A Short History of the New York School of Homeopathy

The New York School of Homeopathy is one of the oldest and largest homeopathy schools in the United States and has been educating homeopaths since 1990. We are the only homeopathy school in New York City to offer a four year diploma program. The goal of our school is to provide each student with a strong comprehensive foundation in homeopathy, followed by two years of advanced clinical work. Our well rounded curriculum combines the work of the early masters along with the progressive ideas and methodology of twenty first century homeopaths.

Robert Stewart *, C.C.H., originally started the school in 1990 to offer an East Coast alternative to the Pacific Academy in San Francisco. Homeopathy education at that time was not very formalized and was usually supplemented by seminars. In 1996 I joined Robert as co-director of the school, having already enjoyed his work as a student, a patient, and then as a friend. Anyone who knows Robert knows that he is entertaining and brilliant, and you are never quite the same after listening to him speak. His interests are many; homeopathy, art history, painting, and anthroposophy. He has this to say about why he started the school, “I have always considered the art of homeopathy to be a kind of therapeutic open door, and I wanted to establish a school with that idea in mind.”

When Robert moved to the West Coast in 1999, he left the school in my hands. A few years later he returned to Point Lookout, New York, and we have remained friends, colleagues, and beach buddies, although he is no longer directly connected to the school.

Since Robert and I started working together in 1996, the New York School of Homeopathy has continually evolved and expanded, developing a comprehensive curriculum and a forward thinking approach to the art and science of homeopathy. As a result the school has grown to be the largest homeopathy school in the country.

Nowadays at NYSH, our highest goal is to prepare our students to handle any case they may encounter in their careers as professional homeopaths. To this end, our students are instructed in homeopathic philosophy and history, and they learn both traditional and modern case taking techniques which can then be applied to live cases in our clinic*. This gives our students a real “hands on” experience that is necessary to effectively apply these methods in their own professional practices. Our instruction is also aimed at preparing our students for the exam administered by the CHC, so that our graduates may become Certified Classical Homeopaths. As Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy said, “The physician’s high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure as it is termed,” and this is exactly our greatest hope for our graduates.

*The clinic at NYSH operates on a pro bono basis. Each patient signs a waiver allowing us to use their video for teaching purposes. This is such a great service to the homeopathic community that we feel it is adequate payment for services rendered.

In 1998 NYSH I invited Rajan Sankaran to lecture in New York City for the first time. Since then, we have had three seminars with Dr. Sankaran, and four seminars with Dr. Paresh Vasani, another member of the Bombay Group of Homeopaths. In clinic we often use the Sensation System of case taking because we find the results to be very successful. However, we learn and use more traditional methods as well, so that students are well-versed in a variety of strategies they can employ, according to the needs of each individual case. Our clinic has a beautiful success rate which is why so many of our patients have been returning for years and have been referring others. (All of the cases submitted for this issue are NYSH clinic cases, except for the case by Dr. Vasani).

We have a great time at the NYSH, especially in the clinic class. It is basically a mentoring program; I teach most of the classes and get to know each student very well. We have special teachers for various topics like acute prescribing, and we run two or three special seminars each year, but for the most part, the students and I work together for four years. I know their strengths and weaknesses very well and we work together towards their success as homeopaths. After graduation they are welcome to join our GAP program (Graduate Apprentice Program) where they watch me take private cases, which we analyze and discuss together. We are one of the few homeopathy schools in America that maintains a library and a classroom for student use even when school is not in session. Supervision cases, study groups, the GAP program, and the Anatomy and Physiology; Pathology and Disease class, all take place in the same classroom. It’s a homeopathic home for all of us who are members of the NYSH “family”.

Other schools have come and gone, but NYSH has remained a constant presence here in New York for over twenty years. I believe it’s because we go beyond didactic teaching to communicate and encourage a true love for homeopathy. As James Tyler Kent so beautifully put it:

“So, one may have all the knowledge of homeopathy that it is possible for a human being to have, and yet be a failure in applying that art in its beauty and loveliness. If he have no affection for it, it will be seen to be a mere matter of memory and superficial intelligence. As he learns to love it, and dwell upon it as the very life of him, then he understands it as art and can apply it in the highest degree.”

(*Robert Stewart, R.S.Hom (NA), C.C.H., has been involved in homeopathy and holistic medicine for almost 30 years. He helped develop the Atlantic Academy and then originated the New York School of Homeopathy in 1990. He is the former President of the New York State Homeopathic Association (NYSHA), former Vice-president of the North American Society of Homeopaths (NASH) and is presently the Director of Advanced Homeopathic Studies. He has a private practice in Manhattan and Long Island.)

Visit the New York School of Homeopathy at their website:
http://www.nyhomeopathy.com/
and on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/NYSHomeopathy.