Sue Smith
Sonaz Taleghani
Katja Behrens
Jenny Grist
Charlotte Johansenberg
Amanda Biggs

Katja Behrens

Graduated in 2012

“I was born in Berlin and spent 10 years of my life working as an actress in the theatre until I trained as a cranial sacral therapist and physiotherapist.

I moved to England to study homeopathy and graduated three years ago. Building my practice has been a gradual process as I studied alongside working as a shared life carer looking after students with learning difficulties. I take these students into my home and provide them with the support and care they need to enable them to study at a local anthroposophical college.

I work as a homeopath in two clinics, one in Stroud and one in Cheltenham and I think it can be quite hard to make a living from solely working as a homeopath but I find the best way is to choose a good location. I am fortunate that my area is well suited to ‘alternative’ perspectives and this certainly helps a lot.

I use different strategies when focusing on practice building: websites, leaflets, talks, but I find that the word of mouth recommendation is the best and most popular route. I do believe that being present in the clinic in the early days especially, even if you don’t have any patients is essential and being totally present whilst in consultation is also key in order to treat your patients successfully.

Most people are misinformed about what homeopathy is and can do, so I consider my role as one of informing and educating. I use every opportunity I get to talk about homeopathy with anyone I meet.

It is a deep process for me and it can be incredibly frustrating if you can’t ‘get’ a case which is why it is essential to acknowledge the process but not get too attached to it. I find that working with what is good and letting go of anything you feel you didn’t get ‘right’ enables me to continue in a healthy state.

The very nature of homeopathy means that it is a systemic, natural, spiritual, holistic system of medicine which also means that it is impossible for it to be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, it just is what it is. However, I do believe we have a duty to our patients to strive to get the best results we can.

Setting personal boundaries is vital and for me, having two completely different jobs enables me to strike a healthy balance. My other job keeps me grounded, as does my time with my horses. I believe that finding the right balance for you makes such a difference and that can be different things for different homeopaths.