My experience with the College of Homeopaths of Ontario by Kerri Flood
As some of you may know, I have been teaching homeopathy with CCHM since 2017 – and lovin’ it. But many of you may not know that I have been on the Council of the College of Homeopaths of Ontario (CHO) since 2018, an executive member since 2019 and Vice-President since 2021. I also act as the chair of the Patient Relations and the Inquiries, Complaints, and Reports Committees (ICRC). More recently, I have taken an interest in assisting the College in its efforts to promote interprofessional collaboration.
I initially ran for a seat on Council because I wanted to participate in defining the future of my beloved profession and I hoped that my many years of experience working for Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, would be an asset for CHO and provide Council with insights into how to navigate the bureaucracy. Now as the next round of Council elections come up, I want to continue as a Council member and provide guidance because I am as passionate as ever and firmly believe that homeopathy has an important role in Ontario’s healthcare system.
I want to dispel misconceptions about CHO’s mandate. It is important to understand that CHO cannot be an advocacy organization, that’s the responsibility of profession associations. The CHO has a defined role, it is mandated to protect the public from harm and to ensure that the public has access to well trained, competent and ethical homeopaths working in the public interest. It does this through self-regulation by setting standards and guidelines for the profession. For advocacy and promotional work – such as lobbying insurance companies for better coverage of homeopathic services – we need to turn to our associations.
The work I do for CHO is not particularly glamourous, but it is essential. In these past years, we have: navigated through seemingly endless amounts of government-mandated assessment and reporting requirements (college performance management framework – cpmf); ensured that Registered Homeopaths could continue to practice throughout the COVID lockdowns (many regulated healthcare practitioners were forced to close), and recently, CHO has initiated a promising new strategy to improve the profile of Registered Homeopaths in Ontario.
The new strategy is focused on establishing a stronger presence for Registered Homeopaths and ensuring that only regulated practitioners represent the profession in the eyes of the public, policymakers, and other healthcare professionals.
As a member of the Council, I will continue to advocate for Registered Homeopaths to be fully integrated into the fabric of healthcare in Ontario. I will continue to work to educate other healthcare professionals as to the valuable contributions that homeopaths can make to patients, particularly where the conventional system is unable to help.
During council elections, May 7th and 8th, please vote for the candidate in your area who strives to ensure that Registered Homeopaths in Ontario are recognized as a vital part of Ontario’s healthcare system.
