In 2001, Dr Shauna K Young, PhD, ND opened the doors of her unique natural health Clinic, Assertive Wellness Center, in picturesque but tiny Durango, CO.
Strictly by word of mouth, her practice grew exponentially; expanding into a space twice the original size in less than a year, and ultimately into a 5,000 square foot facility that hosted multiple practitioners, a cryotherapy sauna, weight loss services, and personal fitness training.
By 2018, her center had seen thousands of patients who had the confidence to travel from every U.S. State and even several foreign countries based nearly exclusively on referrals from other practitioners, friends and family, and other happy patients.
Even after relocating her then nearly 20 year old practice to Boise, ID, people were still traveling from all corners to see her.
So what makes Dr. Shauna so special that so many people were willing to get on an airplane to see a Naturopathic doctor?
Dr Shauna was able to achieve an unprecedented level of success in her research regarding the theorized negative effects of excess and stored manganese on the human neurological and sensory input systems, and its possible symptomatic connections to Autism and other neurological, learning and behavioral disorders in both children and adults.
Originally referred to as “The Popeye Protocol” and currently as the “Spectrum Balance® Protocol”, this research led to her receiving Distinguished Awards of Excellence in both May of 2006 and May of 2007 from the internationally-recognized Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine, and to her 2015 book “Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance Protocol”.
In fact, she has two books. Her 2012 book was the quirky and easy to read “If Naturopaths Are Quacks Then I Guess I’m A Duck” that was designed to help those not familiar with natural medicine have the confidence to put their toe in the naturopathic water. Obviously not of the serious nature of the other…
However, it wasn’t awards and books that encouraged people to seek her out. Instead it was her unique and often uncanny ability to figure out the “mystery illnesses” that plague so many people these days. To take all the bits and pieces of information, the weird symptoms, their dietary habits, their medical history, and even their emotions into account, and find a reason for their current perplexing state of health. And then find a solution! Then, most importantly, to give the right customized approach and guidelines to keep them healthy going forward with their lives. In fact, many of her original “mystery patients” now have decades long track records of happy and easily maintained health.