Hello again! Now that spring is in the air, we felt it was time to issue another Bulletin. We have collected a few questions and queries and as with other subjects, when one person wonders about something, there will be many others besides, so it is always a good idea to voice opinions, ask questions or comment generally so that anything you may wish to say, or information you would like to impart can be addressed and shared.
As we have said before, this is your paper and so we want you to get as much from it as you can, and because it goes out to every practitioner registered with us, it acts as a good communication tool.
So… what has been happening since we were last in touch? Let’s fill you in…
Mount Vernon
Those of you who have visited the Centre in the spring will have a visual idea of what the garden is like at the moment. All the spring flowers – primroses, tulips, bluebells and of course, forget-me-nots – are colouring the borders and all the other plants are well in bud or leaf so from now on, there will be something new blossoming each day. The cherry plum tree is always a cheery sight after a long winter – the blossom has been and gone of course, but it is always a wonderful display, and this year in particular, its pure white blossom was striking. The pond is also coming to life – the tadpoles have “hatched” and the water plants – lilies, purple loosestrife, lobelia cardinalis and mimulus – are all sprouting ready for another display in a month or so’s time. Most of you will have attended courses during the winter months when the surroundings were rather bleak, so you must come and see us during the spring or summer when there is so much more colour around the place! It really is a peaceful haven, and on a warm sunny day is a real tonic!
A taste of success
We have received a lovely report from Jill in Romford, who says:
“A lady with a child going through the ‘terrible twos’ rang me in despair for anything that would provide a miracle! The child was hyperactive, with extreme temper tantrums, jealous of other children and in great distress if his mother was even momentarily out of sight. After one week on a combination of Vervain, Impatiens, Chicory, Holly, Cherry Plum and Walnut, I was informed that the miracle had occurred! The child had started showing an improvement almost immediately, and both parents declared they could not believe what was happening before their eyes. I believe the word is spreading around the local play-group!”
This is a wonderful example of how the remedies can be of help to children who do indeed respond (usually) very quickly to the remedies. Of course, each individual child’s needs are different so they would need individual assessment to ascertain their personally suited remedies, but this combination was clearly ideal for this particular child and similar remedies might well apply to a lot of other children going through this awkward and frustrating period of development.
Thank you Jill for sharing your success!
Overcoming jet-lag
One of our practitioners, Rose, who has been living in Hong Kong recently, wrote to us with some helpful comments about her experience in overcoming jet-lag after a 16-hour flight returning from her holiday… Apparently the trip involved several stops en-route as well as passing through the various time zones. Rose mixed together Walnut (for the change in time and place) and Olive (for the dreadful tiredness) – symptoms I am sure are familiar to anyone who has been on a long-haul flight! The remedies helped, but Rose felt something was missing. She said “I tried to identify the feeling. I was just sitting, with no interest in doing anything, with a definite ‘airy-fairy’ type feeling”. Having identified the emotion, she naturally associated the appropriate remedy – Clematis – and once added to the mixture managed to overcome the jet-lag within 36 hours instead of the usual 4 days. As Rose pointed out, it is interesting to note that one of the common names for Clematis is “Traveller’s Joy”, and in her case, it most certainly was!
Renewal of registration
One or two of you have asked what happens when the first year of registration expires… As you know, your registration is valid for one year at a time, but as the year end approaches, we will write to you and invite you to renew your registration. There is a basic form to complete so that we can update our records and a nominal administration fee. We then renew your registration. This system should ensure (we hope), that the Register does not become “stale” with wrong addresses, out-of-date information and resulting inappropriate referrals! If you know that your registration is imminent and you have not received a letter, do let us know because things have, on a few occasions recently, mysteriously gone missing in the post…
Insurance
In a previous Bulletin, we have mentioned, H&L Balen, a company in Harrow, Middlesex who offer a good insurance for natural therapists. We have recently been informed that Sun Alliance also provide insurance for a range of natural therapies, including Bach, and the annual premium is about (currently) £125 a year (payable monthly if wished). Thank you Tony for the information.
Clients
Some of you will no doubt have received a number of referrals. We receive several requests from people around the country who wish to be put in touch with their local practitioner, and since the Register has been mentioned in the Bach Centre Newsletter, several more referrals have been made. However, some of you, we know, have received very few, and it would seem that different areas of the country have varying degrees of need, so practitioners living in some areas will find the demand greater than those living in other areas. In some places, even the local need (apart from the clients we come into contact with here) is slack. Perhaps we should not complain – it does, at least, suggest that you have a happy community! Sometimes, however, it may simply be that those who do need help, simply do not know that you exist… We felt, therefore, that perhaps a few words of encouragement or helpful hints might be helpful. To begin with, we know that because it has always been our policy at Mount Vernon not to advertise, many practitioners feel that it would be out of the question to do so either. There is, however, advertising and there is advertising. We never, happily, found it necessary to advertise the remedies as such – they spoke for themselves loud and clear, and have made their own impact on communities around the world. By advertising your services as a practitioner, you are not advertising the remedies – you are simply letting people know who you are, that you are there, what you do and that you can help. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this (so long as you are not making any medical claims on behalf of the remedies themselves – and see Bulletin no. 2 for notes on the ‘legalities’ – logo, title, etc.). Perhaps a card in your local health store(s), especially if they stock remedies, or even a small advertisement in a relevant local magazine or newspaper may help. There is also a book available now called How to Get More Clients. We have not seen a copy yet, so have no idea what it is like, but in caes you are interested, it is by Val Falloon (ISBN 0 9513347 5 1), published by Brainwave, 33 Lorn Road, London SW9 OAB (071 733 7883) and costs £9.95 + £1.50 p&p.
Brandy content
Mavis from Stockport has written to us with an interesting excerpt from the BHMA’s Spring Newsletter, and since it is directly relevant to those working with Bach remedies because of their brandy content, we feel we should repeat it here for you in case you have not yet seen it:
“Herbalists need to be aware that Antabuse (disulfiram), a drug given to help alcoholics avoid drink, will react with the smallest amount of alcohol, causing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, flushing, headache and palpitations. Patients may not mention that they are taking Antabuse and would therefore get a reaction if they were given herbal tinctures which are alcohol based.”
We would therefore suggest that anyone who is helping an alcoholic or recovering alcohol should enquire whether or not the client is taking the drug Antabuse. If they are, then it would probably be wise to advise against taking the remedies orally, explaining the reasons why, and suggest that whilst they are still taking Antabuse, it would be more appropriate to “take” the remedies by applying them externally to pulse points. We have previously mentioned that adding the remedy drops to hot liquid would cause the alcohol content to evaporate – something which is often an aswer to the alcohol problem for most clients – and of course this method can be explained to a client taking Antabuse, but one should still, nevertheless, explain that the remedies do contain brandy. Again perhaps some sort of consent might be obtained if necessary.
Thank you Mavis for bringing this to our attention. It is an important point and something we all need to be aware of.
Practitioner list update
We have been advised of a couple of alterations to telephone numbers and would therefore be grateful if you would amend the list of practitioners sent with the last Bulletin.
- Nanda Annall – telephone number should read: 0225 858139
- Rosemary Caldicott – telephone number should read 0799 525569 in both cases (listed under Cambridge and Saffron Walden)
- Please add Mavis de Mierre, Stockport, Cheshire, Tel. 0663 742472 to your list – unfortunately she was somehow missed from the print-out (sorry Mavis!)
Please also add the following new Bach Foundation Registered Practitioners:
- Jack Dixon, Hove, East Sussex. Tel: 0273 727329
- Lesley Tett, Oldham, Lancs. Tel: 0457 876152
- Margaret Pottinger, Bracknell, Berks. Tel: 0344 429770
There are a number of practitioners in the process of being or about to be registered, so we will provide another up-date in the next Bulletin.
Well, that wraps it up for this Bulletin. One more thing – our telephone number has been changed to a six figure number, so please dial an 8 before the number in future. We hope it has been helpful to you, and once again, do keep in touch – let us know if you have any questions, queries or anything else you would like to share with the others. In the meantime, enjoy the season, and happy holidays!
With best wishes from us all.
This archive material has been edited to remove some out-of-date advice and information.