CPE – Is It A Bit Suss?

Today I am prompted to write about something that is supposed to be all about keeping the “highest possible professional standards” in natural therapy. I am talking about Continuing Practitioner Education – CPE. Many of our associations will not allow you to remain registered with them unless you complete a certain amount of CPE point or hours to prove you are staying in touch with the latest trends etc within your specific field of expertise.

Whilst I agree with this in theory I have a problem with it in practice. You see, most of us are busy people working with clients/patients everyday. Surely if you are actually practicing each day you are already continuing your education and practical knowledge of your fields? To then take a 2 days or whatever away from your practice to attend a seminar or course is a disruption to business that most of us can ill afford. I also take exception to the fact that rarely are these courses that attract CPE point cheap…another cost. Finally I have found personally that most of these seminars and courses that I have attended are rehashing the same old stuff but in a new format.

Now call me cynical but this is all starting to look like a nice big money generating exercise where we, the practitioner, are once again slugged for wanting to help people for a living! We can not operate without insurance, we can not operate without membership to an association of some kind. In order to keep these two thing we must do these CPE courses etc….when exactly do we benefit from this? I read daily as part of my profession and for my own knowledge..surely so do most others practitioners. I think this whole exercise is all about making money. In fact most of the “courses” I see offered are nicely packaged product flogging opportunities.

Here’s my challenge to ALL associations. If you want us to do CPE, give us a discount at the very least on our membership fees, better still cover up to 50% of all costs of CPE courses and seminars…then it is really about maintaining professional standards and NOT just profiteerring! Fortunately I am a member of an association that is a little more enlightened and leaves CPE up to the discretion of the practitioner.

This industry is in real danger of becoming a joke due to this type of money focused conduct. I mean let’s face it folks, the main reason we as professionals join, is because we must have insurance to practice…not to mention if you wish to offer health fund rebates..most practitioners I know hardly bother as not many people are with a fund that offers much of a rebate if any at their affordable level of cover…but that is a whole other gripe.

Seriously, what do these associations do other than that for you on a practical level? A web listing…big deal..no guarentee of clients coming to you. Representation…where, for what? So far all the lobbying for recognition has seen the practitioner have a harder time doing their job not an easier one. Insurance is about all they are good for. The natural health industry attracts some of the longest courses to study ( too long in some cases – if it takes you 2-3 years to learn to massage – you’re stupid! People have been massaging each other for centuries without pieces of paper – why now is it a 2-3 year diploma??? Me thinks MONEY! You should be competent in massaging someone within 1 year. I have been masaging for over ten years and I have taught “greenies” within 2 hours how to relieve tension.) and the largest fees for these courses. We invest thousands of dollars only to find we are worth $25-35/hour for a massage therapist or $22-30/hour for a naturopath in a healthfood store or pharmacy! This is laughable! An unskilled labourer can do a 1 day electrical saftey course, walk away with a certificate and ID and walk onto a minesite and earn $4000.00 per week testing and tagging electrical cables and appliances without EVER having had ANY trade experience!!! Something seem wrong there to you??? Working for yourself as a natural therapist is NOT easy. I know many who have had practices and closed them after a period of 1-3 years due to the expenses involved and unreliability of the clientelle. Why would they feel good about extra money going out the window each year to “stay updated”? We all get the advertising garb each month from our respective suppliers, we know what is out there, we read the journals anyway..why the points system? To make us look legitimate to the medical profession? Who cares? Natural therapies has existed for eons…and it will continue to regardless of whatever idiotic legislation is in place…start making it about the practitioner!

Our associations and educational facilities need to take a long look at themselves and start to see it from the practitioners point of view. Enough with the money grabbing and let’s get on with the work already! Enough about making it hard for us to practice and start helping us get in front for once! No more buddy buddy relationships between this school and these associations and the whole accreditation scam…and it is a scam. There are plenty of excellent non accredited courses out there and practitioners and in most cases these praccys are smarter and more dedicated than the others…argue if you like but that is what I have found.

Who else out there feels this way and has had enough of this happening? Feel free to comment.

Have a great day!

Craig Hitchens. Bioenergetics Naturopath

Know Your Probiotics

Greetings all.

With gastrointestinal disorders on the increase, I though it was time to write a little about a popular treatment option now used regularly that is probiotics. Probiotics have been used for hundreds of years to treat a range of Gastrointestinal Tract ( GIT) conditions. Current research is focused on the different action of each probiotic that is commonly found in most preparations sold. Knowing the quality of your probiotics, how they work and how they affect GIT can dramatically improve their effectiveness in your treatment protocol.

Correct Probiotic Strain For Condition

Each probiotic has a slightly action within the body. Below are some common probiotic strain and their respective functions.

Lactobacillus acidophilus

This is a strong immunomodulator. It assists in improving lactose tolerance and is effective in preventing adhesion of Salmonela cholerasuis, S. Dysentry and E.Coli bacteria to the intestinal wall theyby preventing infection. It assists in reducing diarrrheoa associated with H.Pylori andtibiotic treatment. It may also assist in preventing H.Pylor infection and Candida over growth.

Bifidobacterium bifidum

This is also a powerful immunomodulator and improves T-cell immunity in the gut. It decreases gastric inflammation and improves gastric mucosa. It is one of the predominant bacteria found in breast milk.

Lactobacillus rhammmosus

This has been shown in many studies to have an anti-allergy effect. It is anti-inflammatory and has been shown to have a positive effect on allergic inflammation including atopic eczma, allergic rhinitis and asthma. L.rhammosus may also improve the composition of the breast milk and reduce risk of infants inheriting allergic conditions from the mother. It is also useful for treating viral gastroenteritis.

Bifidobacterium longum

This is effective in preventinf S.cholerasuis and E.coli adhering to the intestinal wall, preventing infection and is one of the most common bacteria found in breast milk. It also assists in alleviating symptoms of lactose intolerances. Studies have shown that it has a powerful effect on the immune system. It stimulates cell mediated immunity and supresses inflammation of the intestinal epithelial cells.

Saccharomyces boulardii

This is technically a yeast yet is still acts as a probiotic and is iseful in the treatment of most diarrhoeal conditions including antibiotic associated diarrhoea, antibiotic treatment of H.Pylori, travellers diarrhoea, diarrhoea associated with IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome) and clostridium difficile disease. It has been shown to increase T-helper cells and has an anti-inflammatory action in the gut. It may also assist in maintaining the remission state of Crohn’s disease.

When choosing a probiotic products look for probiotics NOT cultured on dairy or for NON-DAIRY probiotics. This helps to rule out any further inflammation when using these to reduce inflammation conditions in the GIT. Also look for products that are stable at ROOM temperature and that do not need to be constantly cooled.

Hope this has helped you to get a better picture of what these little critters do and help with and aids you in choosing a more useful product.

Best of health to you.

Craig Hitchens. Dip. HSc., Med.H., Adv.Couns, S.H., Reflexology, NESCP, ATFTCP.

NES & Healing

Greetings to everyone.

Today I am writing about the NES system and again why it is a superior method of natural health therapy, but the difference is today, I am going to focus on one particular aspect of the NES therapy that I feel is a very distinctive and important aspect as it surpasses and will in fact assist most any other kind of natural therapy.

Now before I go any further you need to know what an “energetic driver” is in the context of NES therapy. An energetic driver energizes the human body field and promotes correct organ level activity and promotes detoxification if needed. There are 14 of these at present in NES therapy and they correspond with various bodily areas. Of these drivers we are going to have a small look at “Source Driver” which relates to the concept of source energy or “Yuan Qi” in Chinese Medicine. This is the main source energy of life and drives all functions within the Human Body Field (HBF) and the body, it is needed in biochemical reactions and so on.

Now that you have a general understanding of this I am going to show you why this is important. You see without enough “source” energy present, the body and Human Body Field (HBF) is unable to make corrections and thus bring about healing at any level. Why is this important..I would have though that obvious but for the sake of argument consider this scenario.

Have you been to a Naturopath or Homeopath and been given some remedies for your poor health only to find they have a limited effect or in some cases have little effect at all? Or, found that your recovery is long and very slow? Yes I think we have all experienced that..yet the practitioner knows that the protocol they gave you should have worked but yet it did not. So why did this not work? In my time working with NES I have seen this proven time and again anecdotally; there was not enough source energy present for the HBF or body to make the corrections and thus heal. All the herbs, supplements, homeopathic medicines under the sun are worthless unless there is enough source energy present for the system to self correct, this is after all the premise that most natural therapies work from, allowing the body to use it’s own natural self correction mechanisms…trouble is if there is not enough source energy, then we have limited effectiveness.

Now back to NES. You see in the NES scanning reports the very first area we come to in the “Drivers” dept. is “Source” driver. This amazing system not only gives us a very accurate reading of the level of source energy in the HBF, it supplies us then with a preparation to replenish this depleted source energy. This is the very imputes for healing needed by most every other method of natural healing! Yet none of them can tell you with the accuracy of NES just how much the body needs and whether it needs it at all to facilitate healing.

Now here we have a very powerful and superior tool and therapy method for doing what Naturopathy claims to be all about, letting the body correct itself, yet naturopathy as we currently know it has no tool to measure the very “source” energy that governs this process….until now. Some naturopaths even question whether this “energetic” component is even real! So now we see the client coming to us getting scanned and straight away we know whether they are in need of this source driver in order to be able to begin to heal. This also adds much worth to herbal medicines, homepathic remedies etc as it helps these preparations work to their fullest potential by providing source energy needed for the biochemical mechanisms of healing that are present naturally in the body to go ahead and do their thing…we see a more efficient healing process and a much shorter recovery time. This is what I have been noticing in my work with NES and particularly when I combine it with herbal medicine or nutritional approaches.

Source driver is but one small aspect of this amazing system but in my personal view, a very important aspect and not fully appreciated by some. Without it, nothing much is going to happen..or what does will leave you drained and tired.  NES therapy is not only helping me heal my patients faster and more completely, it saves them money in the longer term as they generally tend to need less ongoing supplementation etc to stay on top of the problems, this is something all my clients say makes them feel they can trust me and what I do and what sees them refer others and return should they need to. Once the problem affecting the HBF is corrected, is is a fairly permanent fix which is what people are after generally.

To anyone reading this whether you are a health practitioner or a person looking for something to assist with your wellbeing, I strongly urge you to take a serious look at this therapy. It is the future of natural health care in my opinion and I am seeing this proven before my very eyes each day with my clients, it goes beyond anything else available at this time to very source of the problem and corrects it.

To your ongoing great health!

Craig Hitchens. – Dip. HSc.(Life Science), Med.H., S.H., Adv.Couns., Reflexology, NESCP, ATFTCP