Fast-Track Certification of experienced homeopaths

FTC is a process by which homeopaths with a minimum of five years clinical experience can avoid the need to take the first part of the certification process, the written exam.

This Fast-Track certification acknowledges that many homeopaths have the requisite experience to make the 1st step of certification unnecessary.

Fast-Track certification is a streamlined certification process for homeopathic practitioners who can validate that they have the following levels of education and experience.

  • 500 hours of homeopathic education (average of 3 years part-time education)
  • One semester or 33 hours of education in Anatomy and Physiology and also 40 hours of education in Human Pathology. (Applicants holding medical licenses from North America, but not abroad, are exempt this criteria)
  • A minimum of 5 years of professional practice (after the education has been completed).
  • A minimum of 500 new patient chronic cases and 1,000 follow-up interviews during the five years of experience. (This is verified by a notarized letter written and signed by the candidate stating the level of experienced attained-please include clinic names and phone numbers for verification if possible)

Candidates also need to conform with the following criteria

  • They need to be citizens or resident in North America (US and Canada)
  • They need to be a practitioner of classical homeopathy. (This stipulation is important as the CHC is qualified only to validate the competency of classical homeopaths. Practitioners who choose homeopathic remedies based on using other methods or who use combination remedies will not be accepted.)
  • Candidates need to have completed ALL 500 hours of training before counting their years and number of clinical cases taken.
  • Candidates who do not possess some type of medical license in North America (for example, MD, DO, ND, RN, NP, DC, etc) need to take the human sciences section of the exam after successful acceptance of cases. There is no additional fee for taking this exam.  Normal retake fees apply.

Once certified, there will be no annual renewal fee until the beginning of the next year, at which point a letter is sent out to all certificate holders.

The purpose of this Fast-Track process is to acknowledge that many practitioners, including some who have trained as homeopaths abroad have a level of experience and education that will allow them to be exempt from the 1st stage of the CHC certification process, which is the written exam. If a candidate can supply the required education and experience requirements as stated above, then the following information needs to be submitted for review. All the information, including the cases, should ideally be submitted together. However, if a candidate has any questions as to whether his/her educational and experience requirements are sufficient then this information can be submitted for review before sending in the required cases, essay and references.

  • An essay describing the nature of his/her practice, outlining his/her experience and philosophy of homeopathic practice. (This would be a minimum of two pages. This would be attached to the normal application form).
  • Two references from professional homeopaths who can vouch for the candidate’s clinical experience (ideally with dates included when the candidate was known professionally by the person writing the reference).
  • Submission of 5 chronic cases with two follow ups, taken over at least six months. (This is a current requirement for all candidates. Please see the attached “case guidelines” and “client release disclosure form” for details of how to submit cases and review the brief guidelines below)
  • An oral interview. (This consists of a 30-minute phone discussion in which the candidate and a CHC representative speak about the candidate’s practice. It is not an exam but an interview process.)

The cost of participating in Fast Track Certification will be $500, of which $100 is a non-refundable application fee. The remaining $400 will be refunded if the initial application is not accepted. Once the application is accepted and cases have been reviewed, there will be no refund, even if the cases are not accepted. The fee for resubmission of cases will be $75 per requested case. If a candidate’s cases are not accepted, the CHC will recommend whether new cases can be submitted or whether the candidate will need to take the full certification process.

All applications should submit an application form with attached documents to the CHC at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . All material needs to be sent electronically to the CHC.

The following guidelines are a summary of how the CHC committee expects cases to be presented. Cases will not be accepted if the committee determines that are not presented in such a way that the full evaluation of the candidate’s case taking and analysis skills can be assessed.

Content of Case

Choose cases with clear indications where only one remedy at a time was given with only 1-3 total remedies used in the entire case. Avoid cases where many different remedies were given over a short period of time, or the results from the remedy were unclear.

Marked Improvement

Select cases where marked, sustained, undeniable improvement was evidently attributable to successful homeopathic care and describe your assessment and analysis in paragraph format so that evaluators understand your thought process. In the follow ups, demonstrate your abilities in case management with written support and explanation for remedy choices and changes. Where applicable, identify the intensity of the original symptom, and the degree of improvement. Stay away from cases which have no concrete evidence of improvement, e.g. if the subject says he is feeling better, but there is no improvement in physical or general symptoms.

Length

Submit the relevant information from the initial case taken, including the language of the client, family history, review of general and particular symptoms. This is to demonstrate
your ability to take a thorough case. Case notes alone are not accepted. A brief summary of the case in less than one page is not acceptable.

Classical

Use cases that demonstrate the effective use of classical homeopathy, following classical homeopathic principles. Avoid cases that include non-classical approaches such as the use of combination remedies or the use of multiple remedies given at the same time, or remedies chosen without analysis matching the symptoms to known remedy. Cases that do not follow classical guidelines of one remedy at a time and working with Law of Similars will not be accepted.

Explanation

Choose cases that involve evaluation and analysis that can be clearly explained. Detailed discussion of how the practitioner thinks about the case and the remedies involved is very important. Skip cases that, though clearly successful, do not involve an explainable thought process. Cases that were determined by unexplainable intuition or serendipitous coincidence do not provide the reviewers with an opportunity to evaluate the homeopath’s skills.

Professional

Submit cases that would be suitable for publication.  This means cases must be written in complete sentences, edited for misspellings, grammar, etc.

Repertorization

Submit a repertorization covering the main elements or essence of the case, according to the analysis style you use. Specify which repertory was used. Write the rubrics with correct notation, exactly as listed in the repertory. Include the repertorization even if it did not finally lead you to the remedy. Cases that have been repertorized by hand or by computer
are equally acceptable. Don’t list the symptoms rather than a specific rubric, leaving reviewers to guess which rubric was chosen. Don’t omit the repertory section name or sub-rubric details when writing rubrics.

Materia Medica Differential

Review 2 - 5 remedy choices considered for the initial case, and show the reasoning for selection of one over another, using concrete arguments for or against each one. These should be the final, serious choices for the case. Specify the sources you used to write the
differential. Avoid cases where only one remedy was considered. Do not use opinion statements such as “I felt this remedy was the best for the case,” without supporting arguments to explain why that opinion was held.

Remedy Selection

Clearly state which remedy / potency and method of administration was finally selected, along with the date the subject took the remedy. Don’t give the remedy name without posology or date information.

Follow-Ups

Specifically identify the date of each follow-up. Include information on the status of the chief complaint, and each of the features of the case that led to the initial remedy selection as well as any new features in the case. Use a scale to rate how much better or worse each symptom is. Review the general symptoms of the case. Don’t omit the dates for each encounter. Avoid cases where there is not clear follow-up showing improvement of the important aspects of the case.