About Project ›SOL‹
Developed by Barry Burton as a fourth year project at the Welsh School of Homeopathy, Project ›SOL‹ was born from a comment by a health visitor at a lecture on homeopathy and post-natal care;
"It's all very well saying everyone should have homeopathy - three-quarters of the people that I see couldn't afford it, let alone know what it is!"
The challenge was simple: to set up the project responding to just what she had said.
Making Homeopathy Accessible
Raising Awareness of Health Gains
Training and Support for Volunteers
Support for Students and Newly Qualified Homoepaths
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Future
FundraisingMaking Homeopathy More Accessible
Our policy is to work alongside local projects whose client base remit includes the socially excluded and financially disadvantaged people of Swansea. This means we are continually working in partnership with community development workers, the local health group, community psychiatric nurses, social workers, project support workers, probation workers and GP's. We have now up and running weekly and bi-weekly Homeopathy clinics in drug and alcohol projects, family centres, homeless projects, mental health drop-in centres and community centres for the general public. All our Homeopaths offer their time freely and receive travelling and any other out-of-pocket expenses.
Raising Awareness of the Health Gain Benefits of Homeopathy
An ongoing priority of Project ›SOL‹ is to promote Homeopathy as a beneficial complementary medicine to all health care professionals and their respective client base. We give talks to groups from the voluntary and statutory sector. These include carers' associations, mental health, drugs projects, hospital social workers, the general public, community health teams, complementary therapy colleges and Homeopathy schools.
Training and Support for ›SOL‹ Volunteers
We provide ongoing training in the following:- Supervisory skills to assist up-and-coming Homeopathy students; Australian Bush Flower Remedies; Counselling skills; Children with Behavioural Problems and Working within Drugs Projects. We will be developing new training courses in the future. All our Homeopaths have compulsory monthly supervision and gain valuable experience and support from the close network of people that ›SOL‹ has created.
Support for Students and Newly Qualified Homeopaths
Students are welcome to sit in with our Homeopaths to take the acute and chronic cases needed for their professional qualification. As a newly-qualified Homeopath (while you are setting up your own private practice) ›SOL‹ gives you a chance to begin practicing from day one with no overheads and no out-of-pocket expenses - just patients already booked in and very grateful to see you. When you qualify the diploma says you are a Homeopath - working for Project ›SOL‹ makes you feel like one.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The ongoing monitoring and evaluation of Project ›SOL‹ helps us to make sure that we achieve our aims and objectives and it helps with applications for further funding. It also says that as an organisation we take the work and ourselves seriously. It is our intention to publish these results and to distribute them amongst health care professionals and the public, further raising the awareness of Homeopathy. This is good for all Homeopaths.
Future
It is our vision to increase the number of clinics, to forge further links with health care professionals, to pay Homeopaths for their time and to share the knowledge gained from our work via training courses with other Homeopaths and health care professionals. We have also had many enquiries from various groups of Homeopaths wishing to start up similar projects in their area, and Project ›SOL‹ will give as much advice and tips on starting out as we can.
Fundraising
Fundraising events and funding applications are an ongoing and necessary part of the work that we do. To date we have gratefully received funding from the Community Fund, The Tudor Trust, the Local Health Group (Swansea), The Swansea Millennium Award Scheme and the Lloyds TSB Foundation. We also raise money by way of a membership scheme and always appreciate donations.
Barry Burton, M.A.R.H, L.W.S.H (Co-ordinator),
Project ›SOL‹,
Unit 6, Rainbow Business Park, Phoenix Way, Enterprise Park, Swansea SA7 9EH
Tel/Fax: (01792) 776633 or email: solhomeopathy@yahoo.co.ukUseful links
| Welsh School of Homeopathy | British Homeopathic Library | Society of Homeopaths | Alliance of Registered Homeopaths | Faculty of Homeopathy |