We use various tests that are tools in our ‘trade’ to guide us in supporting our students to support their clients.Just because you have the tool, does not make you an expert. Take one of the functional tests we teach, the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA). People have differing opinions on this test and others, but especially the HTMA. So we asked Dr Khush Mark PhD, our Principal and Founder as well as the lead nutrition tutor here at the New School of Nutritional Medicine, to tell us more…“It is not about the tool but about the individual who is ‘using’ the tool”At the New School @newschoolofnutritionalmedicine, we teach students a systems biology approach, which understands the body as a web. Not as ‘separate parts’ or to be ‘protocol-ed’.We integrate HTMA as well as other functional tests into our curriculum, so students can understand, make connections, and think critically. For example, the immune system is connected to the cardiovascular system, which is connected to the detoxification system, and the detoxification system is connected to the digestive system, and on it goes. That is what a systems biology approach looks like in real life. A test only becomes a power tool when it is interpreted in the context of the whole person, their physiology and what is actually happening in their life by someone who understands the body as a web. So when someone dismisses a functional test as pointless, it is worth pausing to ask one simple question: how truly does the person interpreting it understand it? Do they understand biochemical individuality, or are they viewing it through a reductionist lens?The individual with the tool is just as important, if not more important, than the tool itself. Want to learn more about how we teach or what it’s like studying with us? Join us on our free open days in March, April or June https://www.newschoolofnutrition.com/open-days/