Self awareness and reflection

There are opportunities to work in pairs and threes and larger discussion groups to explore the dynamics of practice. This helps us to become aware of our own position, prejudice and the areas we need to develop personally to enable us to become effective practitioners.

This part of the programme starts in year one, and is developed much more in years two and three as students prepare for and start on their "own case" work. Reflection on learning and development is encouraged from the beginning and is part of the assessment process at every point of contact with patients.

Working as a homoeopath involves all aspects of your being. Personal development is therefore viewed as an ongoing process. Embarking on a course to become a homoeopath is to begin a transformation of the way you perceive, think and relate. Your spirit, values and feelings are crucial because your healing work involves you in touching all these levels of peoples' lives.

The skills being developed in this area are self-reflection, careful observation and aspiring to become free from prejudice.

In the safe, confidential and mutually-supportive environment of the year group, students develop their practice of active listening, appropriate response and self-observation, which form the basis of the "case taking" role of the homoeopath. The diagnosis we make is individualised to each particular patient. This makes our treatment and advice much more effective. It also respects the uniqueness of each individual. It means that each person we treat is our teacher, offering us new insights into the richness and diversity of our healing art.

Exploring our own nature makes us more self-aware; self-awareness is necessary for clearly perceiving the patient and for facilitating the creation of the "sacred space" in the consultation, within which healing can begin.