Photo by Eau Claire Photographics, Sandra O’Claire 2011
Stephanie is the owner and director of Stellaria Natural Health. Raised in the suburbs of Chicago, she graduated Magna cum Laude from Loyola University Chicago, where she received a BA in Theatre and a BS in Anthropology, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After college, she lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York, followed by Portland, Oregon, where she received a four-year Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from National College of Natural Medicine, a fully accredited Naturopathic Medical College. She is licensed as a Naturopathic Physician in the State of Oregon. Here in Illinois, she practices as a health consultant (Illinois does not yet license naturopathic physicians).
In 2009, Stephanie joined the faculty of the Naturopathic Medicine Program in the College of Professional Studies at National University of Health Sciences. She teaches courses in Naturopathic Counseling, Practice Management, and naturopathic philosophy, and is a supervising clinician at the NUHS clinic.
Much of her clinical academic work was done at Outside In, a renowned clinic and community center for homeless youth, located in Portland. There she honed her diagnostic skills while treating everything from highly infectious diseases to run-of-the-mill colds with both natural and conventional medicine. In addition, she spent several clinical rotations working with patients in various stages of addiction recovery, treating mental and physical conditions of acute and longstanding duration, while assisting her patients to stay clean and sober.
Stephanie has practiced yoga for over two decades and is an accomplished dancer and performer. She has not owned a car since 1996, and prefers to commute on foot, by bike, and by public transportation. Dealing with her own injuries, strains, and aches has given her great insight and interest in helping her patients overcome pain and inflammation to discover true joy in movement.
Stephanie’s clinical interests include addiction recovery, women’s health, mental health, digestive disorders, mind-body medicine, and physical medicine. She thrives on helping patients create real, lasting changes in their lives and in their relationship to their bodies. She believes that the key to profound healing is empowerment, and that the patient is the best source of information about their own ailments and the road to health. She is dedicated to combining the latest research with age-old therapies, all with an emphasis on compassion and serving the patient.
She especially enjoys working with artists. In 2009 she founded Feeding the Muse, an online newsletter and monthly group which addresses the health concerns of creative and artistic people.
While in Portland, she founded The Warrior Project, an organization dedicated to the prevention of domestic violence by helping women discover their own inherent strength. She is also the founder of Hafla in the Square, a belly dance celebration that was held regularly in Chicago.
Stephanie is a member of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare and the Flower Essence Society.
Stellaria Natural Health 