by Martin Miron

Dr. Anita Nischal, owner of WHP Wellness Centre, an integrative medicine practice, states, “People come to me often as a last resort after trying everything else. They often say, ‘My doctor, my endocrinologist, my gynecologist keeps telling me I’m fine, but I have a thyroid problem and nobody is listening to me. I know something is wrong, but they say I’m fine.’”

In contrast to the world of allopathic (traditional) medicine, where diagnoses and treatments may comprise cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all recipes, Nischal values personal interaction and customized solutions above all else. “Many patients see me after they have tried everything else,” she explains. “I’ve been practicing for five years now, and the longer and deeper I get into this space, I can say with confidence that mine is a mind-body-soul approach. It is our biography that creates our biology, and it is our life stories that create diseases, or the perception of disharmony, in the body.”

There’s another aspect of Nischal’s practice that is based in The Hippocratic Oath, yet seems revolutionary today. “To get to know a patient and personalize their treatment takes time, which is at a premium in the allopathic doctor’s office. This is concierge medicine; I charge a flat price for my services; it is not by the hour, it is as long as it takes,” she notes. “If a person comes in and they require three hours of my time, they get it. I’m very vested in the outcome, but it’s very affordable to see me. My patients have repeatedly told me, ‘You’re the best-kept secret in New Jersey.’ This practice is not money driven; it is resolve driven.” Most of her patients come from referrals. “Patients have my email, they have my phone number and we text; I am their coach and I am there for them. I am their everything,” she says.

“In the old days, doctors used to make home visits; I can’t make a home visit, but I make sure I understand the environment in that home. I see entire families, including husband, wife and children. It becomes a harmonious movement,” she notes, “Even after years have passed, they say, ‘I know when to come home,’ when they need help.”

Nischal offers a wide variety of services, including ayurvedic therapy, pain management, skincare therapy, a food allergies and food sensitivities program, natural food therapy, aromatherapy, bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and more. She will also prescribe mindful-based stress reduction techniques, meditation and stress management. “It produces a more long-lasting, consistent results. It is about having the patient understand first of all, ‘How did I here, what do I do now that I’m here and what can I learn to never go back again?’” she says.

One special group that Nischal works with is infertility patients for what is called infertility of unknown cause. She says, “A lot of those patients come in after failed IVF [in vitro fertilization] or failed IUI [intrauterine insemination], and I’m able to help them conceive. Infertility has become tremendously huge issue because many 20-something-year-old women are failing to conceive. With the medicine typically practiced today, the gynecologist generally will say, ‘Let me refer to IVF; and so the patients go through IVF and then they still do not conceive. Instead, I use a mind-body-soul approach to handling stress, anxiety and nutrition. They will tend to conceive with me because I take the stress out of it. I’m asked all the time, ‘Why didn’t I see you first?’”

“One of the things that sets me apart from other providers is that I am very much a doer, as well as a practitioner,” says Nischal. “My own life story is what got me here, so I practice what I preach, and in that process, there is an evolution and a realization as to what does it take to move, or how complicated is this to move? I meditate every day. I go to silent retreats and it has been a path and a journey that makes sense to me right now. A lot of what I have experienced I bring to the table to my patients.

“I have patients calling me by my first name,” says Nischal. “When I meet a patient for the first time, it’s about them trusting me. It’s about me trusting them. It’s a two-way relationship. Its about, ‘I’m here for you to get you through,’ but I also learn tremendously from my patients, because it’s a trusting relationship that produces results in the end. It is not a hierarchical relationship. I share my own stories with my patients because I understand there are challenges, and that allows me to have realistic expectations and say this is possible but this is not. But it may be possible next year.”

WHP Wellness Centre is located at 3027 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ. For appointments, call 201-899-4099. For more information, visit whpwellness.com.

Martin Miron is a national editor for Natural Awakenings magazine.