Meet Mel, a Clinical Naturopath with interests in skin, women’s hormones & gut health

A woman with wavy blonde hair sitting on a white cube, wearing a black sleeveless top, black pants, and black ankle boots, smiling and resting her chin on her hand against a plain white background.

I’m Melissa McDonald, a degree-qualified Naturopath with more than 10 years’ experience in the health and wellness industry. I take a holistic, evidence-informed approach, looking beyond symptoms to uncover the underlying factors contributing to your health.

My clinical focus includes gut health, skin health, women’s health, hormones, fatigue and burnout, as well as the health and wellbeing of babies and children. I combine nutrition, herbal medicine, lifestyle support and functional testing where appropriate to provide personalised, practical care.

My own experience with acne and PMDD first led me to naturopathy, inspiring my passion for helping others understand and take control of their health.

I hold a Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) from Endeavour College of Natural Health and am a member of the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA).

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy)

  • Member of the Naturopathic Herbalist Association Australia (NHAA) Since 2021.

  • Clinical Densitometry - Australian and New Zealand Bone Mineral Society (ANZBMS)

  • DEXA Technologist

  • SIBO & Microbiome Practitioner Certification™

Professional development & industry engagement

  • Karly Raven SIBO mentoring

  • Rhiannon Hardingham Women’s Health Mentoring (2026)

  • Supervised naturopathic/nutrition students during clinical placements, supporting their practical development, clinical reasoning and achievement of learning outcomes at Torrens University

  • 30+ hours of formal professional development yearly

A woman with blonde hair in a black sleeveless top pours a liquid from a brown bottle into a tall glass container. On the table beside her, there are four more brown bottles and a small potted plant.

Naturopathy is a health care system and philosophy that encompasses a variety of modalities such as functional nutrition, food as medicine, herbalism, flower essence therapy and iridology. Naturopathy is used to assess and uncover the root cause of your health complaints, placing emphasis on the connections between each organ in the body and how they work with each other.

Our philosophy is to treat the whole person, which relieves symptomatic treatment and focuses on resolving the root cause of illness. Naturopaths solely focus on using nature to cure, as the human body is designed to endogenously heal itself. If we remove the disturbing factors that cause disease then our health and mind will restore.

What is Naturopathy?

    • Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

    • Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)

    • Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

    • Chronic bloating

    • Diarrhoea

    • Constipation

    • Acne

    • Eczema

    • Dermatitis

    • Perioral dermatitis

    • Hives & rashes

    • Redness

    • Heavy or absent periods

    • Period pain

    • Poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

    • Vaginal health

    • Menstrual irregularities

    • Perimenopause/menopause

    • Thyroid conditions & Hashimoto’s disease

    • Endometriosis

    • Vitamin B12 deficiency

    • Fatigue

    • Brain fog

    • Poor sleep

    • Burnout

    • Deeper analysis into iron pathology with understanding

    • Helping you to improve your iron absorption

    • Identify factors reducing iron absorption

  • While pathology reports of your blood work may report that the numbers are in the “normal range”, they may actually be abnormal.

    Naturopaths consider your results not just against the Australian average, but also take into account what the result should be for healthy individuals, often finding subtle discrepancies and sub-optimal levels that might indicate issues, or require support.

    Pathology reference ranges are based on a group of “healthy” people which can be a slippery slope. Who should define normality and using which criteria? Traditional lab results also use broad ranges to define what is “normal,” but this can miss small variations that affect health.

    When I assess blood work, I take a critical eye to the normal ranges, and I aim for optimal health rather than just avoiding disease. I search for patterns and values within the normal range that may hint at early imbalances or deficiencies that may be associated with your complaints

Areas of Expertise