Editor’s note: The following article was previously published in One Earth Magazine Issue No. 15, Autumn 1994. 

 

In 1992 Holistic Health, a Department of the Foundation, had plans to build a health centre in the grounds of Minton House [see One Earth 6]. Fierce opposi­tion from local residents led to these plans being withdrawn. Nevertheless, the idea of expand­ing the vision for holistic health care in the local area and making it more available to the general public was not forsaken. In the spring of this year; the former Department, now Holistic Health Care Ltd., a company with chari­table status limited by guarantee, bought a house in Forres and set up HealthWorks: the Forres Centre for Holistic Health Care which opened its doors to the public on 1 June this year.

Just off  Forres (pop. c 14,000) High Street, 5 Bank Lane, an attractive, double-fronted stone house, was formerly the home and busy practice of Gordon Askew, manipulative  physiotherapist.  Gordon is one of seven partners in the new HealthWorks group prac­tice, which includes Liesel Rodde (Shiatsu), Courtenay Young (Psychotherapy) Vivien Maule-Aikman (Massage and Homoeopathy), Juli Salt (Psychosynthesis Counselling), June Butlin (Nutritional Medicine and Aromatherapy) and last but not least, Cornelia Fellner, Medical Doctor, holistic medical practitioner and driving force behind the whole venture. She is usually the first person to see new clients and provides the link for those for whom coming to the centre is a first step beyond the ‘safety’ of the more familiar General Practitioner’s office.

All the practitioners are trained and insured by the governing body of their individual disciplines, which is essential for developing links with the local National Health Service (NHS) fundhold­ing practice, who very rightly insist on fully qualified and insured practitioners if they are to refer their patients to them.

The location on a quiet pedestrian lane is convenient for car parking, bus­-stop, prescribing chemists and health food shop. This, together with the fact that people are already used t0 coming to the premises for healing purposes, makes this building an ideal place to start a holistic health centre.

A vital part of  the vision for HealthWorks is to creale somewhere truly holistic, treating all sections of society. This presents some very real challenges. The population for the centre comprises several distinct groups: the local residents, the staff and families of the RAF at Kinloss (pop. c7,000), and members and guests of the Findhorn Foundation and its wider community, each with its differing needs and outlooks. There is also quite a range of income, often quite low, as there is little heavy industry in the area and the unemployment rate is higher than the national average. Another challenge is the division between orthodox and complementary medicine.

These apparent obstacles provide the centre with some exciting opportunities. Our conference, ‘Medical Marriage’, in May did much to open up the dialogue between orthodox and complementary practitioners and Dr Cornelia Fellner has actively been working to build bridges between the local NHS practice and her private holistic medical practice over the last 4 years. Plans are afoot to set up a pilot scheme with the Forres Health Centre to refer patients to HealthWorks on the NHS. These were initiated by partner Dr Maggy Sabiston, who was inspired by the conference to take practical steps towards co-operation between the two health centres. Under this scheme, complementary therapies offered at HealthWorks will be available ‘on prescription’ to eligible patients. Such co-operative ventures are likely to increase as more changes are brought about in the NHS. Certainly, public awareness of complementary therapies is steadily increasing and patients are pressing harder for different solutions, especially to chronic and emotional problems. The beauty of the practice at HealthWorks is that it is a group practice where practitioners actively develop an understanding of each others’ skills and share cases, as well as giving each other peer support and supervision. As such, the centre provides a model of a holistic approach to health and work.

A fundraising campaign is being developed by HealthWorks manager Kerrie Christie and Sussex-based man­agement  consultant Ronan Tyer, who intend to raise £50,000 by 26 Oct0ber 1994. The intention is to raise the capi­tal to clear the purchasing and setting up costs of the Centre, thereby releasing money to be channelled into other pro­jects which the Centre would like to set up, such as subsidised child clinics and a bursary fund for treatments and educa­tion for those on a low income.

 

Holistic Health Care Ltd also operates The Findhorn Bay Holistic Health Centre, a Community Health Scheme and offers workshops and conferences through its Educational Programme.

Katie Lloyd is a Director of the company and Co­-ordinator of Education and Public Relations. She has been with the project since its early days in 1990.