Endeavour graduate Angelica-Hazel Toutounji runs a nutrition practice focussed on women’s health and is the developer and founder of the Saha Botanica Organic Tea range. She credits Endeavour for inspiring her tea business and supporting her transition from student to practitioner.

“During my degree, at different times, we experimented with making things – like in the botany and manufacturing classes. In the dispensary, you can play with the raw herbs to make teas, and there’s always a tea of the day. That helped me work out that was my passion. Now, I apply my knowledge in herbal medicine to hand-blended tea infusions,” Angelica-Hazel said.

“The Adelaide campus is right in the city, close to coffee shops and the Central Market,” Angelica-Hazel said. “There are always products for the students to try, like health bars, kombucha and smoothie bombs available at the Student Clinic shopfront. Endeavour also runs market days where students who are dabbling with making their own health products can exhibit their wares in a safe and friendly environment.”

“Endeavour is what you make it,” Angelica-Hazel said. “If you put the effort in to foster relationships, you will not regret it. There are often opportunities to talk to different industry representatives, and all the lecturers are practitioners who are happy to share their experience.”

“The natural health industry in Adelaide is growing,” Angelica-Hazel said. “I believe more people are turning to natural health practitioners because we devote more time to understanding their needs. There is also more interest in multi-modality clinics, where clients can access different health professionals. I’ve never experienced scarcity in my clinic. I constantly have new and repeat clients. As a natural health professional, I strongly believe we can help each other to flourish.”

Endeavour graduates and business owners Lachlan Mullen and Connie Pasta have lived in Adelaide all of their lives but met during their studies at Endeavour. Both were inspired to change their diet and lifestyle due to the impacts of cancer. For Lachlan, it was a diagnosis of cancer at age 20 that set him on the path to making sure he had the best chance of survival. Connie’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when Connie was in Year 12, inspiring her to prevent herself from going down a similar path.

“Studying at Endeavour was a life-changing experience,” Connie said. “Not just because I met Lachlan, but because the College enriches and empowers you. You graduate as a different person. We made close friends at Endeavour because you can connect with like-minded people in a supportive environment. And that network of support stays with you after you graduate.”

As well as being life partners, Lachlan and Connie have just opened a naturopathy practice together at the North Adelaide Fitness Centre. There, the forward-thinking owner has welcomed allied health and natural health practitioners into the gym space. Lachlan explains it is in an area of Adelaide that is being renewed, which has attracted young people and families who want to live in a vibrant inner-city location with a great lifestyle.

He is confident the natural health industry will continue to thrive in Adelaide. “Thanks to the pandemic, more people are aware of the importance of good health, and they’re more proactive about preventing disease. Our practice opened six weeks ago, and we already have regular clients every week. A number of our clients from the Endeavour student clinic followed us to our new business. Student clinic gave us the confidence to be practitioners.”

As well as working in their practice, Connie works at a pharmacy. The company offered her a consulting role because of the demand from customers for different approaches to the traditional health ones. “I was shocked that a pharmacy was embracing natural health and surprised by the number of people who came in for consultations.”

Lachlan thinks this shows one of the most exciting changes. “There is a noticeable shift in the public’s mindset. People want to take their health in their own hands, rather than leaving all the decisions up to their GP. It’s amazing to be part of this shift and have the potential to change other people’s lives in a positive way. This industry is empowering people, and that, in itself holds so much value.”