CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicines) as native or natural healing have been part of public healthcare choices in Ireland since early monastic times, when cures were sought and used for a range of ailments. Natural healing predates bio medicine and has remained a popular choice down through the ages, even to current times.

Now more usually described as “alternative” to the more accepted, scientific bio medical systems which most countries use for their healthcare systems and is often described as such. The World Health Organisation in their publication on General Guidelines for Methodologies for Research and Evaluation of Traditional Medicine Research have observed that the terms used describing native, traditional medicines vary from country to country.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is my area of CAM, specifically the training, practice and democratic regulation processes of TCM. I have spent much of my adult life working with TCM organisations, and I continue to lecture, write and represent TCM organisations both nationally and internationally.

The CAM sector in Ireland, the UK and in many industrialised countries remains un-categorised within healthcare frameworks. Adult learners do not have acknowledgement of their learning and lack inclusion within the national framework of awards. CAM learners remain the only segment of the population excluded from academic validation of their learning.

This is one of the reasons I continue to advocate for democratic and equitable voluntary self regulation for our profession and for inclusion within the national educational and healthcare structures.

Dr. Bernadette Ward, Doctor of Education (DCU), MSc (Middlesex University UK),
Visiting Professor to Nanjing China

Email. bwardafi@hotmail.com