Healing takes time, guided by the knowledge and support of a practitioner and health coach to help you get to the root of your health concerns and achieve your health goals. We've designed a program with your needs in mind. The program includes:
Cost: $6800*
Payment plans available.
*Labs and supplements are additional.
Live outside Australia? Please see the FAQ below
If you haven't already, watch our 90 second explainer video to find out more about our approach.
Yes, because chronic health issues take time to solve, and for people to get better again. Our program is designed based on years of experience working with people to solve many different chronic health issues. However, once patients complete their program, we transition to a more customary pay as you go model for appointments.
Yes, we work with patients across the globe via telehealth. However, as managing international logistics as well as labs and supplements in local countries requires more time, and often time delays, how we deliver our program is a little different. Therefore, for international patients, the program duration extends from 6 to 7 months, with a program fee of $7800. This allows us to maintain the same high level of care that we provide our local patients.
Functional medicine is a revolutionary healthcare approach that addresses chronic health issues. Research now shows that health issues are influenced mainly by your diet, lifestyle and environment. Functional medicine also acknowledges that each person is biochemically unique and that solving a health problem starts with finding the cause of the problem. Therefore, the resolution of health issues requires a root-cause based, personalised approach.
Functional medicine practitioners seek to understand you and your health picture, as well as your diet and lifestyle. When all of these elements are brought together and assessed, we can start to build a clear picture of what’s going on and why. This assessment can often involve functional pathology testing to dig more deeply into your health. Once insights become clear, your functional medicine practitioner will create a personalised treatment plan to solve the root cause and contributing factors to your health concerns. The outcome is that your health can be restored.
Around 80% of people fail to achieve their health goals. This is because our habits around health are hardwired into us, making it difficult to change (which is why it’s so easy to reach for that bar of chocolate without thinking). Often, when it comes to food in particular, there’s an underlying emotional connection that needs to be addressed before lasting change can occur. Health coaches understand the science of behavioural change, so they will help you navigate change with clarity and ease.
Health coaches intimately understand the challenges that come with getting your health back, often overcoming them themselves, so they will be your sidekick, supporter and guide every step of the way. In fact, past patients often rave about the support their health coach gave them - a service they hadn’t realised existed or that they needed until they experienced it themselves. We’re confident you’ll discover that too!
Unfortunately, when it comes to chronic health issues, quick fixes and magic pills rarely work. Perhaps you’ve tried conventional drugs and found that to be true.
This is because the conventional approach simply looks to suppress or manage symptoms rather than solve the issue completely. Using the functional medicine approach, your practitioner will invest a lot of time investigating your case to pinpoint what’s causing your condition or symptoms. This detective phase typically takes about 4-6 weeks, especially if pathology testing is required. During this time, you’ll be implementing some small steps, possibly experimenting with food or your lifestyle, and gathering more data that will help your practitioner form a clearer picture of what’s going on with you and your health.
The implementation stage typically involves implementing steps bit by bit over several months so that you can make sustainable, simple changes. Much of your success lies in making the changes required to support your body back to good health. Using our understanding of behavioural change, we know that implementing changes in small steps is the recipe for long-term success.
We’ll be here as long as you need us. At the end of the 6-month program, we simply transition to a more customary pay per session model. Each 45-minute session with your practitioner will be $298, and calls with your health coach will be $98. Your Slack channel (our main communication platform) will stay open for your general queries and needs.
Your practitioner will be in full detective mode to understand all the pieces of your health puzzle and get to the root of your health problem. This involves understanding your health history, your diet, lifestyle and other factors like existing test results to start joining the dots on your health.
During this time, you’ll be able to ask as many questions as you like about your health. If you have a list of questions you’ve had unanswered for some time, bring them along! Your practitioner will help clarify what’s going on with your health and explain things in simple terms versus technical jargon.
Towards the end of the session, your practitioner will formulate a health plan alongside you to tackle your health issues. Following that, your health coach will join the session, and you’ll brief them on what you’ve learned so far and share the treatment plan that you designed with your practitioner.
Your health coach will organise any supplements and testing for you and will schedule your first coaching appointment, so together, you can work out the practical steps to take in your treatment plan.
You’ll walk away from the session with some insight into what could be causing your symptoms or condition. You’ll also likely feel a sense of hope and excitement about the possibilities of having your health back on track!
Follow-up consultations are typically 30 minutes. Each session will consider the effectiveness of any interventions implemented and will seek to gain further insight into your health concerns or explore other issues that need addressing.
The duration of your coaching calls will differ depending on how you are doing! At the start, coaching sessions tend to be longer and more intensive as you’re in a learning and growth phase.
As you progress through your program, sessions are typically a weekly 15–30-minute call along with more frequent contact via Slack - an app you can access on your phone or desktop for quick and easy communication. Your health coach will be in touch regularly to give you as much support as you require to meet your goals.
As chronic diseases are caused by dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors, the short answer is yes. So if you’re considering working with us, you must be committed to doing what’s needed to get the results you desire. We give you insights into why change would benefit you and how some of these factors are impacting your health negatively, so you’ll be armed with insights and motivation to change. In this way, change will be a gift rather than a hindrance, as you’ll feel so much better because of it.
After supporting hundreds of patients through this program, we know that the one thing that sets us apart from other practitioners is our unique approach. First, our practitioners have a broad range of knowledge about a variety of health conditions. By using the methodical and thorough functional medicine approach, they leave no stone unturned when finding the root cause of your health concerns.
When you add health coaching into the equation, your chances of success increase greatly because you’ll have someone walking with you step by step through all the challenges that often stop people from getting better.
That said, you do have to be prepared and willing to do what’s needed to get healthy again, which usually involves changes to your diet and lifestyle.
We understand that finding the right practitioner is key to your healthcare journey. Our approach is personalised, and our team consists of highly skilled practitioners with broad experience across a range of health conditions, along with key special areas of interest.
When you call the clinic or book a discovery call, you’ll either speak with our friendly reception team or one of our health coaches. We’ll ask you a series of questions to understand your health goals and challenges. Based on this information, we’ll recommend a practitioner who has the most relevant experience in the areas you’re looking to address, to help you get you the best possible results.
When you book in your initial appointment, our principle health coach Bee will review your case and match you with the best suited health coach. If you’ve spent time on our website and are eager to work with one coach in particular, we’re always open to putting in a request for you and doing our best to accommodate this, subject to the health coach’s availability.
Your health coach will connect with you via phone in the lead up to your initial appointment to check in with you, help answer any questions you may have, and ensure you’re ready to go for your first appointment.
On the day of your appointment, your coach will be there to greet you and give you a warm welcome to our clinic (either in person or via video telehealth), before you head into your session with your functional medicine practitioner.
As you’re wrapping up the end of your initial appointment with your practitioner, your health coach will be welcomed into the session to discuss the key health priorities detailed in your health plan, which is your personalised roadmap as you navigate the investigative phase of your program, including any recommended dietary and lifestyle modifications, and functional testing. By being part of this conversation, your health coach will understand the steps you need to take and help you put your plan into action with ongoing support.
Healthcare is deeply personal, and what works for one person may not work the same for another. We provide a deeply investigative, personalised approach, thoughtfully tailored to best suit your health picture and health goals, and as such, it is difficult to reduce our success rates to a single statistic. To learn more about patients who have worked with us through our 6-month program, you can check out the patient testimonial page on our website, and our Google reviews.
Yes, we do, and we love it! We have some wonderful success stories of children with health conditions that were impacting their self-esteem and quality of life, turning their health around and giving them a brighter future of long term health.
The program investment is $6800* and includes:
A deposit of $980 is required upon booking, and the remaining balance ($5820) is to be paid at your initial consultation, or over four instalments through our payment partners.
To find out more about payment solutions download our resource here.
The cost for any recommended supplements and lab testing are payable in addition to the program cost.
*Live outside Australia? Please see the FAQ under the Program FAQ section above
All contact with your practitioner and coach are included in the program fee. Other costs you can potentially expect are for laboratory tests and supplements. Your practitioner will discuss the costs for any tests or supplements they recommend in your sessions.
Unfortunately, as of April 1, 2019, most private health insurers won’t offer rebates for our services.
Most of the testing we do seeks to understand how pathways or systems in the body function. These tests are typically more in-depth and comprehensive than you would’ve encountered before.
We sometimes request standard blood chemistry from your GP for more basic tests, and if we need to go more in-depth, such as looking at microbiome health or food sensitivities, we use the world’s leading labs:
Precision Analytical
Genova Diagnostics
KBMO
NutriPath
Metametrix
Mosaic Diagnostics (formally Great Plains Laboratory)
Bioceuticals for DNA testing
Many of these labs are overseas, so test results can take a few weeks to come back.
Unfortunately, Medicare only pays for standard tests, conventional medical tests, many of which we find don’t give a clear enough window into your health. The tests we order are different from conventional tests you’ve likely experienced and found to be unhelpful before finding us.
GPs, unless they are functional medicine trained, are only trained in interpreting standard tests that look for pathologies (disease) rather than looking purely at assessing the function of pathways or systems. The functional pathology tests that we use can identify pre-disease states and look at other determining factors that contribute to diseases.
Learning about and interpreting the latest functional pathology tests takes years of functional medicine training and involves continued education as new scientific insights arise.
Given these labs are privately billed, we seek to balance the need for more data on your health with a desire to look after your wallet. Therefore, the amount of lab tests we do varies by individual. Typically, when we ask a patient to invest in testing of this nature, the cost is worth the investment as we uncover insights that inform their recovery.
Our clinic hours are:
9:00am – 5:00pm Monday to Thursday
However, you can reach us outside of those hours via phone or email.
We’re located at 186 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne.
Yes. Phone or video consultations are available for those unable to make it to the clinic due to location, time or illness. Simply let us know when you’re booking in, and we’ll organise that for you.
Your 45 minute appointment with a functional medicine practitioner will include a rapid assessment of your baseline health, discussion around your optimisation goals, and creation of a personalised optimisation roadmap. Your roadmap may include suggestions for further testing, protocols, and therapeutics, and some immediate steps you can take to start optimising your health.
Functional medicine is a revolutionary healthcare approach that focuses on optimising health through the most up-to–date science backed insights that largely address dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors that compromise health. It looks at the body as a complex, inter-related biological system rather than separate parts.
Biohacking is about taking control of your biology and optimising it to achieve peak performance. Many biohackers seek to improve healthspan and longevity, in addition to athletic performance too. There are many biohacking techniques, from nutritional biohacking strategies like peptides, nootropics, fasting and ketogenic diets to more lifestyle driven or experiential strategies like meditation, HIIT, cryotherapy, red light therapy and sleep optimisation. Wearable devices such as the Oura ring, WHOOP or CGMs are often employed to give real-time data on how a person’s lifestyle and diet impact key biomarkers.
In today's health landscape, biohacking has emerged as a prominent buzzword and trend not only in Australia but also globally. However, many people are jumping onto biohacking protocols without truly grasping their impact or discerning their relevance to their unique needs. The evidence based data offered in our health optimisation service gives you the power to focus on and measure what matters most to your health to unlock your full potential. With data-driven insights and expert support from our biohacking clinic team, skip the self-experimentation and get the information you need to fine-tune your biohacking protocol with strategies that bring you a high return on your investment.
Our award-winning clinic has an unrelenting dedication to empowering our patients to their best health. We've been leading the way in healthcare since 2017, providing innovative, world-class care to Australians and people all over the world who want to feel their best and improve their healthspan.
We unite the latest technologies, skills and knowledge in a revolutionary model that gets results and rave reviews. The Melbourne Functional Medicine approach is personalised, collaborative, and focused on YOU.
Beyond providing you with comprehensive health insights, our team of functional medicine practitioners and health coaches can offer continuous support. Our practitioners will craft a personalised plan tailored to your needs, while our health coaches will guide and support you in effectively implementing the plan to achieve optimal results.
A functional medicine practitioner has access to testing beyond what you are usually offered by your general practitioner.
Because of this, we can match the world’s most powerful diagnostic offerings to your health goals, offering you access to the most advanced ways to understand the inner workings of your body.
Functional medicine has established a longstanding practice of over three decades, rooted in a comprehensive understanding of how modifiable lifestyle factors, including environment, diet, activity patterns, psycho-social-spiritual factors, and stress management actively contribute to strengthening your body's resistance to chronic diseases and fostering optimal health. Because of this, the functional medicine way is the ultimate starting point to biohack your body to optimum health.
Our 6 month healthcare program is designed to treat people with chronic health conditions to get their foundational levels of health back on track. Only when health is on track is it best to start moving into optimisation.
This service is ideal for individuals who feel healthy, and want the data, guidance and protocols to take their health to the next level.
If you feel healthy yet want peace of mind or a detailed understanding of your current functional health status, this service is for you.
Through our complimentary discovery call or the strategy session, you'll gain a clear understanding of how well our service aligns with your needs. In the event that it becomes apparent during the assessment that this particular service may not be the best fit for you, there is no obligation to proceed further. Instead, your practitioner may recommend an alternative option that can better support you on your health journey.
We have a range of practitioner only supplements such as NR, Berberine, NAC, and nootropics like Gingko, Bacopa and phosphatidyl nutrients like choline.
Yes, we work with optimisation seekers across the globe and Australia via telehealth. Please note that not all labs are available in every country. If you would like to discuss your suitability before booking, please schedule a free discovery call here.
We access the world’s leading laboratories to perform your functional testing. Some of the tests on offer include:
There are many other tests our clinic can access to understand how other pathways or systems in the body are functioning. These include comprehensive tests to explore digestive health, toxin exposure, hormone metabolism, parasites, and more.
We may also recommend blood chemistry from your GP for more basic tests too. For the more in-depth comprehensive tests, we use the world’s leading labs:
Precision Analytical
TruDiagnostics
Genova Diagnostics
KBMO
NutriPath
Metametrix
Mosaic Diagnostics
Many of these labs are overseas, so test results can take up to six weeks to come back.
After your initial strategy session, you’ll be clear on which additional tests might match your goals, and the pricing of each. Have some of these tests already? We’ll be happy to interpret them.
All the test reports and biomarkers will have been reviewed in advance by your functional medicine practitioner, so your interpretation session will be time dedicated to take you through the learnings, educate you on the inner workings of these core bodily systems as well as the opportunities you have to move your epigenetics in the direction of health.
You’ll walk away with more insight and clarity about your body than you may have ever been exposed to before.
If you have any functional testing or standard pathology reports or screens performed within the last 12 months, you are welcome to send these to us in advance of your appointment.
You’ll be provided with test kits and will send your samples off at least six weeks prior to your interpretation session. Some tests can be done in the comfort of your home, some will need to be taken into a pathology collection centre for a blood draw.
You’ll be assigned a HCANZA certified health coach from the Melbourne Functional Medicine team to support you to successfully complete the testing.
Results are usually back within six weeks. This is because a selection of the labs we use for these cutting edge tests are located outside of Australia.
There are many health assessment and screening services available on the market. What’s right for you will depend on your goals.
Some services offer disease detection and medical imaging using CT and MRI scans, usually focusing on people who have the goal of understanding their immediate cancer and cardio and cerebrovascular disease risk. This suits individuals who want to know if right now there is anything of concern progressing in their body.
Many services will include a more comprehensive lab analysis and blood profile than you may usually obtain with your GP. Yet some services may not be using the most up to date biomarkers of health (what is currently being expressed in the body) and many tests will not include functional analytes (offering clues as to why that might be).
An example is relying on HbA1c for metabolic health. Whilst many medical providers will offer this biomarker, and it can certainly be helpful, we at Melbourne Functional Medicine prefer to use several biomarkers such as glucose and fasting insulin as a far more accurate identifier of metabolic health than HbA1c levels.
Our testing service is for individuals who are seeking to actively pursue lifestyle changes to enhance or biohack their biology, yet first wish to understand their current biomarker and functional biomarker baseline to understand the areas to focus on. These individuals may also wish to more thoroughly understand which biohacking protocols may best match your health optimisation goals.
Unfortunately, Medicare coverage is limited to conventional medical tests, which often fail to provide a thorough understanding of your health, and use outdated markers that have been surpassed by more advanced markers supported by emerging research.
We use the most comprehensive, validated lab tests from labs that are privately billed. Most GPs are not familiar with these tests unless they are functionally trained.
$298 is payable upfront to book your 45 minute strategy session.
Costs for testing will be advised by your practitioner during your strategy session.
Ongoing costs include:
Functional medicine practitioner - $298 per 45 minute session. Please note that the duration of the testing interpretation sessions is dependant on how many tests require interpretation. Your practitioner will let you know upon agreement of the test to be ordered.
Health coach - $198 per 45 minute session
Fees for supplements and therapeutics will be provided upon creation of your health plan. All are purely options for you, with no obligation.
Payment plans are not available for this offering.
Unfortunately, as of April 1, 2019, most private health insurers won’t offer rebates for our services. Some patients have successfully accessed rebates from their corporate employer under policies relating to preventative health endeavours. These policies will differ employer to employer.
Our clinic hours are:
9:00am – 5:00pm Monday to Thursday
However, you can reach us outside of those hours via phone or email.
Our clinic is located at 186 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. We serve people from Melbourne, across Australia and the globe either in person or via telehealth.
If you’re outside of Australia, please enquire with us to see if the tests we offer are accessible in your location.
Yes. Medicine 3.0 is a term that's been written about and popularised by longevity doctor Peter Attia, MD.
Medicine 2.0 as Attia describes, is allopathic medicine as it is offered today which is evidence based, is designed to diagnose and manage disease and acute illness. Medicine 3.0 is evidence informed, activates early preventative measures and is highly personalised. The principles of Medicine 3.0 and functional medicine overlap.
