Belinda Robson, Naturopath, Herbalist and Nutritionist

30/11/2023

We are really proud of Daniel Robson, Goulds Naturopath and S*x Therapist, who spoke to Lisa Costa Bir Naturopath about complementary medicine and male s*xual health for the most recent FX Medicine podcast episode. You can listen to the interview here (https://www.fxmedicine.com.au/podcast/complementary-medicine-and-male-s*xual-function-lisa-costa-bir-and-daniel-robson) or find it on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcasts.
*xology *xtherapy

10/05/2023

I had the absolute delight of working with Hannah and the lovely Gardening Australia folk on this, so happy with how beautifully it turned out.

Hannah meets a gardener using a steep sloping block to establish a productive cool climate harvest.

02/04/2023

Always a great opportunity to delve deeper into specific areas of clinical practice, I am very much looking forward to this conference.

21/12/2022

Looking for a new tasty recipe? Salads are a great way to increase diversity in our diet, boost our nutrient intake and enjoy the colours and flavours of the season! By eating a broad range of wholefoods, we encourage a healthy, diverse gut microbiome and robust immune system. Read below for salad c...

11/07/2022

S*xual Herbal Medicine- SaffronS*xual Herbal Medicine / 08/07/2022 11/07/2022 / Leave a Comment If you go online today and search herbal medicines and s*x you will be bombarded with recommendations for a plethora of herbal products claiming to improve s*xual function. In this environment, it is hard...

10/06/2022

On the last weekend in May, I had the honor of sharing the stage with these wonderful women at the NHAA (Naturopaths & Herbalists Association of Australia) Herbal Medicine Summit, discussing Apothecaries and their role in community health care. I loved the focus of this conference - Plant Medicine for the People - herbal medicine has always been considered community medicine. What struck me most though, in this time of climate crisis, was our role as custodians of Plant Medicines, how our actions help to sustain (or destroy) on going access to herbal medicines. There was a call to action ever present - People for the Plant Medicines, as much as Plant Medicines for the People - that our relationship with plants goes both ways.

How better to kick off Day 2 than with 👉 The herbal apothecary in focus!! 🍃 A panel discussion with experienced and passionate herbalists Sammi Allen, Belinda Robson, Jo Morgan, Renae Scott & Hannah Boyd!

22/10/2020

It seems kind of special that the four naturopaths that became part of Goulds almost 15 years ago, Belinda Robson, Dawn Whitten, Daniel Robson and Jason Hawrelak, have all contributed to these recently published textbooks along with many other fabulous contributors. We like to think that we may have brought a touch of Goulds flavour, drawing on our wonderful years immersed in natural medicine at Goulds. We have all been so busy that we almost forgot to stop and celebrate this achievement. Excuse our physical distancing photos!

Within the Advanced Clinical Naturopathic Medicine textbook, Belinda Robson wrote the chapter on Down’s syndrome (the first chapter on this topic within a natural medicine textbook that we know about), Dawn Whitten wrote the Breastfeeding chapter and co-wrote the Infancy chapter with the wonderful Tabitha McIntosh, and Jason Hawrelak was the lead author on the Microbiome chapter with esteemed colleague Joana Harnett. Within the 2nd Edition of Clinical Naturopathic Medicine, Daniel Robson co-authored the Men’s Health chapter with the fabulous textbook editor Leah Hechtman.

03/07/2020

Books, podcasts, films and more to support self education.

26/06/2020

Since George Floyd's death, we have been reflecting more in our family about bias's, and discussing (and challenging) bigotry in all it's forms - through the casual use of language, to the jokes that are not really OK, and the assumptions we make. This TEDTALK goes one step further, and asks us to think about the subjective pre-formed ideas we have, based on growing up in a culture of white privilege, and the influences that has on the way we think and view other people. Very valuable viewing.

Our brains create categories to make sense of the world, recognize patterns and make quick decisions. But this ability to categorize also exacts a heavy toll in the form of unconscious bias. In this powerful talk, psychologist Jennifer L. Eberhardt explores how our biases unfairly target Black peopl...

31/05/2020

Autumn abundance.
Behind the scenes I am a bit of an urban homesteader, not just in a pandemic preparation kind of way, this is the way I roll. I love looking up old crafts that have largely been forgotten, and creating ways to weave them into a more sustainable existence. And on the last day of autumn, I really like taking stock, winter is coming, are we ready? Our pantry shelves are heavy with stewed fruits, chutney, relish, dried apples, apricots and sultanas, and good selection of dried herbs – peppermint, sage, lemon balm, chamomile, agrimony, yarrow, chilli, and wee precious bit of saffron. This year we’ve harvested dandelion roots for the first time, which is a lovely addition. While some gardeners are busy trying to eradicate them from their lawns, we’ve been enjoying a Dandelion coffee in the afternoons. Our tomatoes were a bit marginal this year, so there is no passata. And our bees barely survived last winter, so there is no honey or herbal meads this year, but all up I’m pretty happy with what we’ve tucked away, and there is always next season. There are still a few things to add – the lemon verbena harvested today, and a batch of cider just started today from some apples that weren’t keeping so well. If you want to make use of your own dandelions, I’ve attached the process below, just be sure you know how to correctly identify them. Happy harvesting. 🥰

06/05/2020

Ahoy to all the parents out there, trying to home educate their kids while also trying to work from home, and do all the other day to day stuff that keeps a family going. It’s hard work, with many parents either deciding to write this term off, or battling with kids to keep up with online or workbook style lessons.

I have utter respect for teachers and the work that they do, and we’ve got to remember they’ve done a degree and put in hours/days/weeks of unpaid time preparing lesson plans to teach our little darlings. You can’t expect yourself to be able to fill that role without any training. At best, I think I can step up and be a tutor, but I can’t fill the role of a dedicated team of teachers. I’ve set myself the task of re-learning trigonometry this week, so I can help my fifteen year old with this, we’ll see how that goes, at some point I might be phoning a friend to help talk him through it. But that’s not within everyone’s realm of achievable, and it doesn’t have to be.

Personally I think the most important thing to focus on this term is your relationship with your kid/s. Fighting with them to learn the nuances of a text they’re not interested in or not motivated to learn is just stressful, for you and for them. Perhaps this term’s curriculum needs to be more flexible – what can you teach them (ie: what are your skills?)? And what are they interested in? This is easier with younger kids, because so much can be done through play based learning, rhymes, counting games and reading together. For older kids – dig out a book you loved and read it together, discuss the salient points, the subtleties. And teach them life-skills – but choose ones you feel confident to teach, or can be humble enough to learn alongside them – cooking (Italian/Greek/Japanese…), gardening, timber working, animal care, painting, crafting, meditation, yoga… Whatever you can do together, that doesn’t add stress, but instead builds on their confidence to learn new things. I wonder if we can enrich our children’s education during this period of isolation, so that they look back at this time fondly, as a time they developed their creativity, resilience, and self-reliance, and further built on their connections with those around them.

Here are some very cool online resources below that might help get the creative/flexible thinking going:

Websites for teaching kids at home. I do love it when my friends do all the thinking/ organising for me😊. Thanks !

01/05/2020

Mmmm, iso food. I don’t know about you, but with the kids doing online schooling from home, and a drastically changed work-home balance, I’m baking more. And I can justify it – the kids are home, I want them to have healthy snacks. But I could become quite the tubby little hobbit having secondsies with the kids, or a rolly polly Pooh-bear searching for a wee little smackerel of something sweet to go with my cup of tea…

For those of you in the same boat, here are a couple of my favourite home isolation recipes. They’re both high in fiber, polyphenols which feed your beneficial gut bacteria, beneficial fats, and trace nutrients. The cookies from salted plains can be varied however you like. I tend to leave out the choc chips, and add a nice plump duck egg from our free range ducks, which adds a little more protein and helps hold them together. I also like to add a generous amount of ginger, because I love ginger and chocolate together, and it satisfies that part of me that otherwise wants to be baking buttery sweet gingerbread.

The crackers I tend to bake I when start reaching for the corn chips. Again vary them however you like – I add the okara (soy pulp/fibre) from my home made soy milk, and whatever combination of fresh herbs from the garden or dried spices suits my current craving. Use any combination of seeds you have, the critical parts are the flaxseed (preferably ground) and chia, which contain the mucilage (goop) that holds them together. They are great with a homemade hummus, pesto, or any other healthy dip. Enjoy! And please feel free to comment with any recipes or gems you feel like sharing with others 🥰

https://saltedplains.com/chocolate-tahini-cookies-gluten-free-vegan/

https://quitegoodfood.co.nz/easy-home-made-five-seed-crackers/

Slightly nutty and loaded with chocolate, these gluten-free and vegan Chocolate Tahini Cookies will have you wanting more than just one!