The Center for Sustainable Medicine

There are at least two formal studies done with returning veterans which showed that acupuncture by itself is actually superior to traditional therapies for treating all the varied symptoms of PTSD–anxiety, flashbacks, depression, nightmares, etc. Simple ear acupuncture also turned out to be one of the most popular, fast-acting, and effective therapies for firefighters and others dealing with the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center events.  I will be giving a talk at the Upper Valley Food Coop (in White River Junction, VT)  Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 6 PM about treating nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder using acupuncture. At the talk I will be showing a short film by Laura Cooley, explaining about auricular acupuncture, and then demonstrating typical treatments on ear points for those who would like to experience (or observe) a treatment. Those who have come to me for the treatment of trauma-related nightmares have stopped having any nightmares after one to two treatments, with no side effects. Treatments like these are available here in Thetford on a sliding scale from $25-50, (or in private sessions for $75.)
The talk is free, though I will be accepting donations toward the community clinic.

Didi Pershouse, LAc, CCH
The Center for Sustainable Medicine
Thetford Center, VT 05075
(802) 785-2503
www.sustainablemedicine.org

Cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor are some of the most dangerous drugs around, causing serious side effects, and blocking the body’s ability to manufacture cholesterol—which is a vital substance in the body for brain functioning and tissue repair. This talk will examine traditional high-fat diets and the healthy populations that ate them—from the Arctic to Africa. It will also look at myths and truths about cholesterol and how our culture has been misled into eating dangerously low-fat diets that create many long-term health problems, including, ironically, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

November 12, 2009: 6 to 7:30 pm, suggested donation: $10

Upper Valley Food Coop, in White River Junction, VT

For more information call (802) 785-2503 or email sustainablemedicine@gmail.com

About the Instructor:

Didi Pershouse, certified homeopath and licensed acupuncturist, has provided gentle and affordable health care in the Upper Valley for over 15 years. She is co-author of the latest homeopathy textbook: “Vital Expression: A Manual on Homeopathic Casetaking.” She is the local chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation, and founder of The Center for Sustainable Medicine in Thetford Center, VT where she practices homeopathy, acupuncture, and nutritional counseling. She has traveled and taught extensively in the field of alternative medicine. You can read her Sustainable Medicine Manifesto online at www.sustainablemedicine.org

Homeopathy for Parents and Other Caregivers:  Introductory Class with Didi Pershouse, CCH

Homeopathic medicine is one of the most sustainable forms of medicine and well-suited to home care for both adults and children as it is safe, easy to use, inexpensive, and environmentally sound. It is used extensively by primary care doctors in Europe and India. Clinical trials have shown homeopathy to be very effective in treating a wide range of conditions. Knowing how to use a homeopathic first-aid kit and look up remedies in a “repertory” are going to be essential community health care skills for a post-oil economy (as they were for working-class communities in 19^th century New England.)

Here are some cases I have treated recently that could have easily been treated at home if someone in the patient’s family had taken this class:

1. Someone broke out in hives from emotional upset, and the hives weren’t going away even after a full day and night. A single dose of homeopathic apis took them away within half an hour.

2. A woman had a croupy cough that persisted long after her cold symptoms went away. A dose of homeopathic spongia took care of it.

4. A man had continuing swelling and pain in his leg a month later after a skiing injury. After two days on arnica, the swelling and pain were gone.

In this class you will learn the basic principles of homeopathy: how it works, how it is different from naturopathic and herbal medicine, how to look things up in homeopathic reference books, and which kinds of symptoms you can treat at home safely and inexpensively with homeopathy–and which cases you should leave to a professional physician or homeopath.  We will also be looking at some research studies on homeopathy and how homeopathy has been used in epidemic illnesses in the past and present. You will also learn what sorts of conditions should be treated by a professional homeopath, or seen by an MD. This class stands on its own but will also serve as a foundation for future advanced classes on differentiating remedies for:

Colds and Flus

Epidemic Illness

Hiking and Outdoor Injuries

Children’s Illnesses

Gardener’s Aches and Pains

and more…

WHEN: Saturday, September 26th 1-4:30 pm, (the same class will be offered again on November 21^st.)

COST: $45

WHERE: Upper Valley Food Coop, White River Junction, VT

To sign up or for more information call (802) 785-2503

or email sustainablemedicine@gmail.com

About the Instructor:

Nationally certified homeopath Didi Pershouse, CCH, LAc, has provided gentle and affordable health care for over 15 years. She is co-author of the latest homeopathy textbook: Vital Expression: A Manual on Homeopathic Casetaking, and was editor of the preparatory course for the national exam in Homeopathy. She is the founder of The Center for Sustainable Medicine, and the Two Rivers Clinic in Thetford Center. You can read her Sustainable Medicine Manifesto online at www.sustainablemedicine.org

Mothers and fathers are the first line of care for most children’s health issues. It is up to parents to decide when to call the doctor, and what to do at home. Homeopathy is well suited to home care as it is safe, easy to use, inexpensive, and environmentally sound. It is used extensively in Europe and India, where it is practiced by MDs. Clinical trials have shown homeopathy to be very effective in treating a wide range of conditions. Children respond quickly to homeopathic care even with difficult to treat conditions such as tracheal malacia, RSV, allergies, nightmares, and behavior issues (though these should be treated by a professional homeopath.

In this class you will learn the basic principles of homeopathy: what it is, how it works, and how you can safely treat many of your family’s short-term health problems such as bee stings, fevers, colds, coughs, headaches, bruises, indigestion, poison-ivy, and more with the use of inexpensive homeopathic remedies.  You will also learn when such conditions should be referred to a pediatrician or other health care professional. 

Saturday, February 21^st  12-4 pm  $40

Thetford Center, Vermont (see directions page)

To sign up or for more information call (802) 785-2503

About the Instructor: 

Nationally Certified Homeopath Didi Pershouse, CCH, LAc. has provided gentle and affordable health care for over 15 years.  She is co-author of the latest homeopathy  textbook: Vital Expression: A Manual on Homeopathic Casetaking (Inner Health Publications), editor of several other textbooks, and was editor of the preparatory course for the National Exam in Homeopathy.  She is the founder of The Center for Sustainable Medicine, and the Two Rivers Clinic in Thetford Center where she practices homeopathy, acupuncture, and nutritional counseling. She has traveled and taught extensively in the field of alternative medicine.

This online course and discussion group will look at how health care in small communities differs in nature from large-scale health care. It is designed for health care practitioners who are currently working in, or planning to work in small, rural towns, or other small communities, and who would like to share ideas and ask questions.

The discussion will include topics such as

• boundaries
• affordable workspaces
• in-home vs. private offices
• bartering
• advertising
• small-town social dynamics
• patient privacy vs. building support networks
• housecalls
• sliding scales

Didi Pershouse is a homeopath and acupuncturist who founded a successful multidisciplinary clinic in a town with less than 3000 residents, where she has worked for nearly 15 years. Her philosophy of fertile rather than sterile relationships between practitioners and clients has served her, and her patients, well.  To read more about her work, visit www.sustainablemedicine.org

The class will take place over a 6-week period. The class is being offered on a sliding scale of $120 to $360, and is limited to 12 participants.  For more information or to sign up, contact Didi Pershouse through the contact page, or call (802) 785-2503.

Reevaluation Counseling Class with Jesse Tichenor and Didi Pershouse starting in January 2009.  Thetford VT. Sliding scale.   For more information about the class, please contact Didi Pershouse at (802)785-2503.

Re-evaluation counseling, or “Co-counseling” has changed my life in a profound way, and helped me to understand and change some of my deepest patterns that years of therapy never touched, and I am very pleased to be assisting Jesse, one of my teachers, in this upcoming class. Jesse runs the Deep Community program at Dartmouth College.

Co-counseling–also called Re-evaluation Counseling–is a truly sustainable way to take care of your mental health, and create social change in the process. Instead of paying someone a lot of money to listen to you, co-counseling trains people to counsel each other, for free. Once you have taken the class, then you are part of this world-wide community of delightful intelligent people–and can go anywhere in the world and have a community of caring people willing to hold your hand, look deep into your eyes and really listen. Here’s how they explain it on their website: (www.rc.org)

“Re-evaluation Counseling is a process whereby people of all ages and of all backgrounds can learn how to exchange effective help with each other in order to free themselves from the effects of past distress experiences.

Re-evaluation Counseling theory provides a model of what a human being can be like in the area of his/her interaction with other human beings and his/her environment. The theory assumes that everyone is born with tremendous intellectual potential, natural zest, and lovingness, but that these qualities have become blocked and obscured in adults as the result of accumulated distress experiences (fear, hurt, loss, pain, anger, embarrassment, etc.) which begin early in our lives.

Any young person would recover from such distress spontaneously by use of the natural process of emotional discharge (crying, trembling, raging, laughing, etc.). However, this natural process is usually interfered with by well-meaning people (“Don’t cry,” “Be a big boy,” etc.) who erroneously equate the emotional discharge (the healing of the hurt) with the hurt itself.

When adequate emotional discharge can take place, the person is freed from the rigid pattern of behavior and feeling left by the hurt. The basic loving, cooperative, intelligent, and zestful nature is then free to operate. Such a person will tend to be more effective in looking out for his or her own interests and the interests of others, and will be more capable of acting successfully against injustice.

In recovering and using the natural discharge process, two people take turns counseling and being counseled. The one acting as the counselor listens, draws the other out and permits, encourages, and assists emotional discharge. The one acting as client talks and discharges and re-evaluates. With experience and increased confidence and trust in each other, the process works better and better.”

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