Do any of these sound familiar? You have sat in your GP’s surgery, described months of exhaustion, persistent pain, or a general sense that something is just not right, only to be handed results that come back within the ‘normal range’. You leave with no answers and no real plan, just the quiet frustration of feeling unheard. Or perhaps you have been given a diagnosis and a prescription to manage your symptoms, but nobody has ever sat down to ask why those symptoms appeared in the first place.
If this resonates with you, you are far from alone. It is one of the most common experiences shared by people living with chronic health conditions, and it is precisely the gap that functional and naturopathic medicine is designed to fill. At Solora Holistic Medicine in Belfast, Joanne Papenfus (Dip. NNT, CNM) has built her entire practice around a genuinely different way of working. As she puts it herself: “More than just preventative medicine, I have to be a health detective.”
What Is Functional Medicine and Why Does It Matter?
Functional medicine is a science-based, patient-centred model of healthcare that looks at the whole person rather than a set of isolated symptoms. Rather than asking ‘What drug matches this symptom?’, it asks ‘Why is this person’s body behaving this way, and what does it need to return to balance?’ This shift in perspective makes an enormous difference, particularly for people dealing with complex or long-standing chronic conditions that have not responded well to conventional approaches alone.
Joanne describes her role as digging beneath the surface, getting to the bottom of what is really going on in the body and building a clear picture of why you feel the way you do. She prefers the functional medicine model of practice precisely because it allows her to combine the rigour of classical biomedicine with a whole-person, root-cause focus. The goal is not merely to suppress or manage symptoms, but to understand and address the conditions that created them.
This philosophy underpins everything at Solora. To learn more about Joanne’s approach and background, visit the About page.
Who Can Benefit from This Approach?
Joanne works with people who are tired of being told everything is fine when they know it isn’t. Using the power of nutrition and lifestyle as medicine, she specialises in supporting those with chronic health concerns, including:
- Middle-aged men and women dealing with unexplained fatigue, weight changes, and persistent low energy
- Women navigating perimenopause and menopause
- Those living with anxiety and stress-related health conditions
- People managing type 2 diabetes and metabolic health concerns
- Individuals with autoimmune disorders
- Anyone with ongoing chronic health issues that have not been fully resolved through conventional routes
There is a big difference between managing symptoms and actually healing, and that is exactly where Joanne comes in. If you started with a healthy body, she will help you understand where the dis-ease started and what you can do to take back control.
The Solora Consultation: Bioresonance Meets Classical Biomedicine
What makes Joanne’s approach distinctive is the way she combines two powerful tools: a state-of-the-art bioresonance scan and a detailed in-depth consultation. Together, these allow her to build a comprehensive picture of the client using classical biomedicine. Rather than relying on guesswork or a single test result, this dual approach gathers a thorough picture of what is happening in your body right now.
The bioresonance BioScan is a non-invasive assessment tool that forms a key part of the Solora consultation process. It sits alongside the clinical conversation, not as a replacement for it, to provide an additional functional layer of information that helps Joanne identify where the body needs support.
You can find out more about how the BioScan works and what to expect from your first appointment on the BioScan page.
A Personalised Programme: Your Springboard to Wellness
Once the full picture has been established through consultation and scanning, Joanne uses all of the information gathered to create a personalised programme, described as a springboard to wellness. This is not a one-size-fits-all plan. It is a carefully tailored roadmap built around your unique biology, history, and goals, drawing on the very latest nutritional science.
Depending on your individual picture, your programme may incorporate some or all of the following:
- Nutritional therapy: using food and dietary protocols as primary tools of healing
- Lifestyle medicine: evidence-based recommendations around sleep, movement, stress management, and daily habits
- Functional testing: objective data to support and refine the clinical picture
- Holistic support: a whole-person approach that goes beyond nutrition alone
- Ongoing client education: so you truly understand your own body and can maintain your gains long-term
Education is central to how Joanne works. She takes the time to ensure every client leaves not just with a plan, but with the knowledge and understanding to follow it with confidence.
To see the full range of services available at Solora, visit the Services page.
Working Alongside Dr Modestas Jarutis
For complex clients, Joanne works in close collaboration with her mentor, Dr Modestas Jarutis MD, FRCS, HPCM; a former vascular surgeon who now works in the holistic and functional medicine field. Dr Jarutis joins the clinic by Zoom or other digital platform for complex cases, and three to four times per year they carry out joint, in-person clinics together at Solora Nutrition, Synergy Holistic, Belfast.
This collaboration means that clients with more complex health presentations have access to an integrative team that bridges both conventional medical expertise and naturopathic nutritional practice; a genuinely rare and valuable combination.
The Professional Standards Behind the Practice
Joanne holds her diploma from the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Northern Ireland, one of the most respected institutions for naturopathic training in the UK and Ireland. She is a registered member of both the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the Professional Standards Council for the regulation of nutritional therapists, and the Naturopathic Nutrition Association (NNA). These registrations reflect her unwavering commitment to clinical excellence, ethical practice, and ongoing professional development.
Her background spans personal training and aromatherapy alongside her naturopathic nutritional therapy training, giving her a genuinely whole-body perspective that extends well beyond food and nutrition alone.
The Difference Between Managing and Healing
There is a fundamental difference between managing symptoms and actually healing, and that difference is at the heart of everything Joanne does at Solora. Conventional medicine has enormous strengths, but for those with chronic, complex, or persistent health concerns, it often falls short of addressing the root cause of why they feel the way they do. That is where a functional, naturopathic approach steps in.
Using nutrition and lifestyle as medicine, Joanne helps her clients take back control of their health and start feeling like themselves again. The question she always begins with: if you started with a healthy body, where did the dis-ease start?
Answering that question, clearly, thoroughly, and personally, is what Solora Holistic Medicine is here to do.
Book Your Consultation in Belfast Today
Solora Nutrition is based at Synergy Holistic, Belfast. Whether you are living with a long-standing chronic condition, feel that something is not right despite being told otherwise, or simply want a thorough and whole-body assessment of your health, Joanne offers a genuinely different kind of consultation.
Ready to take the first step? Book your visit online, call 07861 219371, or email [email protected].
You can also connect with Solora on Facebook at facebook.com/soloraholisticmedicine for regular insights and updates.
Happy body, happy you.
