Questions, answered.
The honest answers to what people ask us most, before they decide to begin. If yours is not here, it is one message away.
What is Total Spectrum Health?
Total Spectrum Health is a root-cause health and performance coaching practice based in the Wairarapa, New Zealand. We look for the real reason underneath a symptom, then coach the steady work that changes it. We work two ways: Integrative Health with James, which is testing-informed coaching delivered online wherever you are, and one-to-one coaching with Susie, in person in the Wairarapa. We are a coaching practice, not a clinic.
What does “root-cause” actually mean here?
Most health advice treats the part that hurts. We ask a quieter question first: what is driving the part that hurts, and what would actually change it. That single shift is the whole of our work. We read the full picture, find the root, and coach the unglamorous work that makes change last. Nothing here is a quick fix, and we would not respect you if we sold one.
Are you a clinic? Is this medical care?
No. Total Spectrum Health is a coaching practice, not a medical practice, and we are not a substitute for your doctor. We coach lifestyle, nutrition, training, and behaviour change, and where we use functional testing we read it as pattern data to coach from, never as diagnosis. We work alongside your GP, not in place of them, and we will say clearly when something belongs with your doctor.
How is this different from a personal trainer, nutritionist, or naturopath?
A trainer programs your training, a nutritionist plans your food, and both are valuable. Our work sits a layer beneath that: we look for what is driving the pattern in the first place, use functional testing only where it would change the plan, and then coach the twelve-week work that follows. The difference is sequence. We solve the real problem at the root before we prescribe the routine.
What is Integrative Health with James?
Integrative Health is testing-informed coaching led by James, delivered online wherever you are. We find what is driving your symptoms, using functional testing where it would change the plan, then coach a twelve-week protocol built from what the data shows. It begins with a free, eight-minute self-assessment, and for those who go further, an Initial Integrative Consultation where history, your questionnaire, and the right test are reviewed together.
What is one-to-one coaching with Susie?
Susie coaches strength and holistic health one to one, in person, at Strength Nation in Masterton. She works on the deeper drivers behind behaviour and self-belief, not aesthetics or short-term motivation. Susie coaches at capacity, so new one-to-one places open by application. You add your details and she is in touch when a place comes up.
Do I need functional testing to work with you?
No. We test when a result would change what we do, and not otherwise. Most people run one or two tests across their time with us, and some run none at all. Testing is the clinical expression of solving the problem at the root, not a hurdle and not a spectacle. If a test would not change your plan, we will not order it.
What functional tests do you offer?
We work across three areas: the gut and food, stress and hormones, and your body’s underlying chemistry. That includes gut and microbiome mapping, a food-reactivity map, cortisol and hormone profiles, a deep hormone map, an organic-acids energy profile, and a minerals-and-metals check. Tests are selected from your history and questionnaire, posted to your home, and couriered to the lab. Choosing the right test is our job, not yours. Note that the food-reactivity map is a starting map for coached changes to your diet, not a true allergy test; symptoms such as swelling, hives, or trouble breathing belong with your GP or a specialist.
How are test fees handled, and do you mark them up?
Lab fees are separate from coaching, and they are charged at James’s practitioner rate through NutriScript with zero markup, which is usually below retail. A typical panel runs between roughly $230 and $550 including GST, depending on the test. Some bloods can be arranged through your GP and are often publicly funded in New Zealand. Our margin lives in coaching, not in your test fees, and that is deliberate.
How much does coaching cost?
All prices are in New Zealand dollars and billed fortnightly. Integrative Health with James is $90 a week, which is $1,080 over the twelve-week block, plus a one-off $175 Initial Integrative Consultation. One-to-one coaching with Susie is also $90 a week, which is $1,080 over twelve weeks. Combined coaching, where you work with both Susie and James, is $170 a week, which is $2,040 over twelve weeks, because the two streams share one program review. Lab fees, if you test, are separate and at practitioner rate. We always show the honest twelve-week total, because you would do the maths anyway.
What is the Initial Integrative Consultation?
It is a seventy-five minute session, charged once at $175, that we never discount because it is the readiness gate. We review your history and your completed questionnaire, decide whether testing would change your plan, and if it would, the right test is selected and ordered before the call ends. It is where we decide together whether this is the right work for you now.
How long does it take, and how often will we speak?
The protocol block runs twelve weeks. It is bounded on purpose, never “until the result is achieved.” The cadence is the same at every level: weekly voice-note check-ins through weeks one to six, then fortnightly through weeks seven to twelve. At the end we re-run the key markers and decide together whether to complete, maintain, or go deeper.
Do you sell supplements?
Where a supplement would genuinely change your plan, we can prescribe it as part of your protocol and order it at practitioner rate through NutriScript. Supplements are prescribed inside the coaching relationship, never browsed from a shelf, and they are never a requirement to work with us. If something would not change your outcome, we will not add it.
Will you work with my doctor?
Yes. We work alongside your GP, not in place of them. With your consent we can share a short, plain-language summary so your doctor stays in the loop, and we will always point you back to medical care when that is where something belongs. Total Spectrum Health is a coaching practice, not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Can I work with you if I am not in the Wairarapa?
Yes, if you are working with James. Integrative Health runs online, wherever you are, and at-home test kits are posted to you and couriered to the lab. One-to-one coaching with Susie is in person at Strength Nation in Masterton, so that path is for people who can train in the Wairarapa.
How do I start?
Most people begin with the free, eight-minute self-assessment. It points to where to look first and gives you a summary to keep, at no cost and with no diagnosis. From there, if it is a fit, the next step is the Initial Integrative Consultation with James, or an application for one-to-one coaching with Susie. You do not need to know which test you need, or whether you need one at all. That is our job.
Find out where your body is asking for attention.
Most people begin with a free, eight-minute self-assessment. No cost, no diagnosis.