Meet Our Naturopaths

Our experienced, qualified practitioners working out of our clinic are able to support your on your health journey. To learn more about Naturopathy & Herbal Medicine, click here.

 

 Natalie

Owner | Naturopath | Medical Herbalist | NLP Practitioner
BHSc, AdvDip HerbMed, AdvDip Naturopathy

Special Interests: gut health, digestive issues, IBS, SIBO, hormonal issues, thyroid issues, inflammatory conditions, functional testing, & men's health.

 Click here to make a booking with Natalie.

 

 

My first discovery into natural medicine was nearly 20 years ago. Having always loved being outdoors, and being avid surfer, I spent a lot of time in the ocean and elements. Long stints in the ocean require a lot of energy but I would often feel weak and light headed, so I started looking into my diet for solutions.

I developed a curiosity about healthy, nutritious food, and the benefits of adding herbs to meals. At the time, I was also searching for a vocation that is mentally stimulating as well as fitting in with my love for nature. And so I discovered naturopathy. The principles of using food as daily medicine, employing positive lifestyle habits and using plants to support good health made so much sense to me.

I started my studies in 2002, at South Pacific College of Natural Therapies and obtained a Bachelor of Health Science, an Advanced Diploma of Herbal Medicine, and an Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy.

Over the last 20 years I have practiced in Auckland, London, Raglan, Hamilton and Mount Maunganui. This has allowed me to work with and learn from many health professionals such as fellow medical herbalists, integrated doctors and osteopaths.

My special interest lies in gut and hormonal health. My post graduate training in these areas include, but not limited to, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) masterclass, OATs summits, Blood diagnostic (blood testing) masterclasses, as well as attending many seminars and webinars on female hormonal issues.

Over the years with working with many people with different conditions, I realised that some health issues could be resolved by changing the way they thought about them. I had always been fascinated with the mind/body connection and power of the mind which led me to doing the NLP (neuro linguistic programming) practitioner course in 2019.

A bit of an information geek, I am inspired by the continual research and development of natural health; how science is now confirming and building on the therapeutic benefits of a healthy balanced diet, and the use of herbs and supplements. The natural world is a fascinating place and offers many wonderful remedies to help us with our ailments and well being.

If you want to improve and optimise your health with the guidance of a professional naturopath who uses the gifts that nature has provided, alongside the latest scientific research, then get in touch.

natalie@raglanherbaldispensary.nz
Click here to make a booking with Natalie.

Testimonials:

"Working with Natalie has not only been easy and straightforward but has been of huge benefit to my health and well being. I was nervous about starting this gut health journey as I had been living with this problem for years and thought it would take forever to fix. Natalie pretty much had me diagnosed after my first consultation which was just after a few questions, amazing. She was very flexible with my timings and even offered to do online consultations as my schedule was so busy. She was very supportive during and after my treatment reassuring me along the way that I could get through it. Would highly recommend working with Natalie she is very knowledgeable and passionate about what she does. She has changed my gut health which had changed my life." - S.

"I actually feel I'm doing well now, and would like to keep going with the regime that I've been on for some time now, so will connect in with you in the future as the need may arise. I've so appreciated your direction in regards to my health; it has put me on a good course for supporting my health and wellbeing, and I will definitely recommend you to others. Thanks so much for the work that you do." - M.H.

"I came across Natalie 5 years ago in Raglan when I wandered into the Herbal Dispensary with multiple symptoms ranging from lethargy, increased appetite, bloated, stomach pains, headaches, and sugar cravings. My body was protesting in the worst kind of way. Natalie sat me down and together we talked about my symptoms and Natalie explained why these things were happening and what treatment she could prescribe. Wow within a couple of days of following her advice and taking the medication I noticed a difference. My family and friends followed my advice and have all been treated by Natalie for numerous conditions, arthritis, hormonal disturbances, anxiety and stress to name a few. Natalie comes with my highest recommendation."

"Natalie has been of great help to me during the past few months of 2016. She has the amazing ability to listen and diagnose accurately. It was refreshing to have a woman of her intellect to work with. I am feeling so much better, have more knowledge and she she is there for any bumps on the road ahead. Thank you one thousand times! Thank you." - K

"I came to see Natalie for what I call 'post-cancer rehab'. I was a total mess - I was completely exhausted to the point where we were considering putting our daughter in care. Natalie helped me a lot with dietary advice and recipes, tonics and herbs, monitoring my energy levels and I even had a massage which was awesome! Natalie was completely professional and provided excellent follow up at all times. She is very knowledgeable and was able to gently guide me through a natural health process. We’re a typical meat and 3 vege kind of family but she adjusted menu suggestions to fit our taste buds. Overall, she the journey was completely successful. I am now in full remission and now I am looking to return to work. A huge success!" - Z. S.

"I really can’t recommend Nat highly enough! She has helped me through some pretty serious health concerns this past year, and given me confidence and tools that have been serving me. She really gets to the root of the issue, and uses a holistic combo of herbal tonics and supplements to get you back on track. She makes you feel at ease and has a genuine care for her clients. In a small town, discretion and privacy is so important, and I trust Nat 100% with my personal information. Thanks so much for your care and for getting me back to full health this year!" - M. W

 

Deborah Palmer

Naturopath | Medical Herbalist | Nutritionist

BNatMed, AdvDipHSc

 

Click here to book a consultation with Deborah

 

 

Deb’s fascination with prevention and cognitive health has personal roots. She watched her father’s health decline over decades, the result of a lifetime of environmental exposures, culminating in a progression of lung disease that led to emphysema and claimed his life in his early seventies. Her mother’s health began to falter while grappling with grief and loss after 52 years of marriage, and over the final decade of her life, Deb cared for her. Watching two people she loved decline through causes that, in hindsight, carried real warning signs left Deb with a lasting drive to understand patterns and red flags early, and to help people build genuine prevention into their lives.
Looking further back through her family’s history, and forward to her own son, nieces and nephews, Deb has come to see health patterns as something that move quietly through generations. But she also knows genetics isn’t destiny the way it was once thought to be. Epigenetics has shown that expression and progression can shift with the right conditions, which means these patterns aren’t fixed — they’re addressable. It’s this generational lens that shapes her focus on prevention and brain health today.
Long before she trained as a naturopath, Deb spent fourteen years running a restaurant in Far North Queensland, Australia. Food had always been central to how she thought about health — not as fuel, but as the most direct, daily tool people have for change.
That instinct was sharpened watching her father’s health decline. Amid his illness, he was put on a strict low-fat diet — the accepted medical wisdom of the era — denied the very fats his body needed. Deb had already discovered the Weston A. Price Foundation’s research into traditional, whole-food diets, and watching that mismatch between prescribed science and what she instinctively knew about real food set her path. By the time she reached her own degree, that foundation — whole food, minimally processed, organic — hadn’t moved. It hasn’t moved since.
In 2025, Deb turned that instinct into formal qualification, graduating with a Bachelor of Natural Medicine from the South Pacific College of Natural Medicine, building on an earlier Advanced Diploma in Health Sciences from NCNZ in New Plymouth. What she’d learned running a kitchen and what she’d lived through with her own family’s health came together in one focus: root-cause, personalised care that treats prevention as something built daily, not applied after a diagnosis.
Today, Deb works alongside her clients through Raglan Herbal Dispensary — listening first, then reaching for biomarkers, functional testing and genetics to fill in what words alone can’t tell her. Every protocol she builds, herbal, nutritional or lifestyle, is shaped around the person in front of her, not generalised. Her focus areas are aging well, no matter your biological age, optimised nervous system and brain health, metabolic and genetic health.

Deb@raglanherbaldispensary.nz

Click here to book a consultation with Deborah