History

The Natural Health Clinic, the first multi disciplinary centre for Natural Medicine in England, was opened in 1981 by Annie du Plessis and Anthony Harrison. The Clinic was founded at a time when Complementary and Alternative medicine was far from commonplace and was quickly a pioneering centre for Natural medicine. In bringing together many different complementary therapies for a multi disciplinary and integrated approach, the clinic has always aimed to be truly wholistic and has helped thousands of people over the years.

When the clinic started over 30 years ago, the different cultural strands were quite separate and even now from the outside they can appear as a bewildering array of ideas and methods. One of the main aims of the clinic was to attempt to weave these strands into an integrated system of alternative medicine where the strengths of each could be used in combination. This process has involved several stages:

1: Training and Translation

Medicine law in the UK has enabled the traditional ideas from other cultures to be taught and practiced outside the medical profession. Experienced teachers have been able to come from abroad and translate the theory and practice of their medicine. Colleges offering high level training has flourished making the UK the leading country in Europe for training.

2: Experience and sharing

After gaining some experience in a single therapy, practitioners are then ready to work with other therapists to discuss cases and learn other diagnostic skills. This process takes place slowly and patterns begin to emerge as to when to use a particular therapy and which conditions respond best to combined therapy. There are no books to follow.

3: Team Building and Integration

Once the therapists are fully aware on how to combine therapies and have enough knowledge on the roles of the therapies, then a team is formed and the patient is supported not just by a single therapy but by a net of integrated treatment.

The strengths of orthodox western diagnosis and treatment is not excluded from the integrated approach.