With the global health crisis taking over our everyday lives, people started looking out for their health more than they have been their whole lives. Moreover, many companies and organizations began to release campaigns, programs, and initiatives, all geared toward increasing health awareness and establishing safety measures to combat the virus. An emerging company that stands out from the crowd is Happi Health.
Dr. Staci Whitman founded Happi Health with the vision to promote holistic care to as many families and parents as possible. She is a Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist based in Portland, Oregon, and is a health coach, with a certificate in Health and Lifestyle Coaching from the Institute of Integrative Health. Doctor Staci has always been passionate about empowering people over their well-being through education. Throughout her years of studying and experience, she has come to believe that diet is indeed the key to overall health.
Dr. Staci shares on her website how she was able to realize she needed to start something like Happi Health.
“After losing my father to poor lifestyle choices and a decade later suddenly losing my mother to cancer, I became committed to a paradigm shift where I focused on root causes and avoiding disease through lifestyle, mindfulness, and daily choices,” she shares. “I have always gravitated toward alternative and holistic means to address my own personal health concerns and to create a preventative lifestyle.”
Her journey towards holistic care was inspired by her naturopathic doctor, who encouraged her to change her mindset from a traditionally trained and practicing dentist, where the model is very surgical in nature (often band-aiding underlying issues), to one that takes a whole-body and functional approach to helping patients. For Dr. Staci, by understanding the root causes of disease, patients can manage issues functionally first, allowing the innate desire for our bodies to thrive to shine through.
One of the biggest motivators for the health coach to keep doing what she does was the positive feedback, love, and support she received when she transitioned into a functional, holistic pediatric dental practice. Her office was getting numerous calls from parents and patients outside of Portland, and even from other countries. These families were flying in for appointments, and this made Dr. Staci realize that there were people all over the world like her who had the same thirst for knowledge on how to lead a better, healthier lifestyle.
Through her company Happi Health, she offers a holistic and functional approach to her patients, where she applies a combination of her dental knowledge with her health coaching background. She guides parents, children, and communities toward a better lifestyle offering one-on-one hygiene instruction, meal planning and nutritional guidance, parenting strategies and philosophies, cavity prevention and reversal strategies, and other lifestyle tips.
As a dentist, Dr. Staci believes that the mouth cannot be overlooked when aiming to optimize wellness. As a parent of two young girls herself, the health coach can relate to other parents, most especially with their daily struggles and challenges. To connect with Happi Health, visit their website, and check out Doctor Staci’s Instagram.