Bespoke holistic support for sensitive people with complex, chronic conditions.
What is Vitalist Health Care?
Vitalism — the Spark of Life
Vitalist healing traditions are found all over the world. They stem from a deep observation of nature and an understanding of our body as part of it, following natural principles.
This way of working honors the body's inherent capacity for healing itself, when given the proper conditions to do so. I see symptoms as messengers and am trained in how to interpret the language of symptoms. (Ever feel frustrated when people tell you to “listen to your body” — but you have no idea why it’s saying what it does, or what to do about it? You’re in the right place.)
Your body can, and does, heal itself under the right conditions. A Vitalist Health Care approach employs strategic, yet minimal interventions, stimulating the innate healing capabilities, and removing obstacles to health.
Ecological restoration
This way of working with the body is predicated on a deep reverence for the natural world, and that includes the wild garden within you. We don’t see illnesses as things to be destroyed, but rather as a symptom of a larger imbalance. (And, believe it or not, sometimes symptoms can indicate a state of robust health!)
Our life-affirming practices honor the balance of life in our deeply interconnected world, and honors the vital force inherent in all living things.
Addressing the terrain of the body is foundational to this approach. Rather than suppressing symptoms, or using interventions that push the body in one direction or another, we stimulate your vital force and restore your inner ecology so that illness falls away.
Practice Principles & Methods
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First do no harm
We use therapies that work with the body, not against it, beginning with the least invasive and least toxic therapies. If we feel that your case is outside of the scope of what we can handle, we will refer you to another practice that can better serve you.
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The healing power of Nature
We are inseparable from the natural world. There is an intelligence to nature and to our bodies. We use natural substances to guide the body into a state of higher order. We have immense respect for our bodies’ capacity to heal itself, when provided with the right conditions to do so.
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Identify and Treat the Causes
Distinguishing what is causing, and also maintaining, an illness pattern is the necessary first step in effective symptom resolution. We go through an extensive process to make a determination of what root causes might be at play.
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Treat the Whole Person
Our way of working is inherently integrative, honoring all parts of you and helping you to connect the dots between all your seemingly disconnected symptoms. We hold space for all aspects of your being. All of you is welcome here!
A Collaborative Care Model
A collaborative care model holds that you are ultimately responsible for your own health.
This model places the power where it belongs -- with you!
Our Western medical model has placed the power with the practitioner -- to the ultimate detriment of the patient.
Collaborative care empowers you to show up and do the work. Collaborative care means that you and I work together, in close communication, in support of your health. Collaborative care means that you have someone in your corner, with lots of expertise and experience, who's providing context, guidance, and information — never forcing you to do anything that you’re uncomfortable with.
As part of my working model, I strive to provide you with options, rather than prescriptions.
I honor your experience, as the person living in your body. When you tell me about your symptoms, I believe you. I will never dismiss what you tell me or chalk it up to something else that’s totally unrelated, just to fit within my own mental models.
I practice from an anti-capitalist lens, which means I strive to be collaborative rather than coercive. While I have immense pride in my countless hours of education, training, and clinical experience, that does not give me license to put myself in a power-over position. Rather, my work is about helping you to reclaim your personal power and vitality!
Rachel Koppelman, CCH
People usually find their way to me when they’ve exhausted the other options available to them, or have hit roadblocks with their health and need to find someone who thinks outside the box.
I have been working with clients as a holistic health practitioner since 2002.
I was raised in a medical family, and realized pretty early on in life that mainstream medicine wasn't always helpful, to say the least. I witnessed my mom’s struggles as a woman doctor in a very much male-dominated field. As a highly sensitive person who tends to somaticize my emotions, I was dismissed by doctors who thought that I was fabricating my symptoms to get attention. I also experienced medical trauma from unnecessary invasive procedures, as well as allergic reactions to medications.
Even the standard-fare natural approaches were harmful for me when working with practitioners who weren’t tuned in to sensitive folks. I experienced bad reactions to herbs, acupuncture, and even homeopathic remedies from overzealous, heavy-handed practitioners who didn’t take my sensitivity into account. Yes, a lot of healing modalities hold the possibility of getting worse before getting better, but these experiences were not that.
As an insatiable learner, driven to seek the truth in the mystery, I have left no stone unturned in my relentless pursuit of finding synergistic modalities that restore health and vitality, without making sensitive folks sicker. This has driven my career path, spurring me to amass a lengthy amount of life-affirming tools in the healing arts.
I am the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, and am attuned to generational trauma, as well as other elements that impact health over generations. I am a cycle-breaker and pattern-interruptor who seeks reconnection with natural principles and deep ancestral wisdom as a means of restoring wholeness.
My practice has evolved to serve sensitive people who struggle with chronic health issues — particularly autoimmune, digestive, and neurological — through homeopathy, drainage remedies, and other vitalist modalities.
No matter how deep in the woods you feel, if you’re reading this, please know that it’s possible to restore greater levels of vitality!
Fun facts:
Virgo Sun, Capricorn Moon, Scorpio Rising
INFP/Highly Sensitive Person
3/5 Manifesting Generator
Photo credit: Mitzie Gibson
Education & Training
Licensed Homeopathic Practitioner - State of Arizona: 2025
National board certification as a Certified Classical Homeopath - Council for Homeopathic Certification: 2021
Academy of Homeopathy Education - Full-Time Program: 2020 Graduate
Bachelor’s degree in Psychology - Tufts University: 2001
Outside the clinic:
My astrology practice - Alchemical Integration (coming soon!)
My original music - Minouchka
“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
—Carl Gustav Jung
“If you’re not feeling yourself or have been struggling with illness or lack of vitality of any kind, and think you “have tried everything,” and are wondering if you should give one final try to classical homeopathy working with Rachel, I’m one happy camper shouting out “YES,” just do it!”
— M.S.