I Want You to Get the Care You Deserve
Taking an individualised, root cause approach to growing health.
I help my patients build healthy habits, feel better, and find what works for them.
IHi, I’m Shannon Burford — a Perth-based naturopath and functional medicine practitioner. I’ve spent the last 20+ years helping people who’ve been told “everything looks normal” finally find out what’s actually going on.
Why Natural Medicine Became My Life’s Work
It started when I got seriously ill.
I was bedridden, passed from doctor to specialist, and put through round after round of antibiotics, pain medication and creams. None of it made me well. Years later, all conventional medicine could offer me was more tablets — enough to mask the symptoms, but nothing that touched the cause.
I knew that exhaustion, brain fog, anxiety and unexplained weight loss weren’t things I should just accept. There had to be more I could do.
So I started reading about alternative approaches to health — diet, lifestyle, ideas that sat outside the conventional medical model. Small changes helped. I saw a herbalist, and felt better again. That was enough to convince me to go further: I trained as a naturopath, first in Perth and later in Melbourne.
That journey is what led me here. Today, I help people who’ve been where I was — exhausted, dismissed, and out of easy answers — get back to feeling like themselves again.
About Shannon Burford
I’m a clinical naturopath and functional medicine practitioner based in Perth, with over 20 years of clinical experience. A few things about how I work:
I’m science-based. I use functional medicine testing alongside traditional naturopathic knowledge — not one or the other.
I listen first. Your story is specific to you, and your treatment plan should be too. No generic protocols.
I don’t give up on complex cases. Many of the patients I see have already tried other practitioners, or their GP, without getting answers. That’s often where I do my best work.
I’m not perfect, and I’m not pretending to be. I’m still working on my own health, same as anyone. It’s part of why I understand what my patients are going through.
I’m a father of two. It keeps me grounded in what actually matters when it comes to long-term health.
How I Work
I combine modern science with traditional naturopathic wisdom. Whether you’d call it naturopathy, functional medicine or integrative medicine, the underlying idea is the same: your body works as one connected system, not a collection of separate symptoms to treat in isolation. So that’s how I look at your health too — as a whole, not a checklist.
Watch the video below to hear more about how I work, or get in touch if you have questions.
What Cura Medicine Stands For
Vision: To promote natural, evidence-informed therapies that improve health and wellbeing for individuals and families — in Perth, and beyond.
Mission: To help as many people as possible take back control of their health, using herbal medicine, naturopathy, nutrition and functional medicine testing — one patient, one root cause at a time.
Values:
- Natural wisdom — the body has an inherent capacity to heal, given the right support.
- Empathy — every patient has a story worth listening to.
- Generosity — giving back, wherever we can.
- Unconventional thinking — the best answer isn’t always the standard one.
- Nurturing — nourishing the body and mind with food, herbs and nutrition.
- Empowerment — educating patients to take an active role in their own health.
- Compassion — treating people, not just symptoms.
- Respect — for every patient, regardless of age, gender, race or background.
In the Media
Channel 7 — Today Tonight Interviewed on the negative health effects of sugar, and the case for a sugar tax to help reduce Australia’s health costs.
Good Health Magazine — April 2013 A three-page feature on epigenetics, nutritional DNA testing and weight loss, based on work at the Cura Integrative Medicine clinic.
Mum’s NOT Having Chemo — Laura Bond, 2013 Referenced as a clinical resource in Laura Bond’s book on her mother’s experience with cancer and natural therapies.
Offspring Wellness Magazine Featured in an article on naturopathic health, hair mineral analysis and children’s health.
5AA Radio, 2014 Interviewed by Jeremy Cordeaux on the sugar tax debate and its links to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity in Australia.
Western Australian Newspaper, 2017 – Epigenetics and wellness article for Perth weekend edition.
Ready to Get Started?
If you’re tired of being told everything looks normal, let’s find out what’s actually going on.