One of world's top homeopaths in Lismore

One of Europe's foremost practitioners and teachers of the second most common healing therapy in the world, homeopathy, will be in Lismore this weekend to host a seminar at Southern Cross University (SCU).

Alize Timmerman, who's had a homeopathic practice in Holland for 20 years and was formerly an accomplished biochemist and biochemical analyst, will teach the seminar for students in SCU's School of Natural and Complementary Medicine and for the public.

"Alize is a highly sought after teacher and speaker in the homeopathic and natural medicine world," said Ian Howden, SCU Lecturer in Homeopathy and organiser of the seminar this Saturday and Sunday.

"She is one of the frontier homeopaths who are helping homeopathy to be understood as a legitimate, scientifically-based therapy, and is at the forefront of new ideas in the field," Mr Howden said.

"In the School, particularly with ACCMER (the Australian Centre for Complementary Medicine, Education and Research), we're doing ground-breaking research to show homeopathy's scientific base, and working to understand the mechanisms of homeopathy," he said.

Homeopathy is second only to traditional Chinese medicine as the most used therapeutic method in the world. It is widely used in India and Europe, and has been used by each of the last seven British monarchs, and by the European aristocracy for several decades.

The modern version of homeopathy is 200-years-old, but the principles date back to Hippocrates in ancient Greece in 600 BC, Mr Howden said.

"It is based on the principle of like cures like, and that what causes something will cure something," he said. "A crude western example of that principle would perhaps be the 'hair of the dog' remedy, or having an alcoholic drink to cure a hangover," he said.

"Homeopathy is seen as a very safe system since the doses used are very tiny."

For more information on the seminar contact Ian Howden, Ph: 02 6620 3340, or Email: ihowden@scu.edu.au.