Kelly came to homeopathy as a last resort for a recurring and unexplained dental problem that conventional medicine had failed to treat. As well as healing her original complaint, homeopathy enhanced every area of her life and helped her cope with the strain of a very stressful degree course.
Kelly was amazed at the power and depth of homeopathic treatment and her interest was stimulated. The more she learned and experienced the more interested and in awe she became, so much so that she decided to change career path and undergo homeopathic training. Kelly is now in her third year of homeopathic studies and will shortly begin seeing patients under supervision
New Year, Renewed Focus…
After my little hiatus from school last month I find myself feeling a bit more rested, from homeopathy at least and am looking at the year ahead with renewed enthusiasm and focus. My next goal is to begin supervised practice… eeek, that thought is both scary and exciting all at the same time!
Once I begin the end of my study really will be in sight, as supervision is for a period of 18 months prior to qualification. It’s surprising how quickly this point in my training has come around. At the outset with the prospect of 4 years of training ahead the end seemed like a lifetime away. However, before I can begin supervision I have to raise the extra funds to start this (almost £500!) as this is in addition to the school’s tuition fees, so I’m working extra shifts where possible to try to raise this, but that then leaves less time to study and is zapping my energy levels, catch 22 situation really but it will be worth it in the end!
If I’m entirely honest I think there is also a subconscious element of procrastination that is also delaying the start of my supervised practice, similar to that which I experienced before finally taking the plunge and enrolling on the homeopathy practitioner’s course. Up to now study has mainly been theoretical and cases worked whilst really interesting and great to get your teeth into have been very ‘safe’ old video cases or in clinic where you are working on cases taken by the tutor, so ultimately they are taking the clinical responsibility for the patient and the final prescription, so again whilst an excellent learning opportunity, it is still very ‘safe’. Whereas supervised practice will need me to fully embody and embrace what it means to be a homeopath and the responsibilities that come along with that, albeit with a supervisor to steer me in the right direction. I’m also wondering where I’m going to find the time to also fit in seeing patients into a schedule that already feels stretched to my limit. This will then be in addition to the homework set by the school so the work load will increase considerably. A bit of courage and a leap of faith is going to be required to take the next step on my homeopathy journey!
Sadly the New Year has also seen us losing another member of our now very small group, as they have decided to transfer to a school closer to home. At the start of year one our group was the largest the School of Homeopathy has ever had with over 20 people enrolled, now we there are just 6 of us left, hopefully we will all still be there at the end!
Life gets in the way…
This month has been particularly challenging in terms of finding the time and finances for my studies. One thing that I have learnt along my student journey is that life carries on regardless and because of the length of time that we study to reach our eventual goal of becoming homeopaths, life’s ups and downs will occur and it can be difficult to deal with these whilst still keeping up with the work, so determination and a bit of tenacity can be required and sometimes executive decisions need to be made over what is of highest priority.
This month I had several work related training days to attend, in addition to full time hours and keeping up with the responsibilities of a single parent, on top of assignments. Not an easy task but it got done somehow! I also felt the financial pressure of Christmas and had to make the decision not to attend the school weekend this month as the amount it costs me in travel and accommodation would pay for my son’s Christmas present. Not an ideal solution but sometimes you do what you have to and make sacrifices where you can so that you can continue another day. Roll on next month when I will be back at school, refreshed after a little break …
Let the proving commence…
Things have been a bit of a whirlwind this month with so many things going on. Our group has commenced the proving of a new substance that will eventually be found in our materia medicas and may be used to heal thousands upon thousands of people for future generations to come… when you think of it on those terms… wow!!! However this hasn’t been an easy process by any means. There were varying fears, concerns and doubts from our whole group really, as can often be the case when venturing into the unknown, for none of us really knew how the new remedy would affect us and I was hoping I wouldn’t have any symptoms that were particularly unpleasant or unsightly as my life outside of homeopathy has been particularly full on of late with other commitments that must also be kept up with.
I’m not going to lie, I was quite concerned at the outset as I’m a very ‘sensitive’ person in general and often take on remedies and experience symptoms just by studying them and have often continued to ‘prove’ them for weeks afterwards and need to then take the actual remedy in potency to clear this. So I had a pretty good idea that I would more than likely have quite a response to the proving substance…. and that expectation was not disappointed! It has been quite an intense month to say the least, with lots of symptoms being brought forward on all levels really, physicals, strong mental and emotional pictures, dreams and some strong themes. The proving experience really does impact your whole life and I found dynamics changing in my household as I had changed at an energetic level and it felt like all those around you were also playing their part in the proving process and bringing forward behaviours and feelings as they engaged with me. A lot of time also has to be spent recording everything that is happening and communicating very regularly with your proving supervisor so it is an all-consuming process.
For anyone about to embark on a proving I would say don’t worry, I have had some quite unpleasant and challenging symptoms but they passed through very quickly, like they were there just long enough to be noticed and then passed through to make way for something else. I was very aware that I didn’t feel like myself but also fascinated by what was occurring both in and around me. I’m pleased to report that although the proving has not officially finished my experience seems to have come to an end, it’s very challenging to produce assignments or study when one of your strong symptoms is the completely aversion to anything that requires mental input! I’m glad I participated but also pleased to feel back to normal again and I feel privileged to have taken part in something that has the potential to help so many.
Back to School…
It was so lovely to be back at school this month after what has seemed like a very long, but sadly not very restful, summer. My good intentions of cracking on with my Pathology and Disease Module over the break were not realised. Instead I found myself having to work two jobs after suddenly losing my previous employment to try to scrape together enough so that I could return for the 3rd year. Thankfully though with the support of the ARH and a lot of hard work I’m still here and am very grateful to be so, but it has been a challenge!
Sadly since the end of the last year our class size has halved as many have needed to take a year out for various different reasons, meaning we have said goodbye to many of our friends from our homeopathic journey, at least for now. However there has also be a positive effect of this on our group in that they dynamics have changed and it had bought everyone who is still left closer together into a single inclusive group, rather than a few sub-groups and which has been very nice and feels very supportive.
There’s a lot of exciting things to look forward to this year, the school clinics, participating in a proving, studying the sensation method and Sankaran will be a visiting lecturer in May. We will also begin taking our own patients under supervised practice so it feels like we are stepping up a level and will now be able to put into practice all the learning so far. It’s a little overwhelming to think that in just a couple of months’ time I will have my own cases…gulp…but I guess we all need to start somewhere and it’s probably better to get the first one out of the way sooner rather than later.
My first experience of the school’s clinic was also amazing and very motivating. This month Janet Snowdon took the cases and I got my first glimpse of the sensation method in action. Having experienced this method as a patient I am really keen to learn more about this way of working and felt really inspired to learn more about the different kingdoms and sub-kingdoms that are used as an aide to remedy differentiation.
Now that I am having to be at the school for 3 days each month I am also now staying over at Hawkwood, as it would be too much to travel up and back every day. This made the weekend much more restful than the previous years, like a little holiday and I also get to socialise with the other students after classes which I really enjoyed as I missed out on the social side of things previously. Next month our year group will be commencing a proving of a brand new remedy, whilst there are some nerves about the unknown of this process I can’t wait to see what the process will bring…