Why I became a homeopath

The first time I remember homeopathy entering my world was as a 20-year-old student at Birmingham University. I was in the middle of an experiment and someone in the lab started talking about it. Without even looking up, I remember joining in the general mockery.

As a group of biological scientists we thought we knew what the human body was all about, and with all the arrogance of youth we spoke with total authority. I try to always remember that there was a time when homeopathy seemed ridiculous to me, simply because everything I had learned up to that point told me it was impossible.

There were many small steps on my journey from sceptic to homeopath, but experiencing the limitations of conventional medicine and then seeing homeopathy work for myself were key factors. It properly came into my life at a fateful dinner party. A woman I had known since I was a child suddenly told us that she’d been to see a homeopath. I nearly choked on my dinner in disgust, but I was curious because it seemed out of character for her. She’d been suffering with what she referred to as ‘low-grade septicaemia’. After many months of treatment with antibiotics she had been discharged and told that despite still feeling ill, there was nothing more that could be done. She said she’d seen a homeopath to stop her daughter nagging, but had felt better within days, and by the second appointment she was 70 per cent better.

I still wasn’t convinced, but it was enough to make me feel that if there was even the remotest possibility that this stuff really worked, I had to find out more. I was about to start a PhD in neuroscience but ended up swapping this for the full-time course at the College of Homeopathy. Any doubts I still had were finally silenced when I saw homeopathy work on my mother’s cat, who’s severe chronic eye infection had failed to respond to months of treatment from a series of vets. What impressed me most was that the cure, achieved by a single inexpensive tablet in a matter of days, proved to be permanent. I knew I’d found my vocation.

The turning point for me was when a friend suffered an allergic reaction to my perfume and I was amazed when she quickly responded to the drops her homeopath had given her. All the symptoms disappeared and without any of the sedative side effects of the antihistamines then available. At the time, I was on an exchange visit to Austin hospital in Melbourne, while running the Welsh Drug Information Service in Cardiff (which encouraged the rational prescribing of drugs by providing evaluated information to doctors and nurses)

When I returned to Wales, I decided to find out more about this form of medicine that I had previously been so sceptical about, eventually deciding to train. I was concerned that while modern medicine was becoming ever more proficient at detecting abnormalities at the genetic, biochemic and cellular level, it had no coherent underlying philosophy concerning health and the real human causes of disease.

I graduated from the School of Homeopathy, Devon in 1985, and set up my practice in Cardiff. My background in pharmacy has been very useful to me as a homeopath and as a founder member of the government’s Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products.

My first encounter with homeopathy was profound. I had arthritis in my early 20’s which had not responded to any conventional medical treatment. I was introduced to a wonderful naturopath in South Africa (where I was studying)who used a combination of homeopathy, osteopathy and a raw food diet, and eight months later I had no trace of arthritis.

Eight years later, I was about to train in clinical psychology when I changed my mind and enrolled at the London College of Homeopathy.

After qualifying, I became became involved with the team at the Active Birth Centre and after a few years was contacted by the visionary gynaecologist and obstetrician Yehudi Gordon, to join his team at his clinic Viveka. It’s a very special place – a fully integrated health-care centre. I am passionate about working in an integrated way as I feel that the families that we see are supported by a number of disciplines that truly cater for their individual needs. For me, practising homeopathy is a true privilege – to listen to people’s life stories in trust – what a joy!