How To Stand Out as a Functional Medicine Clinician in an “Oversaturated” Market | Ep 399
The Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast
Erin Holt
4.8 • 788 Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Everyone says the functional medicine space is “oversaturated.” But what are we actually seeing? And what qualities make up a fantastic clinician?
Erin is offering a peek behind the curtain into her most rigorous practitioner hiring process yet, including what consistently showed up in applications, and all the sneaky clinical skill gaps she and Rachel Heintz, MS, RDN see that are holding practitioners back.
She shares why nutrition foundations matter (but aren’t enough on their own), what real lab discernment looks like in complex cases, and why immune dysregulation requires a full-bodied approach.
If you want to deliver care with more nuance, confidence, and a deeper systems biology lens, this is exactly why the Funk’tional Nutrition Academy (FNA) exists. Open enrollment starts March 1st!
In this episode:
- The biggest clinical skill gaps Erin and Rachel consistently see in practitioner applications
- What lab discernment really looks like and how to decide what you need before moving forward
- The role mentorship plays in building confidence and shining a flashlight without punching above your clinical weight
- What happens when you niche too early and grow inside a more unsustainable clinical silo
- The clinical support you’ll get inside of FNA, and why you should apply for the spring cohort
Resources mentioned:
Are you a practitioner? Get your exclusive invitation to the FNA Open House.
Applications are now open for Funk’tional Nutrition Academy, our 14 month clinical mentorship + training program.
4-Day Autoimmune Practitioner Intensive Training
Apply to work with us 1:1 here!
FOR OUR FULL LIST OF LINKS + RESOURCES, HEAD TO:
https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/399-fna-practitioners
Check out The Funk’tional Nutritionist: Website | Instagram
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
OneSkin (Use code FUNK for 15% off your first purchase)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | But it is imperative that you understand how to take a systems biology approach. You understand |
| 0:05.5 | how interconnected and interwoven every aspect of the body is. And you have a way to assess for that. |
| 0:12.9 | It's not just the information, but can you apply that information to the person sitting directly |
| 0:17.7 | in front of you? We have to address the body as a whole. And to be quite |
| 0:22.3 | frank with you, I think this is one of the places where people can tend to feel failed by conventional |
| 0:26.7 | medicine because they expect this whole care or this whole system care, but they're still getting |
| 0:33.0 | fragmented care. Welcome to the functional nutrition podcast, spell it with a K, because we do |
| 0:38.6 | things a little differently around here. I'm your host, Erin Holt, and I've got 15 years of |
| 0:42.8 | clinical experience as a functional nutritionist and mindset coach, creating a new model that I |
| 0:47.6 | call intuitive functional medicine, where we combine root cause medicine with the innate intelligence |
| 0:52.6 | of your body. |
| 0:56.4 | This is where science meets self-trust. |
| 1:00.7 | Your body already knows how to heal, and this show is going to show you how. |
| 1:05.1 | If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health, be sure to follow and share with a friend because you never know whose life you might change. |
| 1:09.6 | Hello, my friends. |
| 1:11.2 | Today is definitely a different episode than one we've done before. |
| 1:15.3 | This is going to be more on the practitioner side of things. |
| 1:18.7 | We are in the process of adding a new practitioner, a new clinician, to our team, which is |
| 1:24.5 | very exciting. |
| 1:25.9 | Rachel and I thought it would be really helpful to record |
| 1:29.2 | this right now, to talk about what we're looking for in a practitioner and what we're seeing |
| 1:35.1 | with applicants coming in. We know that we have a lot of practitioners that listen to the show. |
... |
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