“Turning the crisis of change into the opportunity of a lifetime”
Medical counseling is a unique tool designed to help navigate life’s most challenging chapters.
Every one of us expects life to be manageable. We count on our experience, education, and the kindness of family and friends, not to mention the stability of the culture around us.
Yet even when we strive actively for health, harmony, and
prosperity, doing all that we know to promote our own
well-being, life’s unexpected offerings can throw us off balance. When life catches us off-guard:
- derailed by a serious diagnosis
- traumatized by an unexpected job-loss
- immobilized by an accident
- unable to continue in a difficult relationship
- overwhelmed with a loved one’s chronic care needs
- shocked by a sudden death
- suddenly aware that something has to change
We have the opportunity of a lifetime. These situations absolutely require us to learn more about who we are.
Medical counseling facilitates this process.
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Table of Contents
Click on one of the links below to view that section, or just scroll down to read through them all... | About Medical Counseling | What Medical Counseling Does | Services Available |
| Past Life Soul Regression | Bonnie Vestal, M.D. - Background & Credentials |
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About Medical Counseling:
Dr. Bonnie Vestal is a medical counselor who left her pediatric oncology practice in 1996 to establish a unique service for people experiencing life’s unexpected events and life-changing challenges.
In her own words:
 During 20 years of caring for children with cancer and their families, as well as participating in hospice care for children and adults, it became clear to me that what most people want is to know that they have lived well. We all want to know that we have brought ourselves fully and completely into expression during our lifetime and on reflection want to know that we have managed our life and all its challenges with our own unique style and grace.
As long as things go well, we tend to assume that all of this is unfolding as it should. In the midst of a crisis however, or during a long debilitating illness or the eventual demise of a loved one, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, confused, and helpless. We may even begin to believe that we don’t have what it takes to meet the situation.
Even worse, we may intentionally turn away. We might postpone a medical evaluation, decide to tolerate a mind-numbing job or an empty relationship, deny the gravity of a diagnosis, bury ourselves in keeping busy, or even turn to distractions such as TV, the internet, food or other substances. Ironically,
these strategies almost always bring additional suffering. Some part of us does seem to know a deeper truth; it’s just that we are unaccustomed to accessing it.
 That’s why our own unique life crises are so important.
If we want to know more about who we are and why we are here, there
is no better proving ground than the situation in front of us, no matter how unwelcome it may seem at the time. Here in whatever form it may take, is the chance to become even more than what we have always been or ever thought we could be. Yet this is where most of us feel acutely inadequate. That’s’ why I’ve created this practice: I am committed to helping people find the best in themselves, no matter what the circumstances.
I call this practice Medical Counseling because we all want to be well. When we are in trouble -----any kind of trouble-----our own perceptions, thoughts and emotions provoke an internal physiologic process that has come to be called “the stress response”. Sadly, this has become a chronic condition in our current culture and has taken a toll on our creativity and productivity, not to mention our general health. The high incidence of chronic illness, low energy, and lack of joy calls for a new approach. Medical counseling is my response to this need.
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What Medical Counseling Does:
Medical counseling offers guidance, clarification and support:
- a dedicated place and time to review the elements of the situation
- an opportunity to examine the story from a larger perspective
- a place to collect and review useful resources
- an opportunity for everyone involved, those departing as well as those
surviving, to re-commit to their own life journeys
- a helpful review of life direction and purpose
- a set of tools suitable for the rest of the life journey
 We are all bound together in this human experience, and whether we are the one departing or are amongst those remaining here on the path of life, we all grapple with the same questions. Without the provocation of a critical event, however, we tend to leave these unexamined. Then, caught up in the drama of the action at hand, we find ourselves navigating uncharted territory without a compass.
Since it is these very significant life events that offer us the best opportunities for personal growth, we want to do our very best to remain awake, challenge our limiting beliefs, and choose active participation in life, every step of the way, even into the unknown ahead for all of us. Medical counseling offers tools for this task.
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Services Available:
- In office counseling sessions for individuals, couples and families
- home visits for those unable to leave their residence or comfortably climb a flight
of stairs (the counseling office is on the second floor)
- hospital bedside visits
- long distance telephone conferences
- family circles in your own home (Boise area)
- workplace gatherings when the changed health status, illness or death of an
employee impacts the ongoing function of the group.
- presentations on specific topics of interest to small groups, retreats, etc.
- New Service: Past Life Soul Regression
Office appointments are available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays
Off site appointments and telephone sessions are generally scheduled for the first or last appointment of the day.
Depending upon the issue under discussion, you or your medical provider are welcome to FAX pertinent information to the office at: (208) 344-3059.
This is a non-traditional counseling practice; hence most medical insurance does not apply.
Please call (208) 385-7868 for further information.
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Bonnie Vestal, M.D. - Background and Credentials:
Dr. Vestal has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University,
earned her medical degree at UC San Francisco, and completed pediatric training at University of Colorado (internship and first year residency)
and University of Maryland (second year residency and Chief Resident).
 Following completion of a two year fellowship at Vanderbilt University
in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, she and her family moved to Idaho where she was the sole pediatric oncologist at mountain States Tumor Institute (MSTI) for nearly 20 years. In that capacity, Dr. Vestal and nursing staff did school consultations for active patients as well as home visits to hospice patients.
In addition, Dr. Vestal has done numerous community presentations on integrative medicine and holistic healthcare (CV available upon request).
She was one of the founding members of Integrative Health, one of Idaho’s first efforts in holistic healthcare and as providers moved on from there,
she joined with several others to co-found North End Wellness, holistic practitioners.
Dr. Vestal’s office is in the North End Wellness building:
1502 W. Franklin Street, corner of 15th and Franklin Streets in Boise’s North End.
Office appointments are available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Please call 208-385-7868 for more information.
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