Holistic Remedies

Most naturopaths focus on the body, while most counsellors focus on the mind. Raji Samprathi of Holistic Remedies Canberra is one of a literal handful of practitioners in the country who are qualified to work across both.

The naturopath in Canberra who’s also a qualified counsellor

Raji holds an Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy from CIT and a Graduate Diploma in Counselling from the University of Canberra. She’s registered with the Australian Natural Therapists Association and PACFA (the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia), and is working toward accreditation with the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. In a field where it can be hard to tell who’s properly trained and who’s simply put up a website, those memberships matter.

First consultations run ninety minutes. Raji uses the six pillars of lifestyle medicine as her framework: sleep, diet, movement, stress management, social connection, and avoidance of harmful substances. She’s building a picture of what’s actually going on for this particular person, and what’s been driving things under the surface.

“What does this person need? Where are the gaps? What is stopping them from getting there?” 

~ Raji Samprathi

Raised around healers, trained across two disciplines

Raji grew up in Bangalore in a household where medicine ran through both sides of the family. Her father was a GP in India who gave free consultations to neighbours from their home. Her great-grandmother and grandmother worked in Ayurveda, and her earliest memories are of watching her great-grandmother prepare remedies in the kitchen.

She migrated to Australia in 1994, spent five years in Perth, and arrived in Canberra in 1999. For more than two decades, she worked in the public service as a communication specialist, retiring from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2022. The practice ran alongside that career the whole time. She started studying naturopathy at CIT in 2010, qualified in 2013, and opened her clinic in 2014 while still working full-time. 

She kept seeing that stress was driving physical illness, and that naming it wasn’t enough to actually help someone address it. So she went back to university. The Graduate Diploma in Counselling followed, then a year in Canada while her husband was on a DFAT posting, then a return to Canberra with both qualifications active and the public service behind her.

She’s also a trained meditation teacher, a Lifeline-accredited crisis support counsellor through a volunteer role held separately from her practice, and an on-panel counsellor with Atrium HR, an employee assistance provider operating across 180 countries.

“It’s like the layers of an onion. And some people just heal by opening up.” 

~ Raji Samprathi

A client came in for gut health issues. Raji worked through the usual intake and got to stress. What emerged was a piece of unresolved grief the client had been carrying for years, something with no obvious connection to the gut complaint but quietly driving everything. Raji suggested they park the original issue and address it first. A couple of sessions later, the client came back and told her things had shifted. 

What help do people need?

Someone with years of blood test results moving in the wrong direction, alongside plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel, fatty liver, and arthritis, came to Raji after following her webinars on health and wellbeing. The first consultation worked through the root cause. The plan combined dietary changes, herbal teas, personalised meditation recordings, and written guidance on anti-inflammatory eating. Improvement was observed within a short period of time.

A client overseas reached out during a sudden spike in blood sugar, with readings well into the danger zone. Because of Raji’s support, she was able to make some simple lifestyle changes that became permanent habits. Working with Raji, those high blood sugar readings dropped significantly within a short time.

Naturopathy’s key focus is working out the root cause of illness, and seeing the body, the mind and environment as a whole system, which has the potential to unlock effective treatments that go beyond band-aid solutions.

Raji charges are affordable pro bono work. She keeps in contact with clients between appointments when needed.

Canberra Unplugged and community initiatives

Alongside her practice, Raji runs Canberra Unplugged, a community initiative on digital wellbeing and screen habits, affiliated with the national Australia Unplugged movement, which started in Kiama and was featured on Radio National. She also runs free community sessions on pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, and metabolic health, grounded in the belief that if people understand what’s happening in their bodies, they’re more likely to do something about it.

Raji also leads the ACT regional chapter of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. Lifestyle medicine is a powerful shift towards prevention, root-cause care, and empowering people to take charge of their health. This is something Raji is deeply passionate about advancing here locally: building a community of health professionals across Canberra who want to integrate lifestyle medicine into their work.

In addition, Raji is willing to speak to community groups about lifestyle medicine and how it can change the trajectory of one’s health, so make sure you reach out if that would be of interest to you.

“The way we eat, move, sleep, deal with stress and stay connected is what defines health.”

~ Raji Samprathi

How to access Raji and Holistic Remedies

Raji practises on Mondays in Gungahlin and Wednesdays at Ambrosio Holistic Health in Cook. In May, Raji will be starting as a health coach/counsellor at Next Practice in Deakin. She is also a trained mindfulness and meditation teacher and individual meditation sessions for free to members of the community.

Raji offers a free ten-minute discovery call for anyone who wants to get a feel for whether she’s the right fit before booking. Contact Raji today!