild medicinal herbs in the meantime…

Over these last eighteen years we have run programs ranging from holistic family retreats to professional development courses for doctors of all stripes. CREWC hosted the first Forest School in North America, which continues in the form of Ridgewoods Outdoor Programs for 3-6 year old children run by experienced teacher Sara Raeesi.

However, the central activity at CREWC has been the Carp Ridge Natural Health Clinic, now simply Carp Ridge EcoWellness Centre, where many conditions were treated, including cancer. For several years we also offered a Healing House where patients could stay, be nourished with healthy food according to their body type and condition, and cared for by a team of holistic practitioners.

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Lady slippers

The results we saw amazed even ourselves. After starting to use a new concept of disease and healing called German New Medicine, we witnessed many cancer patients recovering without their treatments. In ten years we saved our provincial health insurance (OHIP) over two million dollars. Now we would like to put our experience into programs to pass on this extraordinary knowledge, both to the public and other health care practitioners.

Starting this fall after an open house in September, there will be classes such as meditation, body types & cooking; health assessment services; and products for health, healing and a sustainable lifestyle. We will begin offering monthly healing circles by donation in the village of Carp to introduce the idea of emotional work being as important as diet, exercise and adequate sleep. And I’m pleased to announce that the “Ask a Naturopathic Doctor” column will restart in Tone! Please email your questions to katherine@ecowellness.com.