Alumni Career Spotlight

Jeffrey A. Sager, LCMHC, ND

After graduate school in 1991, Jeff Sager traveled to Thailand. While there, he became infected with gastrointestinal parasites, which was a common malady for foreigners. Although Western doctors were able to eradicate the parasites via medication, they were unable to restore his overall health. Fortunately, he was in a place where he had access to people from all over the world who knew about natural healing. He was treated with homeopathy, fasting, Thai massage, diet and herbal medicine. All of these treatments made radical changes in his life and helped him regain his health. And, they moved him to make a decision to study naturopathic medicine at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Phoenix, Ariz.

We recently interviewed Dr. Sager to find out just how he’s working with patients and other doctors to integrate the two fields of mental health and naturopathic medicine …

A personal transition, a merging of fields
Making integrated services work
Changing the future of mental health care

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A personal transition, a merging of fields

AANMC: You could have chosen to make the personal life changes and continued your mental health practice. Why did you take the major step of becoming a naturopathic doctor (ND)?

JS: At first, when dealing with my own health issues, I wasn’t aware of natural medicine at all. I was dragged kicking and screaming into the dietary changes and the whole process. But it won me over. It really does work. My life had changed direction and I thought I would be more satisfied with my life’s work by becoming a naturopath.

AANMC: What is the best part of your job?

JS: I really enjoy being involved in program development. In Thailand, I helped to develop the first hospice in that country, which was actually the first one of its kind in the world where monks and nuns are the caregivers. Right now I’m involved in developing another program from the ground up, but this time it’s creating a model for an integrative psychiatric/naturopathic program at a community mental health center, which also has an inpatient unit. I really enjoy getting people together who don’t traditionally work together.

AANMC: How did this new program come about?

JS: It wasn’t my original intention to do it. While building a private naturopathic practice I also worked doing emergency psychiatric evaluations at a local hospital ER. I was seeing many patients in the ER where the use of medication was very appropriate, necessary and helpful. But once they were stabilized, I thought there could be a lot of ways that an ND could help them. So I approached the administration about it. It took a year and a half of meeting after meeting until they agreed to do it first as an experiment. Then after about a year of doing it this way, there was a change in administration and a willingness to have an ND on staff full-time. Now we are developing a manual, through a grant, that will help make the program replicable.

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Making integrated services work

AANMC: Naturopathic medicine itself is informed by an integrative philosophy. So integrating naturopathic medicine with other health care disciplines seems natural, doesn’t it?

JS: Naturopathic medicine and traditional psychiatry can go together very well. That’s not the problem at all. The egos of the practitioners – that’s the potential problem. In our integrated setting, the psychiatrist and I can sit in a room talking to a family and have a relaxed and intelligent discussion about the treatment options. We take into consideration what is clinically appropriate and what the client wishes. If the patient’s goal is to get off of their medication and it’s clinically appropriate for them to do so, then we’ll do our best to make that happen. And, of course, I’ll address all of their other health issues, too, as part of the treatment.

Most importantly, we’re able to tolerate each others’ views. From the psychiatrist’s perspective, adding naturopathic medicine to the treatment plan allows us to offer people more opportunities and increased chances to improve the quality of people’s lives.

AANMC: How do the two fields complement each other?

JS: Patients often have angst about having to make a choice between traditional psychiatry or naturopathy. If their ND and their psychiatrist suggest two different options, then it creates tension for the patient – and the practitioners. We remove that element. We make it work because we function collaboratively. We offer the patient a team approach which may include the psychiatrist, naturopathic doctor, nurse practitioner and counselor. Naturopathic supplementing can support the patient’s system to alleviate rebound depression and/or anxiety as they taper off their psychiatric medicines. Most cases call for some kind of coordinated effort. If the patient is not on any medication, they may receive services from me alone. In other cases, I may only play a minimal role.

AANMC: Is there a particular patient you have helped that stands out to you?

JS: Yes, a 48-year-old woman with a long mental health history. This woman had a history of multiple suicide attempts, multiple hospitalizations which included two recent admissions, polysubstance abuse and trials of a dozen medicines. She recently had received 15 electroconvulsive therapy treatments, and was actively suicidal and homicidal. She had a multitude of medical problems and no longer wanted to be on so many medications. Her private psychiatrist in town refused to work with us, so she decided to receive all her services at our center. We did a battery of tests and treatments and it took us nine months to get her off of her psychiatric medications.

Now, two years later, she has remained out of the hospital and has not been suicidal or homicidal. Overall she has lost 60 pounds, half of which she lost as a result of going through a detoxification process in the second year. I used to be able to hear her stomach from across the hall, but her digestive disorder has cleared up as well. She still has problems sleeping, so she currently takes a minimal amount of medication for that. She’s come a long way. Is it a miracle? No, it was a lot of hard work. She is one of the most committed people I’ve worked with and that is a critical factor.

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Changing the future of mental health care

AANMC: Your integration of naturopathic medicine and mental health counseling is breaking new ground. Do you expect it to become more common to integrate the two?

JS: I don’t know. We do get a lot of inquiries though. I have received many calls from families all over the country inquiring about our services. There is an effort in this state now to integrate the two fields at another mental health center, and I have spoken with naturopathic doctors (NDs) in Vermont, Oregon and New Mexico who want to do it. Our manual will be disseminated and will offer some guidance. The compatibility is obvious and the demand is there. However the lack of insurance coverage is one of the major obstacles. If insurance covered my services, they would have to hire an additional ND to meet the demand.

AANMC: Do you think the integration of naturopathic medicine and other practices improves the chance for a successful ND practice?

JS: On a practical level, it’s a necessity. If, upon graduation, most NDs have to start their own businesses, that can be a tough journey. The more integration there is, the more work there will be. If we (NDs) can get positions in hospitals or as part of multi-disciplinary practices, there will be more opportunities. We can broaden and enhance all kinds of other disciplines – if the doctors are open.

As of April 2009, Dr. Jeffrey Sager, ND, now works at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America's hospital (Western Regional Medical Center) in Goodyear, Arizona, working in integrated cancer care.

 

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Having seen the real-life benefits of the integration of traditional mental health services and naturopathic medicine first-hand, Dr. Sager remains hopeful that the two communities can put their years of bickering behind them, setting aside limiting viewpoints, egos, and prejudgments to better help their patients. Referencing his favorite quote from Victor Hugo, "There’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come," Dr. Sager reflects, "Maybe the time has finally come for the integration of naturopathic medicine and traditional psychiatry."

 

Author Patty Bates-Ballard is a mother and freelance writer-advocate of inclusion and wholeness. Patty's articles have appeared on the Environmental News Network and in Environmental Design + Construction Magazine. She has guest lectured at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, Sherman's Austin College and El Centro College in Dallas. She works from her home in Dallas, Texas, where she raises her sons, Kory and Kaden.

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