Case Inventory, Part 1 or.. Level up your practice homeopathically! (S2018)
May 8, 2017
I believe the most effective study and training we can do is homeopathic to our own needs.
But how do we figure out what our needs are- homeopathically- for our own skills and practice to progress?
This episode- on doing a Case Inventory- is one step I’m taking to answer that question.
This is where I remind you that way back in that first episode of the podcast I likened these shows to inviting you into my studio where everything is in progress and a mess- and not my gallery where the finished pieces are hanging up for sale.
Because this episode and and next, on Case Inventory, is pure experiment with a capital E.
I have an idea and I’m trying it out and inviting you to witness and if it grabs you- try it too.
Basically what I have done is look through my caseload over the last 2 years, give or take a few months, and pull out those cases that have gone cold- truly cold. Sometimes people come back years later, but in this case, these folks have not returned for treatment in many months or over a year, despite a reminder or prompt for a follow up.
Then, I have inventoried those cases.
I read through them, my case notes and my repertorization and follow ups if there were any, to see what stood out to me.
I started making a list of what I saw to be a potential issue, and asI i read more cases, certain issues began to crystallize and a definite list began to develop, so I could scan the cases for what i seen in previous ones, but alert to any anamolies.
Distance- of time- provides a perspective we don’t have when we’re in the middle.
Just like a practitioner who is just a couple of years deeper into practice than you can easily point out where you might have overlooked something or chosen a better rubric, YOU are not the same practitioner you were when you first took a case a year or 2 or even 6 months ago.
With that distance and more experienced eye, you can appraise your own work.
Now, the intention is not to fix it. It’s not to go back and re-work the case…at least, that is not an element that i have included in this experiment.
Nope, I just looked over the cases and made notes about what stood out to me.
To improve their form and performance, it is standard practice for athletes and teams to watch video clips of themselves and their games, to analyze their performance and use what they saw to train accordingly. There are businesses that have sprung up exclusively to deliver this service to athletes and performers and teams.
Does this sounds homeopathic?
It should. Because it is. It is yet another parallel application of
the idea of similars- that seeing ourselves in another form
provides the map to change.
This idea- of watching ones’ own actions and performance and the benefits therein- are what I want to capitalize on in my Case Inventory.
With just that time and space from the original engagement with the Case, I can witness my own process from an outside perspective and distance, and it has the potential to help me zero in and sharpen my skills, just like the athletes do.
I go over three cases from time past and identify issues for further study.
The first case is of a child whose mother first approached me to help with allergy symptoms, but in the background was a very intense difficult family dynamic. Looking over this case, I could see how I struggled with grasping the totality, my repertorization, but also acknowledging that the family dynamics probably took over.
In the second case, I was struck by how much I missed the mark on this young child with control issues, jealousy, and temper tantrums. I didn't repertorize appropriately AT ALL, and in this situation I likely had one or two shots to make a difference, or the family was going to pursue other options. And so they did.
The last case I inventoried was of an adult woman with acute cracking, peeling fingers. Against the constitutional backdrop the remedy I gave helped the fingers, but didn't cure them, and also did not ultimately touch the deeper levels of pathology, with hormonal migraine headaches.
I close the episode with a few choice quotes from an older interview with Lou Klein from the American Homeopath Journal, 2000. The quotes spoke well to the issues that I found in my inventory.
Check out the work of Making Cases Count a group that is providing a tool for the other side of this equation- assessment from the patient.
Stay tuned for a promo soon about Summer Homeopathy Book Club: Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy by Kent.
Thanks to all who support on patreon. Check it out and consider donating for as little as $1/month! https://www.patreon.com/1mpodcast
I leave you with a great quote by Jonathan Shore:
“Our task as homeopaths is not to fix the nails, skin, or bowels, but to free up more vitality, to release the obstruction to the free flow of vitality at the deepest level we can reach. What is called for is that we take into account the whole, the organism as a unity, from the deepest to the most superficial.”
Take care, be well and stay observant. See you next time!