BRITISH COLLEGE OF INTEGRATED MEDICINE
The British College of Integrated Medicine aims to become the UK’s leading provider of generalist (membership-level) and specialist (fellowship-level) training programmes in Integrated Medicine (IM). Our 2-year low residency Diploma in Integrated Medicine (with an option for a further two years study to MSc level) will give post graduate doctors and nurses the necessary skills, knowledge, values, attitudes and level of personal and professional development in order for them to offer a comprehensive integrated medical approach within their current role. The 3-year full time Fellowship Programme in Integrated Medicine, which follows on from the M.Sc will be validated to Doctorate of Integrated Medicine level and is designed to provide training to doctors and nurses who wish to specialize in one or more aspects of Integrated Medicine – clinical, academic (teaching, writing and research), management & leadership.
Who is behind The British College of Integrated Medicine?
Dr Rosy Daniel, one of the UK’s leading Integrated Medicine doctors, is Director of The British College of Integrated Medicine and the nursing lead is Professor Stephen Wright.
The academic partner in the BCIM is Professor Karol Sikora who is Dean of the Buckingham University Medical School and Director of Cancer Partners UK and Professor of Cancer Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London. Professor Sikora supports the development of Integrated Medicine stating:
“There is an urgent need for Integrated Medicine training, teaching and research. The combination of aging populations, technological progress and an informed, demanding clientele will result in increasing financial strain in all healthcare environments. Predominantly tax based systems, such as Britain’s NHS, are particularly vulnerable to meltdown unless new approaches can be found to return people to health with simpler and cheaper holistic strategies.”
The Integrated Health Trust (IHT)
The British College of Integrated Medicine is owned by the Integrated Health Trust. The charity has provided funds for the setting up of the College’s educational activities and will also seek to provide scholarship support to help trainees with the course fees. The setting up of BCIM by the charity fulfils one of the charity’s primary charitable objectives which is to provide first class IM education and information for doctors and nurses.
FAQs
What are the goals of the BCIM
What is the need for Integrated Medicine?
What is the role of the IM practitioner?
What are the benefits of IM?
Who is validating the Membership Programme in Integrated Medicine?
What qualification will I receive?
Who is eligible to apply?
How is the course structured?
What are the fees?
We welcome your interest in our Diploma in Integrated Medicine and are happy to answer your queries. To receive a prospectus please call 0845 890 9131.
The British College of Integrated Medicine
The Apthorp Centre, Weston Road, Bath, BA1 2XT
Tel: 0845-890-9131 Website: www.IntegratedHealthTrust.org
Email: info@IntegratedHealthTrust.org
BCIM is company number 06035120. IHT is charity number 1122079
FAQs
• To promote the delivery of Integrated Healthcare within mainstream medical settings by providing a generalist professional IM training to Diploma (part 1) and M.Sc (part 2) level to doctors and nurses and by:
- Defining the role and competencies of the generalist IM practitioner
- Fostering understanding and development of the Integrated Healthcare model within mainstream medical settings
• To establish Integrated Medicine as a medical specialty, by providing specialist training to PhD level to doctors and nurses and by:
- Defining of the role and competencies of the specialist IM practitioner;
- Setting up of a clinical governance framework and register for specialist IM practitioners
- Supporting the establishment of IM career pathways
What is the need for Integrated Medicine?
From the 1960s onwards there had been an enormous rise in the use of complementary therapies, nutritional supplements, healthy diets, and natural health care approaches for common, chronic and life-threatening illnesses. With the growth of information available through the internet and media the public are bombarded with propositions about a huge range of healthcare approaches without the necessary medical guidance to make safe informed choices. They are often overwhelmed and confused about what may help or harm; what may complement or interfere with mainstream medical approaches and of course, what may been purely exploitative.
On the other hand many people have abandoned their mainstream doctors and medicines in favour of the gentler, more personal and less hurried healing approach of the CAM practitioner sometimes losing the essential benefits of conventional approaches. Clearly people value the humanity, communication skills, and emphasis on healing and self-care in these practitioners and it is high time that this aspect of the healing art of medicine is cultivated actively in our doctors and nurses.
Third, there is the pressing societal problem of an immense and costly disease burden being generated by Western lifestyle and exacerbated by a steadily increasing life expectancy which makes it imperative that there be a coordinated and integrated effort to educate and inspire individuals, families and communities to take better care of their health.
What is the role of the IM practitioner?
The role of the Integrated Medicine doctor and nurse has grown up in order to provide a bridge between the worlds of orthodox and natural medicine in order to ensure that people get the right advice about:
• Choosing the right therapies, self-help and support for an optimum personal IM programme
• How to maximize medical and personal outcomes and diminish side effects of conventional medicines with the appropriate use of CAM, psychological and self-help approaches alongside mainstream medicine
• The appropriate use of vital orthodox medicines
• Medical risk and benefits in using CAM approaches instead of mainstream medicine
• Getting the best out of the medical system
• How to evaluate new symptoms that might arise during or after treatment
All of these occur within the context of a sensitive caring therapeutic relationship with the IM doctor or nurse who supports fully the individual through their illness and healing experience and honours their individual choices and needs.
A good example of the role of the IM doctor was that created by cancer patient Penny Brohn in 1979 upon the opening of her world-famous Bristol Cancer Help Centre (now Penny Brohn Cancer Care.) Penny, after a diagnosis of cancer aged 39, was using and advocating many types of complementary and alternative medicine and self-help approach to fight and heal her cancer, but was anxious that she may also be taking risks with her health, and was adamant that all those who came to her Centre for support and therapy should be under medical supervision. The combination of the creative intelligence of the clients alongside the carefully considered back-up of the IM doctors allows patients at this Centre to achieve remarkable levels of health and well-being whilst navigating their way through the tricky waters of balancing their medical and proactive healthcare needs.
The true Integrated Medicine doctor or nurse is one who is equally open to the value of all healthcare approaches and will evaluate the benefits of all approaches with equal rigour based upon the unique ever-changing medical and personal needs of each individual at the differing stages of their illness journey. They will also work to the client’s agenda and values even when this seems contrary to his or her own. This is different to the Alternative Medicine doctor who may steer the client away from mainstream medicine in favour of his or her own treatment modality, sometimes actively discouraging or even prohibiting the use of mainstream medicine alongside their treatment.
Those who experience the Integrated Medicine approach report that they feel:
• Heard, understood and listened to
• Cared for and supported
• Empowered and involved as an active member of their healthcare team
• Informed about the full spectrum of options that are available for their treatment, care and personal development opportunities created by their illness experience
• Potent in their own self-healing
• Supported to look more deeply into the cause and meaning of their illness so that they can see how healthy change will speed recovery and prevent recurrence
• Enabled to recover from the shock and upset of diagnosis so that they do not make treatment decisions whilst in shock
• Invited to make a fully informed treatment plan based on their personal state, needs, and values
• Enabled to prepare physically, mentally and practically for treatments
• Helped to face consciously the changes that the illness or its treatment are putting them through including the conscious embracing of pain, death and dying if appropriate
• Nourished, physically, mentally and spiritually
• Supported to make behavioral and lifestyle changes to support sustainable health long-term
• Often that they are ultimately glad they had the illness experience as they now feel better than ever before!
Those who practice Integrated Medicine say that:
• They are able to listen to what their mind, heart and intuition are telling them about a client
• That they are able to bring all of themselves into the practice of Integrated Medicine and are greatly enriched by the depth and caring nature of the therapeutic relationship
• They are able to act as a detective and catalyst with each individual to help them find their own unique healing keys
• They benefit greatly from having such a wider range of tools at their disposal for understanding, diagnosing and treating conditions
• It is a great relief to have so many other levels of help available to support and achieve benefit in those who are chronically sick or life-threatened
• It is great to be able to teach clients self-help skills which will make a radical difference to their quality of life
• It is rewarding to be able to inspire, motivate and sustain positive change in health-defining behaviour
• It is a real joy to witness the re-kindling of a client’s love of life and see them come back to life fully after the challenge of a health or life crisis.
Who is validating the Membership Programme in Integrated Medicine?
The validation of the BCIM training is being conducted by the University of Buckingham Medical School who will provide quality assessment of the training syllabus and course delivery as well as external assessment of students.
What qualification will I receive?
On qualifying you will be awarded a University of Buckingham Diploma in Integrated Medicine and Membership of The British College of Integrated Medicine (MBCIM). At this point there will be an option to embark on a further two years study for an MSc in Integrated Medicine.
Who is eligible to apply for the Membership Programme in Integrated Medicine?
Practising post-graduate doctors and nurses with a special interest in the principles and practice of Integrated Medicine.
The Diploma in Integrated Medicine consists of 1000 hours training. This is divided between:
• Course Attendance – 20 days in four blocks of five days in Feb, May and September 2009 and February 2010, a five day elective in the summer of 2010 plus 2 assessment days in November 2010 – 216 hours
• Self-directed study with monthly Tutor support sessions, distance learning modules, book reading and the Internet), attendance-based work (via four 5-day workshops, telephone mentoring and a 5-day elective period) and personal development work – 472 hours (i.e. approx 4.5 hours per week)
• Self-development including monthly Health Coaching, monthly Professional Supervision and a negotiated programme of self-help – 312 hours (i.e. 3 hours per week)
Course Capacity - There are 24 places on the Diploma training programme each year.
Dates - Our next course commences early 2009, with graduation taking place in November 2010. The four weeks of the training will run from Monday to Friday 9 till 5.30 each day. It is recommended that Trainees arrive on the preceding Sunday night in order to settle in and prepare themselves and arrive fresh for the course. Evening activities will be planned to support the Trainees and enrich the course.
Venue – The training will be taking place at the Penny Brohn Cancer Care, Chapel Pill Lane Pill Bristol BS20 0HH. www.pennybrohncancercare.org . This is a custom built Integrated Medicine Centre combining excellent new-build facilities annexed to a beautiful Georgian house which is the new home for the former Bristol Cancer Help Centre, for the care and healing of those with cancer. This facility offers 24 en suite bedrooms and excellent organic food. It is 3 miles from Junction 19 of the M5 on the South-East side of the city of Bristol.
Attendance Requirement and Qualification – Students are required to attend all training days, complete all aspects of their self-directed study and assignments and to pass the assessment weekend in order to qualify. If any part of the course or self-study is missed due to unavoidable circumstances, then the trainee will be required to attend the relevant module or complete the relevant home study in the following year’s course and take the assessment in the following year.
What are the fees?
There is an application fee of £100. The course fees are currently being defined but are expected to be in the region of £9K. This will be confirmed prior to formal application. Information re student loans is available from the BCIM and scholarship application forms are available on request from the IHT. All funding for the entire training must be in place prior to the commencement of the course and is payable in full before starting the training.
Due to the level of personal and financial investment involved in taking this course great care will be taken in selection of students to ensure the correct level of commitment. There will also be a pre-course familiarisation day to help ensure that trainees have made the right choice.
The course fees covers
• All of the course materials including the Course Manuals, DVDs, CDs and access to online learning
• 20 days of face training including lunches and drinks
• 5 day elective period
• 24 hours of professional supervision (an hour monthly for two years)
• 24 hours of health coaching with a Health Creation Mentor (an hour monthly for two years)
• 48 hours of tutoring with our Course Tutor (up to two hours monthly for two years)
• Training with the UK’s leading integrated medical doctors and other leading health professionals
• Unlimited e-mail support
• Business and leadership skills and advice
• 2-day assessment period prior to qualification and marking of all course work
• Graduation at the University of Buckingham
• One year membership to The British College of Integrated Medicine
The course fees do not cover
• Accommodation and dinner at the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre during the 4 training weeks, 5-day elective and 2 day assessment weekend,
• Personal textbooks
• Travel expenses
• Personal therapy or ‘taster sessions’ in CAM and self-development courses
To receive a prospectus please call 0845 890 9131.