Group Visits

Group visits at Healing Family Functional Medicine are designed to help decrease the cost of functional medicine care for individuals as well as families.  Research shows that group visits lead to better health outcomes and greater support. Dr. Patel offers group visits for individuals as well as for the whole family.  Through group family visits, you, your partner and your children get medical attention at the same time, so you can save time and money as you start the journey to better health.  She is one of the few qualified physicians in Northeast Ohio that can care for children to adults.  Call the Pepper Pike, Ohio, office to schedule your group visit for you and your family or book an appointment online today. 

What are group visits?

Group visits at Healing Family Functional Medicine aim to empower patients with knowledge, provide support from other like-minded people and minimize the cost of health care for individuals and families.  Research shows that shared medical visits often lead to better health outcomes and increased support for the individual and the family.  Furthermore, group visits are virtual which decreases the stress of planning your day around the appointment for you and your family. Group visits are aimed at healthy to moderately ill patients.  If severely ill, Dr. Patel recommends an individual visit at this time. 

Prior to the beginning of each group visit at Healing Family Functional Medicine, you will complete forms that detail you and your family’s health journey, family history, nutrition, lifestyle and environmental exposure.  The group visits include a multi-disciplinary team made up by Dr. Patel, the health coach and the dietician who work with you and your family along the functional medicine journey.  This multi-disciplinary team takes a comprehensive and holistic approach to introduce key concepts in functional medicine.  The group visits address many chronic diseases and symptoms such as:

• Autoimmune disorders
• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Anxiety and depression
• Chronic gut issues: IBS, reflux, bloating
• Chronic headaches and migraines
• Allergies: seasonal, environmental and food allergies
• Food sensitivities
• Fatigue, brain fog
• Joint pain
• Rashes including eczema, psoriasis

The multi-disciplinary team approach provides nutrition counseling, lifestyle education and empowering education on how to reduce inflammation and optimize your health and your family’s health. 

There are multiple group visits at Healing Family Functional Medicine.  The group visits include:

• Family group visits
• Women’s health group
• Mental Health group
• Post Covid group

The Family group visits are aimed for families with children.  The program focuses on optimizing the physical, mental and emotional health of the whole family.  This is a three-month long program that includes a visit once per month with the dietician, the health coach and Dr. Patel. The last month, there is an additional session with Dr. Patel to review labs.   All participants are encouraged to have laboratory testing done to review during this group experience.  Advanced functional medicine testing is offered for those who are interested.

Women’s group visits are uniquely designed to embrace the concerns of women in a safe and respectful setting.  This three-month long program includes a visit once per month with the dietician, the health coach and Dr. Patel. The last month, there is an additional session with Dr. Patel to review labs using the functional medicine lens.  Advanced functional medicine testing is offered to those interested.  This group targets healthy to moderately sick women.  Dr. Patel does not recommend group visits for severely sick patients at this time.  

The Post COVID group is for adult men and women over 18 years of age with mild to moderate post-COVID symptoms.  For severe patients, Dr. Patel recommends an individual approach to take a deep dive into their root causes.  This is a three-month long program that includes a visit once per month with the dietician, the health coach and Dr. Patel. The last month, there is an additional session with her to review labs.   All participants are encouraged to have laboratory testing done to review during this group experience.  Advanced functional medicine testing is highly encouraged. 

Mental health group visits are for adult men and women over 18 years who have mild to moderate mental health issues.  This combines the powerful specialties of functional medicine and holistic therapy into one session.  This is a three-month long program that includes a visit once per month with the dietician, the therapist, Dr. Kirksey, and Dr. Patel. The last month, there will be an additional session with Dr. Patel her to review labs.   All participants are encouraged to have laboratory testing done to review during this group experience.  Advanced functional medicine testing is offered to those interested. 

What does the group visit include?

The Family group, the women’s group and the post COVID group visits are three-month long program that involves a multi-disciplinary team including Dr. Patel, the dietician, and the health coach. program provides comprehensive education on the foundational aspects of functional medicine which include:

• Gut health: how gut health affects overall health and how to improve the gut microbiome through nutrition, lifestyle and key supplements. 
• Immune and inflammation: how the immune system functions and what causes low grade inflammation which is the root cause of all diseases.  How chronic inflammation improves with dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, replacing critical nutrients and better gut health. 
• Energy production: how the body creates energy, factors that decrease energy production and how energy production may improve with nutrition, lifestyle and functional medicine. 
• Lab review: Dr. Patel reviews labs and what are optimal values that may prevent diseases or slow the progression of a disease process. 

At the end of the group visit, Dr. Patel recommends incorporating the learning into your lifestyle and then joining the next level of functional medicine group visits which take a deeper dive in to hormone balance and detoxification. 

The mental health group differs slightly.  The multi-disciplinary team includes Dr. Patel, the dietician and the therapist, Dr. Kellie Kirksey.  The group visits are similar in structure but during the therapist sessions, you learn mind-body skills technique which can help decrease your stress response.  The mind-body skills training includes a wide array of modalities including breath work, progressive relaxation, visual imagery, meditation movement, art, music and dance to calm the nervous system and decrease the response to stress and possible past traumas.   

How do group visits benefit family health?

Family involvement is critical to the long term physical, mental and emotional wellness of individual adults and children.  When one person in the family is sick, the illness affects everyone.  By providing health care to the family unit, Dr. Patel can improve the health and resiliency of each member of the family.  She uses functional medicine strategies to support the individual with an illness as well as “the team” that surrounds this person which can include the parents, siblings, extended family and friends.  The group visit provides “the whole team” education and tools to help themselves as well as the individual who is sick to be the best version of themselves. 

During the group visits, Dr. Patel assesses the health of the entire family as well as offers comprehensive laboratory and functional medicine testing to better understand the needs and health challenges of the adults and children.  Testing can include:

• Gut microbiome testing
• Vitamin and mineral testing
• Comprehensive lab testing including kidney, liver, anemia and thyroid panel
• Cardiovascular testing for adults and children at risk
• Food sensitivity testing
• Environmental toxin testing as well as mold and heavy metal testing

Having a group family visit supports the entire family’s journey to better health and ensures the family has what it needs to thrive physically, mentally and emotionally. 

Call Healing Family Functional Medicine to schedule an appointment for a group visit for yourself or your family, or book a consultation online today.