The Professional Program

Starting in October 2007

Teleosis School of Homeopathy invites you to join us for our two-year Professional Program, the foundation for a professional practice of homeopathy. We believe that homeopathy has the potential to transform health care, based on its safety, effectiveness, the low cost of its remedies, and its support for overall mental and emotional as well as physical health.

The program is designed for health care professionals wishing to incorporate homeopathy into their existing practice. In addition, it will provide a solid beginning for anyone intending to practice homeopathy fulltime.

The first year of the program includes many practical applications of homeopathy for acute conditions. It also provides an introduction to chronic prescribing, which takes longer to master because it is more subtle, complex and individualized.

Our goal for the first year of study is that participants will be able to:

• use homeopathic remedies to treat acute conditions for themselves, family members and friends; and for clients as well, depending on their licensure
• understand a healing paradigm which sheds light on many ills of our modern society, including the rapid increase in ADHD, cancer and many auto-immune disorders
• gain a deeper understanding of the mind-body connection
• identify many of the common constitutional remedy types in homeopathy, recognize friends and colleagues among these types, and recommend ways they can strengthen themselves constitutionally with homeopathy
• conduct an initial homeopathic interview of a patient with a chronic illness, assess the information gathered, perform a basic homeopathic analysis, determine an appropriate remedy and potency (in simple cases), and assess the results of the first prescription.
  

At the end of the two-year program, participants will have a solid foundation in chronic prescribing. Health care practitioners will be able to identify good candidates for homeopathy among their existing clients and treat many of them successfully using the remedies taught in the first two years.

The Professional Program is the first of two programs, each lasting two years, and each of which can be taken separately. The primary goal of the Professional Program is for health care practitioners in other fields (physicians, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, acupuncturists, etc.) to be able to identify patients in their practice who could benefit from homeopathy and in most cases find a remedy which would be helpful to them. The practitioner would also be able to identify other clients who would benefit from referral to a fulltime homeopath.

Two years of study is not sufficient, however, for anyone planning to open a practice in which homeopathy is their only or primary modality. At least two more years of study is necessary, and Teleosis provides this through the Clinical Supervision Program. This program offers an opportunity for students to interview clients, analyse their cases, and recommend a remedy, all under professional supervision. As such, it is one of the very few clinical supervision programs in the country. It is the only one we know of in which the student makes the choice of remedy and takes responsibility for following up with the patient and managing the case (all with appropriate oversight to protect both patient and student). The Clinical Supervision Program also extends the study of homeopathic remedies, research and philosophy even further than the Professional Program.

Some students are satisfied with the level of homeopathy they acquire in the first two years at Teleosis; others want to continue for the second two years in the clinic. Still others join Teleosis for the Clinical Program after doing their first two years of study at other schools.

Professional Program Curriculum

Remedies for Acute Conditions*
The class introduces students to the most commonly used homeopathic remedies for frequently encountered acute conditions. Topics covered include first aid, colds and flu, sinusitis and sore throats, diarrhea and other travelers’ ailments, sports injuries, urinary tract infections, menstrual cramps, ear infections and acute childhood diseases. Acute mental/emotional states will also be addressed, including sudden grief, shock, situational anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and mental fatigue from over–studying. Practical guidelines will be given for using remedies commonly available in health food stores. Students will be encouraged to practice on themselves and family members, and health care practitioners will immediately be able to implement what they have learned in their practice.

Acute Case Taking
Interviewing a patient with an acute condition often requires gathering information about the whole person, including the patient’s mental/emotional state. Classroom activities provide students with ample opportunity to practice casetaking skills, including observation and listening skills, in a safe and enjoyable environment.

Constitutional Remedies (Polycrests)
Homeopathic remedies can be viewed not only as cures for specific conditions but also as personality types. Learning to recognize these personality types among one’s family, friends and co-workers can provide deep insight into their nature and motivations. Like a great chord in music, these personality types play out not only on the mental and emotional planes but also in the person’s physical body. Knowing someone’s constitutional type provides a major clue as to areas where they may need strengthening, both physically and emotionally. It can often guide in finding helpful remedies both to strengthen them constitutionally and to treat them if they become sick. Students (especially those with an interest or training in psychology) often find this window into human nature to be the most fascinating and fruitful area of homeopathic study.

Introduction to the Organon
The Organon is the summation of the life work of Samuel Hahnemann, the visionary genius who developed homeopathy in early 19th century Germany. Hahnemann anticipated microbiology decades before Pasteur, psychology decades before Freud, and many of the issues confronting modern homeopaths a century before we were born. The Organon begins with a clarion challenge: “The physician’s highest and only calling is … to cure … The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle, and permanent restoration of health.” Hahnemann proceeds to outline a system of healing which can indeed bring about rapid, gentle and permanent cure even in conditions Western medicine considers incurable. This course introduces some of Hahnemann’s basic concepts, including the principles of cure, an understanding of disease, and the nature of homeopathic medicines.

Introduction to Miasms
This class introduces students to Hahnemann’s concept of miasms, or inherited energetic patterns of disease. Homeopathy has a much broader understanding of inherited diseases than conventional medicine does, perceiving large categories of disease conditions as passed down in families together with specific behavioral tendencies and psychological states. For nearly 200 years, homeopathy has been able to relieve these miasms in individual patients and prevent them from being passed down to the next generation. A knowledge of miasms is important not only for resolving many of the chronic cases addressed in the second year, it is also helpful for understanding disease patterns in our society and why chronic diseases seem to be increasing.

Provings and Pharmacy
By making a remedy in class, students will experience first hand how homeopathic remedies are diluted to the point that no molecules of the original substance remain. They will then have the opportunity to take the remedy and observe and record how it affects them,
comparing notes with classmates, in the classic style of a homeopathic proving.

Case Analysis
The first year of case analysis introduces students to a variety of approaches, including classic repertorization, recognizing keynotes of remedies, perceiving the essence of the case, and performing a miasmatic analysis. Hahnemann’s differentiation between common symptoms and characteristic symptoms will also be considered. Techniques for assessing the strength of the Vital Force, the sensitivity of the patient, and the appropriate potency will be addressed. Through examination of paper cases and video cases, students will be expected to become skilled in the use of these types of analysis.

Case Management
The object of this class is to take the student from the initial first prescription to conclusion of the first follow-up. Different scenarios for possible outcomes from the first prescription will be considered. Aggravations, antidotes and adjustments in potency will be discussed.

Personal Development
Self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-observation are an important part of the homeopathic process, whether as a patient or as a practitioner. Students are encouraged to explore their own reactions to homeopathic philosophy and to the homeopathic experience, for example in prescribing remedies for others and taking remedies themselves. Guided meditations and self-awareness exercises in class will be complemented by written assignments involving self-reflection.