Dr. Steve Morris

Hi Work: Naturopathic Physician

“I think that this is about as good as I can make it. I don’t see anything I’d change at this point.”

Dr. Steve Morris tells me about the design of the clinic and says “we try to model it after a healing center.”  He says “I think it’s very comfortable here. It’s pretty much based on indigenous culture and trying to really celebrate all people.” He tells me that there are “no chemically sensitive carpets, it’s all hardwood floors and organic paints” so he is considerate of any patients that have allergies or chemical sensitivities.  There are windows all around the clinic and Dr. Morris tells me that “we see whales jumping out our windows, eagles flying by and beautiful sunsets” and he says this offers something unique and comforting to patients. He says “we have people that just sit around and have a cup of tea after they’re done with their visit and hang out for a half hour” and you don’t see that in other clinics.

I ask him about his ideal workspace and he tells me that “this is not my ideal situation but it’s as good as you can get. This is a sweet a place as I could ever put together.” The only thing he can think to improve would be for the clinic to be a round structure. “I have just always loved round buildings, so ideally this is not it, but it’s as close as you can get for a clinic setting.” He tells me “I live in a round house and I just don’t like square buildings.” He says that round buildings just feel more harmonious. He tells me that he loves everything else about it. “What else could you ask for?” he says to me while smiling. He tells me about the feeling of the space and says “I think it’s conducive to people feeling a sense of wellness and I think it opens people’s minds to what their potential can be which is great.”

Dr. Morris has been in practice for 24 years and teaches all around the world about three to four times a year. His workshop sessions last two or three weeks. The context of Naturopathic medicine has changed over the years and Dr. Morris tells me about some of the problems he encounters dealing with the insurance industry. He says “my average doctor visit is anywhere from 30-60 minutes and we can’t even code for that. It’s a whole different paradigm.” He says that “besides that I really enjoy it. My day to day patient interaction- I couldn’t ask for better.” He tells me about the positive relationships he has with his patients and says “I feel very blessed and fortunate that I have the ability to help people in this way and also that there’s a sense of trust there.”

He spends so much time with patients because he works from the least invasive treatment to the most invasive treatment which means that he spends a lot of time educating. Medical doctors spend approximately 6 minutes with a patient. He uses a more invasive approach like surgery when a disease or symptom warrants aggressive treatment. He tells me how the structure of Naturopathic medicine is changing and is trying to model itself more and more like medical doctors, which just doesn’t make sense with Naturopathy.

I ask him to put his experience with his work into a few words and he says “Education. Wellness. Common Sense. Hope.” I ask him what he is hopeful about and he says “people getting better. I think people have the power to get themselves better. I can remember Dr. Bastyr was a Naturopath in the 40’s. He was delivering babies in bath tubs under water in the 40’s. We have a wonderful lineage that we should be proud of as Naturopaths and I don’t want to see that get watered down so yeah I’m hopeful.”