What To Expect

Dr. Valencia Ray is currently licensed to practice medicine in California and Illinois for personalized medicine and the giving of medical advice.

For her educational classes and webinars, she is not limited to any geographic location.

Integrative and Functional Medicine, in general are interchangeable terms. They both look for root causes of disease and not simply treat symptoms with medications.

More often than not medication can not only mask the disease process, they are often the cause of harmful side effects - some of which are life-threatening. While medication has a role to play, it alone is not the solution.

Integrative Medicine is a relatively new medical specialty consisting of physicians and other healthcare providers that believe in the philosophy of treating the ‘whole person’.

When the root cause of the disease is discovered from taking a thorough and complete physical and medical history - listening also for how the mind can be affecting the body and spirit - and targeted laboratory nutritional assessment is made, a protocol for healing can be collaboratively created between the patient/client and the physician.

For Dr. Ray, this whole-person perspective includes Mind, Body and Spirit – integration of the whole person. In this way, disease can be put into remission and even fully healed so that ‘health care’ becomes a reality and not simply an idea.

Each person’s unique health issues and personal goals are supported for optimal long-term wellness in both mind and body.

While Dr. Ray is a fully licensed physician and surgeon in the state of California and Illinois, at this point in her career she is choosing to provide only medical consultation, nutritional therapy and wellness services. She also works with, and collaborates with other physicians and wellness care providers.

She does not act as a primary care physician, though she will be happy to engage with your primary physician and to keep him or her informed with letters of treatment follow up.

It is important for you to maintain the services of a primary care provider for traditionally recommended ‘standard of care’ annual tests, chronic medical issues that Dr. Ray does not treat, or for you to be able to be seen by your doctor for medical and mental health emergency services.

She is not available for 24/7 after hours ‘on call’ coverage and has decided not to maintain hospital admitting privileges. We ask that you call 911, or your primary care physician on call for emergency service.

You can expect comprehensive care for your Whole Self. You will be asked to fill out a health questionnaire at home to bring with you to your initial visit.

It is ideal to return this form to Dr. Ray before you come in so that she will have had a chance to review it ahead of time and save more time for your visit with her. At the first visit, she will talk about your health history with you, including your mental and emotional health.

As a whole person, these areas are also vitally important to your wellness and well-being and can contribute to a root cause for disease and disharmony in the body as well. For this reason, Dr. Ray literally deals with both the mind and the body in the restoration of your health.

She will explore any imbalances with you and collaboratively determine what your treatment goals are – you are in control of this process ultimately. Dr. Ray’s goal is to listen attentively and be of the highest service to you that she can be at this time in your journey.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and she will work with you to deal with what you are ready to deal with during your work with her. The initial visit lasts between 75-90 minutes, so please allow two hours for your visit.

Together, you and Dr. Ray will discuss the many different factors that affect your physical and mental health, which includes your nutrition, physical activity, lifestyle, family history, social and emotional history, and more as indicated.

A part of this process is educational as well, as you learn to recognize how what you currently hold as truth no longer works, is self-sabotaging you, or has been already disproven by science that you may not be aware of. The goal is to target and treat the underlying condition for the symptoms you are experiencing so that these symptoms can be treated and eliminated and your natural state of health restored – mind, body and spirit.

Once the assessment is completed, lab tests are done before the follow up visit. Follow up visits last between 30-45 minutes. During the follow up visit a debriefing is done with you in regard to the results of your tests and you will work with Dr. Ray to collaboratively determine a treatment plan, which can include:

• Dietary changes and planning
• Detoxification protocol
• Nutritional therapy and supplements
• Weight Loss/Ideal Weight Maintenance
• Lifestyle changes
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)/Mindset Coaching
• Health/Personal Growth Coaching
• Massage Therapy
• Acupuncture
• Complementary Healing Approaches

The goal is to help you to get off of medications that are only masking symptoms and potentially causing further dis-ease, and to tap into the natural healing capacity of your mind and body so that your condition can be healed, and to restore health.

Importantly as well, the goal is to help you to empower yourself to self-manage your mind, health and well-being effectively and to reconnect to your spirit, so that you can live the life that you were meant to live with purpose and fulfillment.

Do you struggle with ‘brain fog’, anxiety, melancholy, negative self-talk, insomnia or worry? Insecurity, feeling like a ‘fake’? Do you struggle with weight gain, ‘diabesity’, constipation/diarrhea, gas, food intolerance, or constantly need to snack throughout the day to avoid hunger? What about hair loss, coldness in your extremities, low libido?

Lack of passion and purpose? A struggle with self-assertiveness and always feeling, ‘not enough’ or not good enough – no matter how smart you are or how much you’ve accomplished?

It is important to learn that these thoughts in your mind affect your body's health…and your body’s health affects your mind. They are connected! And it is time for you to learn how to ‘take back the steering wheel of your own mind’ and body, and to empower yourself!

Mind-Body Health issues are dealt with, such as:

• Stress and Burnout Root Causes
• Thyroid Disorders
• Hormonal Issues/Menopause
• Obesity/Weight Loss
• Wellness and Nutritional Therapy
• Type 2 Diabetes/Pre-diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome
• Autoimmune Disease
• Chronic Inflammation
• Osteoporosis
• Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue
• Anxiety, Stress, Melancholy, Worry
• Insomnia
• Assertiveness and Confidence Issues

An individual, whole-person perspective is the core foundation to treatment plans. The intention is to experience greater vitality, connection and confidence in your life.

Since our office’s approach to care is integrative/functional and includes both standard and “alternative” approaches to treatment, many insurance companies classify our treatments as “unproven” or “experimental” and therefore exclude it from reimbursement.

Also as a physician, Dr. Ray has found it too time consuming and difficult to work with insurance companies, many of which fight or avoid paying their client’s medical bill. For this reason, she is an, ‘out of network provider’ for all medical insurance companies.

Dr. Ray is licensed to write for all medication prescriptions, but again, is not a participating provider for coverage, so you will need to check with your insurance company to learn their policies and required procedure for possible reimbursement. Payment for our services is expected at the time of service. We accept cash, personal check and major bank cards.

Patients are expected to pay for their services in full at the time of service and payment plans can be given for follow up health maintenance and coaching packages.

Costs for testing, prescriptions and supplements are charged separately, and is often a charge by the lab, pharmacy or supplement company providing the product or service.