Judy Jacka invited speaker at the Australian Naturopathic Summit, Kingscliff 2016

AUSTRALIAN NATUROPATHIC SUMMIT

The inaugural Australian Naturopathic Summit was held at Kingscliff NSW over the weekend of 27-28th August 2016. There were 330 therapists present including a sprinkling of related persons and professionals. It was a truly lovely event and we were given some amazing stories of creativity and success and throughout, there was an atmosphere of goodwill and comradeship. Two of the prime movers and planners of this conference were Rachel Arthur and Dr. Nirala Jacobi. They worked tirelessly over a period of months to ensure the success of this venture.

On the Saturday evening Judy Jacka gave an address at the Gala dinner and the theme of this presentation was to examine briefly the various phases through which the profession has moved. Beginning with the European history featuring Henry Lindlahr and the basic naturopathic principles this story moved to the lack of modern information which caused Judy to write books for use in our college curricula. The development of the first schools and educating the public followed plus mention of the fierce debate within the profession itself as to whether to seek registration. The three legislative threats to the profession during the 1980’s were then briefly cited.

Due to increasing student demand for more training on the energetic side of health and healing, future possible models of integration were mentioned stemming from the work of medical scientists Harold Saxton Burr, Robert Becker, Rudolf Steiner and William Tiller. These explorers of the human energy field point to the fact that there is evidence-based medicine to be included in the subtle areas of naturopathic medicine.

The final section covered in Judy’s talk included a brief description of the Jacka Foundation of Natural Therapies – a charity established to support the development and education in the natural therapies. Judy is the Vice-Chairperson of this entity. Large donations have been made by the Jacka Foundation to the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at Western Sydney University, the Australian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney, and RMIT University in Melbourne.

Final comments included the thought that when therapists recognise the importance of the human energy field in health and disease, we will see the true causes of disease resolved whether they be biochemical, psychological or spiritual.

Delegates at the conference were hopeful that this Summit is just the beginning of further developments within our profession.

You might also enjoy

Share