ECCH & ICH International Homeopathic Education Symposium
23 – 24 April 2009, Leuven, Belgium

Programme

Presentations

Welcome Stephen Gordon
Stephen Gordon is one of the founders of the European Council for Classical Homeopathy (ECCH) and has served as ECCH’s General Secretary since its establishment in 1990. He runs the ECCH Secretariat and carries out lobbying activities for ECCH on a European level, including the institutions of the European Union in Brussels and Strasbourg. He has practised homeopathy for 27 years.

Introduction Dr Nicola Gale
Dr Nicola Gale, who is an academic researcher, will chair the symposium. Dr Gale’s PhD research focused on the education of CAM practitioners and she continues to conduct research and support homeopaths in promoting high standards in professional education.

Education Guidelines Yanai Lev-or Yanai Lev-or is ECCH Education Coordinator and will present the European Guidelines for Homeopathic Education. The 2nd version of these guidelines was published in 2000 and is now subject to a revision process in light of a number of developments over the past years in higher education in general and in homeopathic education in particular. This presentation will bring participants up to date on the ECCH Council’s latest plans and the proposal to make the Guidelines fully international.

Discussions: Where is homeopathy education going?

This education symposium will consist of a number of presentations provided by people who have carried out research and/or who have experience in homeopathy education. These presentations will be followed by group discussions where everyone can share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions for the future of homeopathy education. These discussions will also feed into the revised education guidelines which will be entitled the International Guidelines for Homeopathic Education.

It you have not done so already, then please fill in the participation form included with this brochure and return it to ecch@gn.apc.org
This education symposium will be run in the spirit of sharing knowledge, experience and thoughts. You, the participants, will contribute to making this a learning experience that will help us all in developing homeopathy education.

Homeopathy education in Europe

Petter Viksveen (Norway)

Petter Viksveen will present the results of a survey on homeopathy education in Europe carried out in 2008. The first part involves an overview of currently existing homeopathy undergraduate education in Europe. Results are based on the outcome of a structured questionnaire survey which was sent to all known homeopathy schools in Europe. The second part is a presentation of what homeopathy course providers think is necessary in order to educate and train a competent homeopath. Findings are based on qualitative telephone interviews with education providers.

Petter Viksveen is a teacher and pedagogically responsible at Skandinavisk Institutt for Klassisk Homeopati (SIKH), an undergraduate homeopathy course that was established in Oslo in 1987. He has been a practising homeopath for 18 years, has been involved in organisational work in homeopathy for the past 20 years and has been a homeopathy teacher and supervisor for the past ten. Petter holds a Bachelor Degree of Arts which is almost entirely focused on pedagogy. He is a final year MSc Homeopathy student at the University of Central Lancashire, where he has done his dissertation on homeopathy education in Europe.

Teaching classical homeopathy in a scientific way

Dr Jorgos Kavouras (Germany)

One of the main purposes of the teaching at the International Academy for Classical Homeopathy (IACH) is to teach and apply Classical Homeopathy in such a way that it is scientific – in the best sense of this word – and reproducible for the student. Theory – of understanding diseases and the curative process itself – plays a major role in our instruction. Much emphasis is laid on practical teaching with live, or video-cases, which are documented and shown with all their follow-ups. Cases are discussed in detail concerning their medical and homeopathic aspects, so that an optimum of structured teaching is achieved both in theory and practice. We believe that a proper and complete education in Homeopathy will provide the opportunity for scientifically based research. Ideas will also be offered for raising the level of clinical examination to the highest medical standards.

Dr Jorgos Kavouras is an experienced Homeopath and passionate teacher, who has studied extensively with George Vithoulkas. He is Director of the Educational Programme of the IACH (Director Prof. George Vithoulkas) and Director of the Complete Vithoulkas Video Course on Alonissos, Greece and in London. He also teaches Homeopathy at the German Medical University of Erlangen. His innermost aim is to bring back and establish Classical Homeopathy into medical school curricula. One of his current plans is to create an International Master’s Degree for Homeopathy.

Diversity, common sense, and successful practice

Anne Waters & Kay Hebbourn (UK)

There is a growing emphasis on evidence-based medicine that has filtered into academic ideas of best practice in homeopathic education. Has the pendulum swung too far, from an apprenticeship style of training to an academic approach to teaching and learning clinical skills within homeopathic education? Will standardisation compromise the art and science of individualisation? Diverse learning opportunities can encourage the development of a level of self awareness that allows the successful practitioner to operate from a position of confidence and trust. Homeopathic Education has to emphasise the qualities that ensure that a student becomes a good practitioner and successful in practice. Are we encouraging students to be free thinking and inquisitive learners, inspired by the spirit of enquiry that Hahnemann founded our profession on? Our presentation will focus on diversity in homeopathic education, and a common sense approach to teaching and learning.

Anne Waters graduated as a homeopath in 1993, and immediately established the Lakeland College, with Ian Watson. Anne has an MA in Special Education and before homeopathy was head teacher at a residential special school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Anne is co-director of the Lakeland College with Kay Hebbourn, who graduated as a homeopath in 1997, following a successful career as a nurse and in nursing education. Kay has an MSc in Health and Healing Sciences, is an Eating Disorders specialist, and has completed NLP training to Masters level specialising in learning. Kay has been curriculum director at the Lakeland College for the last four years.

The alchemy needed to create successful practising homeopaths

Gwyneth Evans (New Zealand)

The intrinsic value of any training programme is in the successful application of the subject taught. It is of no value to any student to be burdened with facts and data if they are then not able to apply that information in the real world. It is then up to the tutor to awaken the homeopath within the student; to facilitate their journey towards becoming a homeopath.

Arising from the question as to why do so many homeopaths graduate from college and then not remain in practice for very long, or do not practice at all, my presentation will illustrate the changes we are making and have already made within our college in order to achieve a more student-focused course structure and teaching methodology. The presentation highlights the concepts of this new structure and the skill requirements of those teaching the course in order to produce more successful practitioners.

Gwyneth Evans trained at the London College of Homeopathy in the 1980s, and has been in homeopathic practice in Tawa, Wellington since 1987. She founded the Wellington College of Homeopathy, and is still Principal, as well as tutor. She has been Chairperson of the Advisory Group which wrote the training standards for the National Diploma in New Zealand, and has been involved with all aspects of professional homeopathy in New Zealand, serving as Chairperson of the Registration committee for the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths

Teaching a homeopathic approach to iatrogenic disease

Torako Yui (Japan)

A large proportion of diseases in our time and age are iatrogenic in origin. Torako Yui found she faced considerable difficulties in her practice due to many patients in Japan having been affected by conventional drugs. Adverse effects of conventional drugs have become a serious problem not only in Japan, but also worldwide. It is therefore essential that students learn how to help patients eliminate unwanted substances from their body. Torako Yui has developed her own approach to dealing with these patients. In her presentation she will focus on teaching strategies to help students develop their knowledge and professional skills, thereby incorporating a homeopathic approach to iatrogenic diseases into course curriculums.

Torako Yui is Founder and Principal of the Japan Royal Academy of Homoeopathy in Japan and in the UK, and President of the Japanese Homoeopathic Medical Association (JPHMA). She was the first Japanese professional homeopath in the UK, and has since her return to Japan devoted her life to establishing homeopathy in her country. While receiving much support from eminent homoeopaths across the world, she has developed her own curriculum in order to teach the quintessence of homeopathy with all her heart. She has introduced a TV conference system in several schools, to include students who for geographical reasons are unable to attend the college. Most homeopaths in Japan have been trained by her and she regularly offers continuing professional development. She is an Honorary member of the Homoeopathic Medical Association (HMA, UK) and a Member of the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths (ARH, UK). Moreover, she holds an Honorary doctorate degree in homeopathy from the Pioneer University and a Doctorate degree in homoeopathy from the International Medical University (IMU) in Switzerland.

A systematic approach to MM teaching & seminar provings

Dr Vladimir Petroci (Slovakia)

In his presentation Dr. Vladimir Petroci will present two parts of the Slovak Academy of Classical Homeopathy‘s homeopathic education programme: a systematic approach to teaching materia medica and provings carried out with students.

Materia medica is taught in groups and families of related remedies. This approach follows up on the latest developments in homeopathy, with a move from an empirical to a systematic approach in homeopathic teaching and practice. Through such an understanding, students become more able to differentiate between individual remedies and groups of remedies. They develop a basic framework of knowledge on which they can build their continued knowledge and they are more precise in prescribing both well known and more rarely prescribed remedies.

Class provings are carried out on a regular basis. Students enjoy this part of teaching and therefore request more of it. It provides them with an enriching life experience and it aids them in better understanding the action of remedies.

Dr Vladimir Petroci established the Slovak Academy of Classical Homeopathy in 2005. He has been involved in homeopathy since 1991 and has been lecturing for various homeopathy schools in Slovakia and the Czech Republic since 1996. He has organised a number of seminars in the Tatra mountains, where he also used to practise in a respiratory clinic for 13 years. Dr. Petroci graduated from the Medical Faculty University of Kosice, Slovakia, in 1989.

Clinical training – from student to practitioner Yanai Lev-or (Israel)

In his presentation Yanai Lev-or will talk about the work that has been done on ECCH’s draft document: Guidelines for Clinical Training and will elaborate on the various principles and outlook that this document puts forth. The wide variety of conditions that must be faced by different schools in different countries makes it difficult to set hard-fast rules, but this should not preclude a set of standards by which the profession can evaluate the current situation and strive to improve upon it in the future.

Yanai Lev-or has been teaching homeopathy for over 10 years and has provided supervision and guidance for numerous students in their transition from being a student of homeopathy to being a confident and autonomous practitioner. He has made several presentations on this subject both in Israel and New Zealand. Yanai has developed (in collaboration with other teachers) a model of clinical training that allows for this crucial phase of a student’s learning process to take place in a supervised setting, gradually shifting the responsibility and authority from teacher to student.

The art of clinical training

Anne Vervarcke & Christel Lombaerts (Belgium)

This presentation will focus on the art of clinical training. The authors argue that although learning theories may be helpful, teaching homeopathy really differs from teaching anything else. It takes place simultaneously at several levels. Context and content in teaching homeopathy are inseparable. Where most other education typically focuses on coherent student groups, homeopathy student groups are heterogeneous and have more similarities to art classes. The theoretical cannot be separated from the clinical. As in art classes students start off with an entire palette of colours from day one, however, the teacher will also transfer attitudes and implicit beliefs with every lecture.

The content of the lecture as well as the modelling of the homeopath will confront students with inner processes that require the teacher’s attention. Teachers should provide individual guidance and supervision for every member of the group. An ideal educational model should offer apprenticeship, where the student is in close contact with an experienced practitioner, assisting her, working together with her and being supervised along the way. Teaching homeopathy calls for a number of specific competencies and qualities of which the teacher’s personal development is a crucial one.

Anne Vervarcke was originally trained in arts, Eastern philology and anthropology. She started studying homeopathy in 1984 and has now practised for 20 years. She established the Centre for Classical Homeopathy (CKH) in Leuven (1991), and organises seminars, workshops and a five year training course. For the past five years she has offered Master Classes with live cases. She is the author of two Dutch and 3 English books. Her book, The charm of Homeopathy, has been translated into French, Bulgarian, Serbian and Czech.

Christel Lombaerts is mother and grandmother and an experienced Christel Lombaerts is mother and grandmother and an experienced administrator. She has been Principal at the Belgian school, the Centrum voor Klassieke Homeopathie (CKH), since 2005. She is an Education Science Master Degree student at the University of Antwerp through which she aims to improve her skills in the training of professionals.

Clinical education in practice

Ulrike Kessler (Germany/Switzerland)

In recent years, homeopathic research findings have increased the awareness of the consultation as a therapeutic intervention in itself, independently or in conjunction with the homeopathic remedy. Up to now, clinical education in homeopathy has been largely concerned with the technical skills needed to conduct the homeopathic interview in order to collect and record the data needed for a homeopathic prescription, and avoided acknowledging the role of the therapeutic relationship as part of the healing process. In her presentation Ulrike Kessler explores the basic therapeutic skills and attitudes which should be integrated in future clinical education, and presents some basic features of a practicable and cost-effective concept to foster the collaboration of schools and individual practitioners.

Ulrike Kessler has been practising homeopathy for 25 years and is an experienced clinical educator and supervisor. She has been involved in national and international homeopathic professional organisational work for 12 years. Currently, she is an MSc Homeopathy student at the University of Central Lancashire, and is developing a book on homeopathic practice.

The use of technology in clinical training

Alastair Gray (Australia)

Ways in which homeopathic clinical training is delivered worldwide are startlingly different. While many clinical models enable some students to graduate feeling confident and competent, it is not the case with all students. Colleges worldwide wrestle with the educational, practical and financial considerations in delivering clinical training.

Our students these days are younger and they have grown up with computers. Lecturers often have not. Can 21st century technology be employed to deliver quality clinical training? Some reject it outright, yet they can see the limitations of bricks and mortar clinics. But in other related healthcare fields aspects of, or the whole of clinical training are delivered online.

In this presentation Alastair explores the possibilities of the use of technology and the implications for homeopathy education in the future. Familiar with clinical training models at numerous colleges in many countries, he discusses the resistances, emotional and real to the use of technology, and critiques what is available now.

Alastair Gray has run a general natural medicine practice in Australia for 14 years. He heads up the Sydney campus of Endeavour College of Natural Health and lectures both undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in homeopathy in several countries including New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, the US, Ireland, England and Thailand. He also runs an online programme in homeopathy. Trained in the UK at the School of Homeopathy he completed his postgraduate work at the Dynamis School in London. Alastair has conducted a number of provings and homeopathic research trials. He has published four books and numerous articles of provings. Alastair is a final year MSc Homeopathy student at the University of Central Lancashire.

E-learning and distance learning in homeopathy education

Malene Vestergaard Larsen (Denmark)

Malene Vestergaard Larsen will present an ECCH draft document on e-learning. This will include the pedagogical thinking such an approach to learning implies. I will also touch upon the differences between e-learning and distance learning. The information will feed into the revised education guidelines.

Malene Vestergaard Larsen graduated from University of Westminster in 2004 with a BSc (Hons) in homeopathy. She is currently studying an MSc in homeopathy at University of Central Lancashire as well as the post-graduate course from the Dynamis School for Advanced Homoeopathic Studies. She practises in a homeopathy clinic in Copenhagen, Denmark.

An inquiry into practice-based teaching and learning

Sue Sternberg (UK)

This presentation is structured around the work we have been doing for the last ten years in the University of Westminster Polyclinic. This is a teaching clinic for homeopathy undergraduate students, which has become the core of the practice-based curriculum. I will focus on two strands: the training of clinical tutors through action research cycles and the collection of clinical data.

The University of Westminster Homeopathy team ran a two year project using an action research model to develop specialist clinical teaching skills and to provide supervision. A parallel process has also been introduced for the students. I will discuss the process and impact of this development. We have been collecting MYMOP data in the Polyclinic for 8 years. The second strand of my presentation will touch on tutors and students as researchers.

Susan Sternberg has been working in homeopathic education for over 16 years. She is a Principal Lecturer and clinical tutor at the University of Westminster, School of Integrated Health. She was a Co-Course Leader of the BSc (Hons) Homeopathy course at the University of Westminster from 1996 to 2008, and has been involved in the validation of two university homeopathy degree courses (Westminster and Central Lancashire). Sue has specialised in the teaching of clinical skills both on the homeopathy course and across the Scheme of CAM courses. Sue also has a private practice in Suffolk, UK.

Teaching setting up and running a practice

Mani Norland (UK)

Mani Norland is Managing Director of Alternative Training and will become Principal of the School of Homeopathy in September 2009. In the past Mani has set up businesses and been asked to assist in the running of many companies. He has successfully run large scale projects at board level with publicly listed businesses in the UK. Drawing on his past skills, and his passion for homeopathy, Mani has developed a homeopathy business module that he runs for the 3rd and 4th year homeopathy students at the School. The module teaches them how to differentiate themselves in practice and how to set up in business. He will share the full model with information about teaching exercises he uses.

Mani Norland is Misha Norland’s eldest son and grew up with homeopathy all around him. He trained with the School and is currently in his post diploma year. Mani looks after marketing for the School, sits on the Core Team, is involved with the running of the School and represents the school at the Homeopathy Course Providers Forum. He is the Managing Director of Alternative Training, a business that manages home study courses and books. In his ‘other life’ he worked in London as a brand and business consultant for over 10 years. He advised board level directors on business creation, vision and image. He has experience working with leading companies including Sainsbury’s, Sky, and KwikFit.

Research informed practitioners

Kate Chatfield (UK)

Many homeopaths steer away from the concept of research, possibly because it is often confused with the idea of having to prove homeopathy to the outside world. However, there are many forms of research and homeopaths are natural researchers, we are just not good at formalising what we do. Becoming more cognisant of what we are doing will help develop our practice much more efficiently. The culture of research informed practice begins in education. Teachers in higher education are traditionally also researchers in their area of expertise. They promote investigation and development of their field. How true is that in homeopathy? This talk will outline the potential benefits of research informed teaching (RIT) in homeopathy using specific examples of research to show how we can use it to promote a culture of research informed practitioners and help to raise the professional standards of our practice.

Kate Chatfield is course leader for MSc Homeopathy at University of Central Lancashire (UK) and Co-Director of the Galway College of Homeopathy (Ireland). She has been teaching homeopathy and been involved in homeopathy research since 1999. Kate is former research director for the Society of Homeopaths (UK) and was the first Chair of their Research Committee.

Poster presentation

Animal homeopathy education in Europe

Peter Mohr (Germany)

This poster presentation will focus on the situation for animal homeopathy in Europe. Do we need Bachelor and Master Degree courses in animal homeopathy? Why is this unlikely to happen within universities for veterinary medicine? How could Bachelor and Master Degree courses become reality?

Peter Mohr has practised animal homeopathy for over 20 years. He is founder of the first school for classical animal homeopathy in Germany. The course, which provides over 1 900 hours of teaching, was established in 1998. Peter is author of a book on animal homeopathy entitled Das geistige Prinzip in der Tierhomöopathie – Band 1 der Schriftenreihe zur klassichen Tierhomöopathie, and he has published a number of articles in ‘regular’ as well as ‘animal-focused’ journals.

Welcome to the ECCH & ICH International Education Symposium

Salons Georges, Leuven, Belgium