Dear CHC Community,
I am pleased to report on another outstanding year at the CHC.
This letter reveals that our organization is strategically evolving to reach new heights of excellence in certifying individuals to validate their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the homeopathic profession.
More than ever, we are energized and encouraged to continue to be the only accredited homeopathic certification program in the industry and provide our certificants increased recognition by peers and respect of colleagues in the integrative healthcare profession.
First and foremost, I would like to note that our success would not have been possible without the dedication of our generous community who volunteer for us at every step of the way, as well as strong leadership and the hard work of our small, but mighty group of board of directors and office administrator at the CHC. As this was my first term as President, I would also like to thank Past-President, Samantha Conboy and President Emeritus Ann McKay for helping us propel this organization forward.
As a new leadership on the CHC board, we welcome Jenna Dodge as our Treasurer for 2022. We also thank Mike Swain for being the interim Treasurer for 2021 and the Chairperson of the CHC board in 2022. It was hard to say goodbye to our Exam Committee Chair, Janice Doyle this year. Thank you, Janice, for the time and energy you gave to CHC.
We want to congratulate the 44 new CCH certificants who certified during 2021. The entire community acknowledges your efforts! The passing rate for our October exam was 70%.
We also want to extend a special thanks to CCH certificants who continuously uphold the professional homeopathy vision by annually recertifying their CCH credential.
As we near the close of 2021, it is time to review and reflect on the past year and to look toward the initiatives for 2022 a year that marks 30 years for the CHC as the homeopathic credentialing organization in North America, with over 1100 certificates issued.
This year our focus was on our pilot exam and preparing for reaccreditation by National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Here is a short list of accomplishments and objectives for 2022 organized by committee:
Exam Committee
The CHC Board Exam is a valid and reliable measure of an individual’s knowledge and skill in classical homeopathy required for an entry-level certified practitioner of homeopathy. It differs from the training exams in the way it is constructed. The CHC exam is created by a psychometrically validated process to meet the defined standards required by the NCCA. It took many hundreds of volunteering hours to launch our pilot exam in October 2021.
For 2022 – We will have another new version of the exam in April 2022. As we promised, we will continue to focus on making every exam rigorous and update our tests regularly, to ensure only skilled and competent homeopaths are made available for the public.
We continue to use the hybrid model of providing the option for taking the test online or at the testing centers.
Pre-Qualification Evaluation Committee
After months of planning and brainstorming, in 2021, we successfully created an eligibility option for applicants who graduated in 2019 and prior from non-ACHENA school to take our exam. The campaign was started in last week of July and we received almost 155 interests through Constant Contact.
For 2022 - From feedback we received from the community, we are excited to offer this option again for the April and October exam cycles in 2022.
Applications are due by January 31st for the April 2022 exam, and by August 31st for the October 2022 exam.
The Pre-Qualification Committee will also evaluate the transcripts for applicants applying from programs outside of the US and Canada.
Eligibility Requirements
As we continue to welcome graduates from only ACHENA schools in US and Canada to take our exam, we also updated our eligibility criteria for internationally trained graduates.
Apart from meeting the curricular requirements to take the CHC exam, we will only accept applicants from Programs outside of the US and Canada which meets one of the following:
A) The homeopathy school is approved by a foreign government’s Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, or equivalent agency.
B) The homeopathy school is approved by a private accreditation agency with standards that are comparable to those of ACHENA and are recognized for that purpose by the respective government entity.
PR/Marketing Committee
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.
At the virtual Joint American Homeopathy Conference (JAHC) it was wonderful to interact with everyone on the virtual booth. We look forward to hopefully seeing people in person in 2022.
To keep the CHC community in the know, we sent out monthly Communiqués and special focus email blasts to provide relevant, timely updates.
To help create connections between CCHs, we initiated ‘HAPPY HOUR with CCH” through virtual zoom meetings. Once in a quarter, we will host a zoom meeting featuring CCHs talking about a topic area of interest.
For 2022 - This year our PR goal will be to educate the consumer about the benefits of choosing a CCH for their own and their children's health needs. As the certification provides greater confidence to the credential holder in their professional competence, for consumers it also shows commitment to public safety and accountability through ethical conduct.
Advocacy
For Building a strong homeopathic community, we continued our collaboration and relationship-building efforts within the homeopathic and the integrative health care community both nationally and internationally.
We also continue to participate in the Advocacy Homeopathy Working Group and the Homeopathy Action Alliance.
We also had a representative at the International Council for Homeopathy quarterly meetings.
For 2022 - We continued to be a Partner in Health at the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC). This year, we will have a representative from CHC board, joining the IHPC Communications Committee. This is a great opportunity to do the important work of dissemination of information and connecting to and building engagement among our colleagues in Integrative Healthcare field.
Finance/Fundraising
Thank you to those who so generously donated this year. We received over $3000 this year from generous community donations. These funds will help cover the NCCA application cost. There is still time to donate to help us meet our goal of $10k.
Office
The office has seen some changes as well. Recently, we hired Michelle Stolz as our new Office Administrator. She has jumped in helping with recertification and is getting to know our organization. She is an organized professional with a pleasant demeanor, and you can be sure to get your problems solved, when you call or email the CHC Office. We are excited to have her join the CHC.
Accreditation Committee
We are going to kickstart the year by submitting our application to renew our accreditation with NCCA in January 2022. 5 years back we achieved this milestone, where for the first time ever, a homeopathic certification program, met and maintained the standards which equates our profession to others in healthcare field. We have been working diligently to prepare for our application. We will continue to bring positive visibility to our profession and further our opportunities in the integrative health care system.
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,
