A quarter-century ago, naturopathic specialist Steven K. Gordon, ND began his endeavor to offer people in the Flathead Valley a holistic approach to their health. 

He purchased a building south of Whitefish near U.S. 93 and Montana 40 from the B98 ‘The Bee’ Radio, to establish the home of the new clinic, Bridge Medical Center, in 2000.  

Now in 2025, the building is home to an integrative, well-established private practice, with a team of three naturopathic specialists striving to help patients understand the connections in their bodies.  

“The goal is to provide health care that empowers people to live their best lives, no matter what they are dealing with,” Gordon said. “Instead of going in and getting two minutes and a pill, we teach what can be done lifestyle and diet wise, and we work to undue the unbalances.” 

In studying the body’s chemistry, and hormones, for example, Gordon said they look for specific, small things in lab tests that can lead to adverse outcomes.  

“The body has different biological presentations of health... when you fix the little things, you can promote healing,” he said. “Sometimes, it is through prescriptions, but often, it is other things that need to be changed to allow the body to reach its healing capacities.” 

Patients often come to the center feeling “stuck in a box,” said Gordon, who also specializes in chronic disease management.  

“We try to remind people, you have the power to be a healthier human being,” he said. “Sometimes, illness is a lesson in the way to becoming a better human being. We try to help empower people – that has physical, mental, emotional and spiritual effects. That’s the holistic side of things, in becoming the best being that you can be.”  

Gordon said that in the last 25 years, the political and economic landscape of the country has continued to take away healing potential from people. 

The Center’s specialists do have integrative offerings, sometimes working together to help patients enhance their quality of life, Gordon said.  

Also on staff is Dr. Keythe Karpinski, LAc, acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist; Ashley D. May, ND, FABNE, naturopathic and regenerative medicine practitioner; and Sara Bonds, LMT, RBE, classical osteopathist and craniosacral therapist; and, Beamer, the therapy dog. 

Bonds said that “osteopathy lives in the place where everything’s connected in the body. It looks at how functional, physical mobility affects chemical functions.” 

Craniosacral therapy is a hands-on, light-as-a-feather therapy, that focuses on the craniosacral system, the body’s physiological system which includes membranes and cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.  

“Craniosacral therapy looks at subtle movements,” Bonds said. “It’s very gentle, it’s profound. You’re looking at the relationship between each part, with the whole.”  

Bonds said that the study of classical osteopathy has largely disappeared in the U.S., but is alive in Europe and Canada. She studied in Canada, in the French focus of the practice.  

“The coding system of the insurance industry doesn’t apply to the human body, and the values and principles of classical osteopathy,” Bonds explained.  

Both Bonds and Gordon reiterated that connection is at the core of the practice.  

“It comes from the heart,” Gordon said. “We’re here to help people achieve what they want to achieve.”