There is a crisis in Australian health care today, with the demise of the solo family doctor, too often inadequate communication and consultation between doctor and patient, a gulf between medical and “alternative” practitioners, the “corporatisation” of medical practice, and stressed and pressured doctors who are leaving the profession in increasing numbers. Those remaining often work in isolation, with little or no interaction with their peers.

In response to this crisis, we have created a new model for health care: a partnership between practitioner and patient, complemented by life education. This model embraces the needs of the whole person - physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual.

OUR VISION:
At Invitation to Health (ITH) we provide integrated health care and life education in a beautiful and nourishing environment, for health practitioners, staff and patients alike. Our buildings are filled with colour and light, set in gardens designed around the shape of a Celtic Cross. There is a play area for children and a quiet room for those who need it.

We work in partnership with our patients, approaching their illness from physical, emotional, mental and spiritual (energetic) perspectives. The different practitioners (each well qualified, experienced and accredited) enjoy equal status and respect for their expertise, supporting and learning from each other. Generally they function independently. However, when required, case conferences allow different practitioners to consult jointly with a patient, to create a complementary treatment plan.

We acknowledge that a frequent underlying reason for consulting a health practitioner is a sense of isolation and loneliness, and conversely, that disease can also be a cause of isolation and loneliness. We host a variety of educational courses, therapeutic groups and activities, designed to help our patients build their capacity to make informed choices and to increase their skills for living a full and integrated life.

We strive to care for our planet by using energy-efficient principles in our buildings and tasks, for example, by running a “paperless” office. We are committed to “Best Practice”, through using the latest information technology, evidenced-based treatments as far as possible, and to ongoing assessment of treatment effectiveness and patient satisfaction. This research will be offered for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Our research focus is strengthened through links with relevant University departments.

OUR MISSION IS TO ENABLE OUR PATIENTS TO ACHIEVE PHYSICAL, MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL WELLBEING BY:

• working in partnership with our patients,
• encouraging them to take responsibility for their own health;
• educating our patients in order to foster informed choice and self-care;
• utilising a team approach which encourages communication, mutual support, debriefing and case conferencing, allowing the skills of each practitioner to complement the others;
• using complementary treatments to augment conventional medical care in order to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction;
• providing a safe, harmonious and loving environment in which people can regain hope and self-respect.
  

THE ITH TRUST AND ITS FOUNDERS.

The Trust

ITH was founded by six professionals who had known one another for more than ten years and who had a common vision for community health care – to bring together complementary therapies and primary medical care, thus providing an innovative and comprehensive service for which there is already a demonstrated public need. ITH operates as a fixed trust, which owns the property, employs the administrative staff and charges service fees to practitioners. Three of these founding members are still with the trust and hold a majority of units, while the remaining units are held by overseas investors.

Stories from some of our Founders

Dr PENNY CALDICOTT: General Practitioner
Bachelor of Medicine, Newcastle Uni., FRACGP (Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners),

Penny’s Story:
I have worked as a General Practitioner on the Central Coast of NSW for the last 18 years. I studied medicine out of a sense of vocation rather than as a career option. From the start I knew that allopathic medicine was merely a beginning and I was sure that I would find a way to care for my patients that would address the human being in all its dimensions.

Over the last 12 years, both through my own personal evolution (including an 18 month course in emotionally focused counselling) and the privilege of working in partnership with my patients, I have developed a new understanding of disease process, as the interaction between the inextricably linked parts of the human being (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual). In the last ten years I have spent time with doctors and other therapists around the world (Russia, Canada, Mexico, France, New Zealand, and Germany) who are using new tools which address the deeper emotional and spiritual pain which can be the cause and/or consequence of disease. I have learnt to work with my patients at a level that enables them to begin to heal parts of themselves that have been hidden and protected. I have seen that disease processes can be transformed if the human is nourished and listened to on all levels.

I have seen that patient care in our community is fragmented, as different therapists not only work in isolation, communicating only rarely with each other, but there is also often a mutual distrust of each other, based on ignorance and fear. This situation obviously compromises patient care and is an added burden for the individual therapists, who often feel that they must somehow address their entire patient’s needs themselves. For these reasons, amongst many others, I became increasingly aware that we need to educate each other and create lines of communication between the different modalities of therapy. Now with Invitation to Health we aim to go further than that and have created a centre in which we not only cohabit but work together, taking the pressure off the individual practitioner, supporting each other in our areas of specialty and enhancing patient care.

Dr SUSAN BALLINGER: Clinical Psychologist
B.A. (hons), Macquarie Uni, Ph.D., Uni. Syd. Past National Chair, APS College of Clinical Psychologists. Clinical Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, Uni. Wollongong.

Susan’s Story:
I have worked as a registered nurse in Adelaide, Sydney, London and with Canadian Indians in Montreal. When my youngest child began kindergarten, I enrolled to study psychology as a mature aged student. My PhD research was concerned with how the perception of stress can change people’s hormone levels and affect their health. I discovered that the more negative the perception, the more profound the imbalance became. Following my belief in the importance of working in partnership with patients and offering information so they can make informed decisions about their treatment, I have written a book for lay people about the interaction of life events, stress and symptoms in the menopause.

For ten years I taught Behavioural Sciences to medical students at the University of Sydney. This was largely about scientific method and also basic counselling and how to communicate effectively and respectfully with their patients. For the past nineteen years I have worked as a private practitioner, first in Sydney and then in Nowra where I have admitting rights to the local private hospital. My therapeutic methods are eclectic and intuitive. I believe that the primary healing force is love and my over-riding aim in therapy is to guide people towards loving themselves and others more fully. This is best achieved through respecting and communicating with patients as unique individuals, by therapists who themselves feel respected and nurtured.