About HfA

HfA started as a gathering of local colleagues in spring 2004. As our group evolved we discovered that we were all keen to make homoeopathy available to patients who would not normally have access to treatment.

In order to establish a community based homoeopathic service, and to assess the way it might benefit the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged local groups, we ran a pilot project with 5 community organisations in Hereford from April to November 2005.

The organisations who took part in this initial pilot project were :

- DASH (Herefordshire’s drug user support service)
- Herefordshire MIND (the local branch of the mental health charity)
- Hollybush Family Centre (supporting families in crisis)
- SCORE (a charity supporting clients with learning disabilities).
- West Mercia Women’s Aid (working with women and their children affected by domestic violence and abuse)

During the 6 month pilot project, 50 patients received treatment. 61% presented with a combination of anxiety, depression and stress related illness. Other specific health problems that patients sought help with included insomnia, hyperactivity, night terrors, asthma, repeated infections, bronchitis, psoriasis, schizophrenia, tinnitus, diabetes and lethargy.

In spite of the context of this project (treating patients with complex chronic health problems often exacerbated by homelessness and abuse), our results were very positive showing an improvement in the health of patients treated which appeared to be both clinically and statistically significant.

All of the community organisations worked with during the pilot project agreed that they would like to continue to provide homoeopathic treatment for their clients, and ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that they had received positive feedback from their clients about their treatment. Two of the community organisations requested that the service might extend to their clients in other parts of the county. Full results of this work are available in the Pilot Project Report.

Since completing the pilot project 3 years ago, we have continued to offer our time free of charge to a number of these community organisations in order to provide continuity of care whilst applications have been made for longer term funding to support our work.

With funding now established for the coming year, we look forward to continuing our work with West Mercia Women’s Aid and Herefordshire MIND, and we are hoping to resume our service to Hollybush Family Centre. We also hope to extend our service to cover the Hope Family Centre in Bromyard.

We welcome interaction with local homoeopathic colleges, and offer a regular sitting-in programme for homoeopathic students.