Homeopathy is a form of holistic medicine used by over 200 million people worldwide for both acute and chronic conditions.

Homeopathy treats each person as a unique individual with the aim of stimulating their own natural healing ability. A homeopath selects the most appropriate medicine based on the individual’s specific symptoms and personal level of health.

Many European countries have integrated homeopathy into their healthcare systems, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and Portugal. In the UK homeopathy has been available on the NHS since the health service was founded in 1948.

Homeopathy is based on the principle of “like treats like” – in other words, a substance taken in small amounts will treat the same symptoms that it would cause if it were taken in large amounts.

This idea dates back to Hippocrates (460-377BC), who also thought that symptoms specific to an individual should be taken into account before making a diagnosis. This is also an important principle of homeopathy, where an individual’s unique symptoms are important in distinguishing the correct medicine.

It was in the late 18th century that the idea of “like treats like” re-emerged, when the German physician and scientist Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) developed the system of medicine that we know as homeopathy. As a doctor of that period, he was dissatisfied with the conventional medical practices of his day.

Blood-letting, purging and giving patients large doses of toxic materials such as arsenic and lead were commonplace. Hahnemann disagreed with these harsh methods. He investigated the effects of various medicinal substances on himself and other healthy volunteers and found that an illness could be treated with a very small amount of a substance that, in larger quantities, could cause that illness.

Homeopathic medicines very rarely cause side-effects and are perfectly safe to use for babies, children and pregnant or breastfeeding women, who are under the supervision of a medically-qualified practitioner.

Today the medicines are licensed by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority).

As a guide, your first appointment will take up to an hour and a quarter, with follow-up appointments lasting around 30-45 minutes.