Skip to content

The Camozzis: Sisters committed to wellness in Revelstoke

Imogen Whale
11945505_web1_180523-RTR-wellness-sisters_1
(Photo by Imogen Whale) Theresa and Talia Camozzi each own their own businesses in Revelstoke but often work together.

Imogen Whale

Special to the Review

To say that the Camozzi sisters find wellness a passion is playing to clichés.

Theresa and Talia believe in healing the mind and body both personally and professionally. Though they own and operate their own businesses in town, they often collaborate.

“We’re only eighteen months apart in age, so we’ve been best friends our whole lives,” Talia explains. “And we’ve been working together since I was a preteen, when my mom used to own a flower shop.”

Talia is a clinical counsellor. It was a second career for her after previously finding success as an environmental consultant. An injury left her unable to work long days in the field and forced her to take the time to consider what she wanted to do.

“I’ve always loved people,” she laughs.

Ultimately though, it was a family tragedy, the death of her mother that propelled her into the field. Through her own experience working through grief and illness, Talia realized her true calling; working with people in mental and emotional health.

Talia graduated with her Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University in 2013.

Though grief may have spurred her towards counselling, grief counselling comprises only a small part of her work. Talia has helped clients of all ages and from all walks of life.

“People have wisdom inside of themselves,” Talia explains. “I have the tools to help them uncover it.”

In a world of parallels, Theresa, a Naturopathic Doctor (ND), who trained at the Canadian College for Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, uses medicines and her training to build understanding of her clients and share her knowledge with them.

“People can learn about how their bodies work and react to different things. They can learn nutrition and good habits,” Theresa explains.

Theresa initially pictured herself as a traditional doctor, but while pursuing a degree, she suffered an illness that required multiple pain killers and the potential for surgery.

ND’s, who can write prescriptions, are highly trained. Like a medical doctor (MD), they are required to complete an undergraduate degree and the first two years of MD and ND respective medical schools are similar, before their paths diverge the final two years.

In pain and with nothing to lose, Theresa decided to give a naturopathic doctor a try.

“For me personally, it worked really well. I was able to resolve my pain without the side effects of the medications,” Theresa says. “I realized that it was something I wanted to pursue. That doesn’t mean that traditional medicine doesn’t have a place; it does, and an important one. However for me, as a practitioner, it didn’t fit.”

“I find that by the time people are ready to see me, they’ve tried so hard, often with misinformation,” Theresa explains. “It’s frustrating. But seeing people’s progress is amazing.”

Born and raised in Revelstoke in an Italian-Canadian family, the sisters were encouraged to eat healthy and spend time outdoors. The two have eaten whole foods since before it became trendy.

“We’ve been eating macros forever,” Talia jokes. “Thirty five percent fats no problem, and it’ll probably be in olive oil.”

The sisters’ obvious closeness both personally and professionally is reflected in numerous collaborations including in a book called Healing Winter Sad, which tackles the mind, body and spirit, while coping with seasonal affective disorder.

Revelstoke and the people in it are clearly important to the sisters, whose empathy and careers in wellness have allowed many Revelstokians to find comfort in both body and mind.