Continuing Education
The Australian Holistic Veterinarians encourages veterinarians to study alternative veterinary therapies in order that they can use these treatments effectively and competently.
The following courses are available for veterinarians in Australia:
Acupuncture
Dr. Chris Robinson
PO Box 378, Red Hill South, Vic 3937
Tel: 03 5931 0035, Fax: 03 5931 0202
Mobile: 041917 0981
Email: crob@ava.com.au
The next course (6th) should begin in 2007. Please register with Chris quite soon for interest as numbers are limited. Look for more info on the American site: www.ivas.org
Chiropractic
www.chirovet.com.au/course_info.htm
Herbal
A course for veterinarians is currently under construction. Details will be posted on this website as soon as they are available. Please contact Dr Barbara Fougere for further information. petdoc@ozemail.com.au
Homeopathy
Australasian Course in Veterinary Homeopathy
This is a three-year course certified by both the International Association for Veterinary Homeopathy and the Faculty of Homeopathy (London). Two residential modules are held each year, each lasting 4 – 5 days. Module One takes students to the level necessary for simple prescribing. Participants can either continue with the full course or stop after Module One.
Module One topics include:
- History and Philosophy
- Case-taking
- Analysis of symptoms
- Repertorising/finding the correct remedy
- Learning techniques
- Acute prescribing
- How to assess response
- Introducing homeopathy into Practice
- In-depth Materia medica of four major homeopathic remedies
- Constitutional prescribing
The Australasian Course is a modification of the course developed in 1991 by the Oxford based Homeopathic Professionals Teaching Group (HPTG). The course is designed to awaken participants to the profound and lasting changes that Homeopathy can initiate. As well as formal lectures, there is small group work, role play and interactive sessions designed to make learning more interesting. Each session is accompanied by a comprehensive handout.
The course is presented by both medical doctors and veterinarians. This combined approach has been highly successful and all participants benefit from experiencing a different view of the subject. The course has already been held twice in Australia and is being introduced to South Africa and Japan.
Veterinary course tutors include:
- Christopher Day MA VetMB VetFFHom
- Peter Gregory BVSc MRCVS VetMFHom
- John Saxton BVetMed VetFFHom MRCVS
- Douglas Wilson BVM&S PhD VetMFHom MACVSc
The founders of HPTG were heavily influenced by the teachings on classical homeopathy by George Vithoulkas, but it is HPTG policy to expose students to as much of modern day homeopathic philosophy as possible. Students are introduced to the work of such luminaries as Jan Scholten and Rajan Sankaran. Their approaches are considered to be relevant to both veterinary and medical homeopathy. There is also a place in homeopathy for the use of prescribing on a more pathological basis and the course includes tuition on such concepts as isopathy, nosodes, a systems approach to prescribing, and the use of bowel nosodes.
Completion of the first year of the course entitles students to sit the Primary Certificate in Veterinary Homeopathy; success in this confers the title Licentiate of the Faculty of Homeopathy (VetLFHom). Completion of the full course leads to membership examinations for the Faculty of Homeopathy (VetMFHom).
The next course is expected to commence in 2007 or 2008.
More information on the HPTG and the course can be found at www.hptg.org or by contacting the Australasian representative douglaswilson@ozemail.com.au
Australasian Masterclass in Veterinary Homeopathy
Monday 7th May and Tuesday 8th May, 2007
Coolangatta, Gold Coast
Presenters: Sue Armstrong VetMB VetMFHom MRCVS
Peter Gregory BVSc MRCVS VetFFHom
Topic: ‘On the Rocks’
The main topic will be ‘On the Rocks’ (an in depth look at the Mineral Kingdom) as well as a further day of ‘supervision’. The first day will start by demonstrating a clear understanding of the sequence and layout of the periodic table. Sue will then give an overview of the work on minerals by Jan Scholten, Rajan Sankaran and Jayesh Shah and will illustrate how this work can be applied to veterinary homeopathy. The day will include group work and case illustrations thoughout.
Advanced Tutorial Day
The second day of the Masterclass will take the form of an Advanced Tutorial Day.
Homeopathic prescribing has tended to follow the model set by Hahnemann and developed by conventionally trained physicians and veterinarians in attempting to be an ‘unprejudiced observer’; in other words the prescriber attempts to remain outside the process of information gathering and then analyses the case objectively using symptoms selected unemotionally.
Modern psychodynamics suggests that not only is this essentially impossible but also that it may only reveal part of the case. The rest remains hidden and only accessible by utilising other levels of experience such as the emotions of the prescriber.
Becoming aware of this level of experience can allow access to this ‘hidden’ layer and hence lead to a deeper level of understanding of the case. This in turn can result in more accurate case analysis and more successful prescribing.
In this session we will investigate these phenomena by examining delegates’ difficult and problem cases in exercises designed to develop awareness of these deeper levels of understanding of the case. While discussion will be centred around these exercises the flexibility of the programme will allow discussion of any other aspects of homeopathic prescribing which may arise during the day.
Biography : Sue Armstrong
Susan Armstrong is a 1984 graduate of Cambridge University School of Veterinary Medicine. In 1996, she became a Veterinary Member of the Faculty of Homeopathy in England, after training with the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital and the Homeopathic Professionals Teaching Group (HPTG), Oxford. Since 2002 she has been a tutor for the Homeopathic Professionals Teaching Group (HPTG). She was a founder member of the British Holistic Veterinary Medicine Association and was President in 2003 and is currently Junior Vice President of the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons. In 2003 Sue set up her practice Balanced Being that has homeopathy as the core philosophy of the practice which treats both animals and humans.
Further Information
Please contact Dr Douglas Wilson
Tel 08 8338 0005
douglaswilson@ozemail.com.au