ANNUAL CHC LETTER
CHC PRESIDENT SHEETAL TIWARI
Dear CHC Community,
With a worldwide pandemic, 2020 was quite an unprecedented year. It was encouraging to see the global homeopathic community exchange ideas, strategies and create research regarding COVID-19. As the world went virtual, the CHC adapted too, offering the exam remotely proctored for the first time. Luckily, as a virtual organization, we had many processes already in place to meet the needs of our certificants.
We want to congratulate the 46 new CCH certificants who certified during 2020. They preserved even in challenging times to get certified. The entire community acknowledges your efforts!
We also want to extend a special thanks to CCH certificants who continuously uphold the professional homeopathy vision by annually recertifying their CCH credential.
This is the time of year when we reflect on the past and plan for the coming year. We will highlight some of our accomplishments in 2020 and share some of our 2021 objectives.
2020 Highlights
There are a lot of moving parts to make the CHC run smoothly. This year we again focused on our processes and on what we know best—certification and recertification. Here is a short list of accomplishments organized by committee:
Exam Committee
We completed another Job Analysis which is recommended every 5-7 years according to best practices. A big thank you to the Job Analysis Committee for their dedication to this lengthy process. Based on the survey results from the community, there will be some slight changes to the domains in the exam in October. Stay tuned to hear more next year. As mentioned, due to COVID-19, we offered the exam remotely proctored for the first time. We are assessing this option for the future.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee
This year, the CHC switched to a new database, Certemy. Thank you all for your patience and perseverance in learning a new system. We have identified some common pitfalls and will be holding training in the coming year about how to make recertification easier and to clarify CEU requirements early in the year to avoid confusion during recertification time. To date, almost 80% of CCHs have recertified.
PR/Marketing Committee
To keep the CHC community in the know, we sent out monthly Communiqués and special focus email blasts to provide relevant, timely updates. This year’s Communiques highlighted Homeopathy in Action and various ways that CCHs are moving their practice outside of their office through provings, advocacy efforts, product development, books and more. Many wonderful people in our community are expanding the role of homeopathy outside of solely being a practitioner
At the virtual Joint American Homeopathy Conference (JAHC), we had an interactive scavenger hunt and gave a presentation on Homeopathy in Action.
Are you following the CHC on Social Media? We have a dedicated volunteer social media team within the PR committee who keeps us active on Facebook, Instagram , Twitter and LinkedIn. Be sure to like, follow and share to keep homeopathy visible.
Advocacy
There are a lot of meetings to attend for the CHC! We continued to be a Partner in Health at the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC). We also continue to participate in the Advocacy Homeopathy Working Group, Homeopathy Consumer Council and the Homeopathy Action Alliance. We also had a representative at the International Council for Homeopathy quarterly meetings where strategies were shared from around
the globe about COVID-19.
Finance/Fundraising
We received over $7,000 this year from generous community donations. $2000 more than we had anticipated! These funds will help cover technology upgrades to the Certemy system.
Board of Directors
We said good-bye to a few Board of Directors who had served their terms. Thank you to Samantha Conboy, President, Noel Peterson, Vice President, Hima Bindu Kondapalli, Treasurer, public member Sharon Whitehead-van Löben Sels, Secretary and Zara Bougeois who wrote for the Communique. We thank you all for the time and energy you gave to the CHC.
We added 2 new public members who bring great energy, passion and enthusiasm as consumers of homeopathy to our Board. We have new leadership as well. Sheetal Tiwari is now CHC President. She has been on the Board of Directors since 2016 and has been involved with many of the changes that have happened over the years. As a BHMS & CCH, she offers a different perspective on homeopathy practice. Randy Fruchter is now Vice President. He has jumped in and represented the CHC well in many meetings.
Mike Swain is Chairperson of the Board as well as Interim Treasurer. He brings new leadership and passion to the role. Ilana Meyers is Secretary. She has been on the Board since 2017. Ilana offers historical perspective and has been involved with the Exam Committee for several years. Tara Framer is new to the board and is serving as Assistant Secretary. Her organization and technology skills are highly valued by the Board.
Office
The office has seen some changes as well. Tami Herndon did a great job getting us organized and on track. She has now shifted to the National Center for Homeopathy as their Executive Director. Recently, we hired Malissa Stawicki as our new Executive Director. She has jumped in helping out with recertification and is getting to know our organization. With her MBA in global business and extensive knowledge of integrative health care and marketing, we are excited to have her join the CHC.
Looking Ahead in 2021
2021 will be a year of visibility. We have a strategic plan put into place that includes improving the exam, expanding our reach locally with other integrative health practitioners and globally with qualified candidates, increasing our PR efforts and moving towards our vision of a healthcare system that encompasses certified classical homeopathic practitioners to be accessible to all.
As we move into 2021, here are some of our Strategic Plan objectives:
Offering Pilot Exam & Sample Exam
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As the only nationally accredited certification in North America, we see the CCH as the GOLD STANDARD in homeopathic certifications. This year we are focusing on making the exam even more rigorous and updating our tests regularly, to ensure only skilled and competent homeopaths are made available for the public. Now that the Job Analysis is complete, we plan to offer a sample test for a small fee to candidates later this year.
Promoting New Practitioner Directory
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We have an updated Practitioner Directory where consumers and integrative healthcare professionals can connect easily with you. We have expanded the search filters to include names and states where you practice and also the languages in which you can provide consultations. This new language filter helps native speakers find you. Now is the right time to complete your profile including a detailed bio of your focus in homeopathic practice and photo.
Increased PR Efforts
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With marketing and social media strategies in place, the CHC will now also serve as the platform to clearly differentiate classical homeopathy and promote certified classical homeopaths. Our amazing PR team will feature the services of Credential holders on our social media. As a Partner in Health at the IHPC, we have been asked to contribute to their database of literature that can be accessed when needed by the policy makers. We are asking for research based articles by seasoned homeopaths to be published monthly in the IHPC newsletter.
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We aim to promote Homeopathy as TOP OF MIND alternative health care modality - We at the CHC are determined to bring back the reputation Homeopathy had in the United States as an energy- based system. We aim towards Homeopathy being understood and featured in alternative health and wellness organizations, publications, and conferences with healers and clients.
Expanding our Reach
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More Certified Classical Homeopaths makes for a healthier world! We plan to investigate an alternative eligibility pathway for pre-2018 trained homeopaths as well as for qualified healthcare professionals [ MD’s, DO’s, ND’s, etc] to get certified.
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Globalization has been our long term goal and we intend to continue our focus for making our exam accessible to all homeopaths who fulfill the eligibility criteria.
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In line with our vision we look towards building a homeopathic profession that is a Sustainable Career option. We are strategizing to collect information about the areas where certified homeopaths can find jobs in community settings. By setting up an Insurance Reimbursement task force, the CHC is looking at strategies to work towards getting reimbursement for homeopathic consultations.
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We grow Together, as a community ‘ If we want to go far, we need to go Together’ For Building a strong homeopathic community, CHC will continue our collaboration and relationship-building efforts within the homeopathic and the integrative health care community both nationally and internationally. We sense a need for a Shared Strategic Plan within homeopathic organizations for advancement of the homeopathic profession.
We need your help! When you are ready and see yourself having the passion to work towards any of our dedicated goals for the year, we would love to hear from you. On behalf of the CHC Board of Directors, I wish you a healthy and happy holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Sincerely,
