Doctor combines traditional and modern medicines

A Western-trained physician whose practice drastically changed after meeting with Indigenous healers from around the world is trying to bring the two approaches to health closer together.

“I resonated more with Indigenous healers’ approach to health such as gratitude, respect, humility, and support,” she said.

Dr. Daniele Behn Smith, who is an Eh Cho Dene/Métis woman from the Fort Nelson First Nation, is working as a doctor in Edmonton. She recently spoke at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine.

Dr. Behn Smith said something was missing from her practice as a doctor. Only eight months into her career she was considering a career change.

“When I finished my residency, I just found I was dissatisfied with my work and feeling unhappy and unfulfilled. Then I started praying to the creator to ask for help and guidance,” she said.

That’s when a television producer approached her about taking part in a documentary series called Medicine Woman. The series followed Dr. Behn Smith as she travelled the world to meet with Indigenous healers.
The documentary started at Dr. Behn Smith’s home in Fort Nelson, British Colombia. It then took her to places such as Ireland, Wales, Guatemala, Alaska, Namibia, Australia, and even Fort Qu’appelle, Saskatchewan where she met with people working at the All Nations Healing Centre.
“What really struck me about all the places is the fundamental principles were the same no matter where we went. The healers in Saskatchewan were similar to healers in other parts of the world,” she said.

She learned about how traditional healers treat their patients and what alternative types of treatment may be available, from ceremonies to medicinal plants.

“The most dramatic thing I learned is to be really conscious of respecting patients and their wishes and working much harder to figure out what they want help with. As doctors, we often make assumptions about what kind of help they want from us and we don’t always take the time to really listen, when in fact they may not want that prescription,” she said.

Dr. Behn Smith’s belief is that we all come from Indigenous roots.

“We are all rooted to a place,” she said. “At some point these are everyone’s truths - to nurture and maintain balance.

“That’s my understanding,” she said. “But there are probably multiple understandings.”

Dr. Behn Smith said the healers never pushed their knowledge or practices on her. She said they were gracious with sharing but never insisted that there was only one way to heal. After the documentary shoot ended, she didn’t quit practicing medicine. Instead she has found ways to incorporate traditional healing into her work.

In addition to her own practice, Dr. Behn Smith is finding ways to encourage other doctors to incorporate the values of traditional healers into their practice. She is currently working at the University of Alberta on ways to prepare new doctors to be open to non-Western forms of medicine. She is also on the board of directors for the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada where she is trying to bridge western medicine with traditional ways of healing.

“There’s a momentum to work together,” she said “I think it goes back to the fact that we have such different perspectives. Our professions are rooted in such fundamental concepts and principles that we probably have a lot to share and benefit from each other.”

For Dr. Behn Smith, it has not been challenging to incorporate traditional healing into her daily work.
“The changes have been within myself, and changes in my attitudes and approaches to the work. I now leave work feeling uplifted and fulfilled which is a pretty dramatic change.”

Dr. Behn Smith makes it clear to her patients that she is not a traditional medicine woman, however, she is able to refer her patients to those that are.

She said her patients appreciate her openness and willingness to listen and explore other options.

“There is a really powerful means of medicine outside the western scope of medicine,” she said.