The Ripple Effect: Why Your Health Journey Isn't Just About You

The Facility Denver
May 21
5 min read

One of the hardest parts about describing what we do in functional medicine is that it doesn’t fit neatly into a single sentence (see the attempt on our New Patient Page 😉). Sure, we look at labs and talk about symptoms—but we’re not just here to “fix” things. What we really do is help you create momentum. We facilitate change—starting with one small shift that sets off a ripple effect through your body, your relationships, and your entire life.

If you’ve ever thrown a pebble into still water, you know how this works. The impact is small, but the ripples travel farther than you expect.

Ripple in Water an analogy for health outcomes based on small changes — The Ripple Effect: One small shift affects everything + everyone around you.

It Starts Inside: The Internal Ripple

Many new patients arrive overwhelmed. They’ve tried everything. They’re juggling symptoms, supplement lists, and Google rabbit holes. They think they need to overhaul everything at once.

But we’ve learned that the most powerful healing doesn’t start with a crash diet or a dozen supplements. It starts with basic habit change. Like:

Eating breakfast again.
Chewing your food without multitasking.
Turning your phone off before bed.
Prioritizing 7–8 hours of sleep.
Drinking water before coffee.

These changes sound simple—boring, even. But they’re not.

Because suddenly:

You’re less bloated.

You’re in a better mood.

You have more stable energy.

You’re not crashing mid-day.

You’re not wired and tired at night.

This is what we call the internal ripple effect. One positive action sets off a cascade of wins you didn’t even know were connected.

Why? Because in functional medicine, we work with systems, not symptoms. Your digestion affects your brain. Your hormones influence your sleep. Your stress touches everything.

So when you support one system, others get better too. It’s all connected—and when you understand that, healing feels less like a game of whack-a-mole and more like forward motion.

When you understand that it's all connected, healing feels less like a game of whack-a-mole and more like forward motion.

Beyond You: The External Ripple

Now here’s where it gets really interesting.

The ripple effect doesn’t stop with you.

When you start feeling better, you start showing up differently. You become more patient with your kids. You reconnect with your partner. You stop snapping in traffic or dragging yourself through the workday like a zombie. You’re not just functioning—you’re present.

And the people around you? They notice. Even if you don’t say a word.

The healthiest version of you is magnetic for others it creates a ripple externally

We had a patient recently whose friend booked an appointment. It wasn't because she’d heard the full story of intervention, but because she saw the difference in her friend. Her skin, her energy, her grounded presence. It wasn’t performative wellness. It was embodied change. And it was magnetic. It was the spark that ignited, "YEAH. I WANT IN ON THAT."

We call this social gravity.

It’s when your health transformation pulls others in. Not because you’re preaching about your new supplement routine, but because your energy speaks for itself.

There’s science to back this up. Your heart emits an electromagnetic field that extends several feet beyond your body. In other words, people feel you. Western medicine is finally catching up to what Eastern traditions have said for centuries: your energy influences the space around you. So when you take care of yourself, you’re not just improving your own life—you’re changing the emotional tone of your environment.

You know this intuitively. You’ve been around people whose energy drained you and people who lifted you up. Now imagine being the person who lifts others, simply by being well.

That’s the external ripple. That’s the power of real, embodied health.

Healing Doesn’t Require Hustling

There’s a misconception in wellness culture that change has to be all-or-nothing. But we’ve found the opposite to be true. When you try to fix everything at once, it becomes a chore. When you start small—and experience real, visible results—you want to keep going.

This is what makes functional medicine sustainable.

You don’t need discipline to maintain 15 new habits. You just need one small win. That win builds energy, clarity, and momentum. It makes the next decision easier. The ripple grows.

We see it every day in our Denver functional medicine clinic. Patients who start with something small and end up radically transforming their routines, relationships, and self-perception. Not because we made them. Because they felt the shift and followed it. || Learn about our treatment philosophy here.

Health Is Personal. But It’s Also Relational.

We tend to talk about health like it exists in a vacuum. Like it’s this individual project you do alone, in the name of “self-care.” But health doesn’t live in isolation—it’s deeply relational.

When you feel better, you don’t just make better food choices. You make better life choices. You reconnect with people. You become more generous with your time, more grounded in your presence, more of the version of yourself that’s been buried under brain fog and bloating and burnout.

That shift changes changes how you parent, partner, lead, and engage with the world. How your kids see you. How your partner responds to you. How your friends show up for themselves, inspired by what they see in you.

And you may never even realize the full reach of those ripples.

So if it ever feels small…

If you ever feel like the effort you’re putting in isn’t big enough…

If you wonder whether a five-minute change can really do anything…

If you feel discouraged by how far you have to go…

Remember this: ripples don’t look dramatic, but they move everything around them.

We're not asking you to "fix everything". You just have to start something.

Because your health doesn’t end with you—and neither does your healing.

Healing isn’t always loud. Like a ripple in water: sometimes it starts quietly, and spreads exponentially.

If you prefer content in audio format, check out Facilitated Episode 10 | The Ripple Effect for a candid discussion between Functional Medicine Doctor Mitchell Rasmussen and Nutritionist Kate Daugherty | Listen here

Ready to create your own ripple effect?

The Facility Denver Functional Medicine Clinic Team: Kate Daugherty and Mitchell Rasmussen

If you’re curious about functional medicine and how it could work for you, we’d love to help. Book an initial consultation with our Denver-based clinic (we see patients locally and via telehealth) and take the first step toward a health journey that doesn’t stop with you.

Meet The Functional Medicine Team behind Facilitated:

Mitchell Rasmussen, DC, CFMP: Mitchell is a certified functional medicine practitioner with a doctorate of chiropractic at The Facility Functional Medicine Clinic in Denver, Colorado.

Lots of letters behind this name. I went into the field of chiropractic knowing I wanted to practice Functional Medicine. My biggest passion is the immune system. I've focused a lot of post-doctoral education on immunology and clinical applications for chronic diseases like Lyme and other tick-borne pathogens, viral burden, and mold exposure.

The Long Version

Kate Daugherty Functional Nutritionist at The Facility Denver

About Kate Daugherty, MS, CNS: Kate is a certified nutrition specialist and functional nutritionist at The Facility Functional Medicine Clinic in Denver, Colorado.

I embarked on my career journey in neuroscience, which seamlessly transitioned into further education in human nutrition. Utilizing food as medicine to treat the mind-body connection is truly remarkable. I believe our eating habits nourish our soul just as profoundly as they do our body.