How I work: the process and what to expect
So, what does the process of working with me look like?
The first step is to book a free Discovery Call on Zoom so that we can meet and you can tell me a bit about what is going on for you. This gives you the opportunity to learn more about how homeopathy could help you and how I work, and to ask any questions you might have.
If you decide you want to go ahead, then we will book you in for a first appointment on Zoom. This lasts about 90 minutes so we can gather the information about the health problem you want to address, and your system as a whole.
I then take a few days to analyse all this information, after which I will send you a prescription with details of what remedy to take, how to take it and where you can purchase it.
Then we need to wait for your system to respond to the stimulus and start to change. This is your own body self-correcting, so unless the problem started a few hours or days ago, it can take anything from a few days to a few weeks before you see changes: we need to give your body time to do the work.
In our follow-up consultation, we look in detail at what has changed over the past month. This detailed gathering of data is crucial as it’s not uncommon for clients to have completely forgotten about some of their symptoms, or not to have noticed changes that show us we are going in the right direction. Follow-up consultations are usually spaced a month or so apart.
I then analyse the new information and send you a new prescription, and we watch and observe how your system responds so I can see what remedy is needed next.
How long does this take?
It depends on the nature of the problem, how long you have had the problem and what else may be contributing to it. Change can be quick, but if you have had the problem for several years it will take some months to resolve.
You need to allow for three consultations before you evaluate things because your body needs time to make the changes that will move you to getting better. It may also be that the first remedy we try does not have as much effect as hoped for, and we need to reassess and change the direction of prescribing a little.
What should you expect from homeopathy?
Clients tell me that as well as the problem they came with getting better, they have more energy, they sleep better and they have more space between them and any mental or emotional issues that are bothering them. This last is a hugely important issue and probably the best kept secret about mental health I know of.
Overall, what I hear most often is:
“I feel like myself again.”
It was amazing how quickly my eczema flare went down on that first remedy. It cleared up almost completely within a day or so. Then the second remedy helped my body image a lot. I was much more accepting of myself and I was eating without thinking too much about how my body looked. I felt the best I had for some time. Belinda, 24 (eczema and poor body image)
Mental Health
Not feeling good in yourself is very wearing: it can suck the colour out of your life and leave you feeling that the person you used to be is barely there any more.
Anxiety makes you worry all the time. Endless awful scenarios run through your head and pile up on top of you like weights in the gym, making it hard to move or think. This can spiral out of control into a panic attack completely unexpectedly, leaving you gasping and feeling frightened.
Losing someone who really mattered to you is very hard. Sometimes it’s really difficult to move on. You feel heavy, as though you can’t breathe properly, and you cry very easily, even if the person you loved left some time ago.
Being completely overstressed makes you feel. You can’t make decisions or move forwards with anything. It takes all your energy to try and keep all the plates you are juggling in the air, and you have nothing left over to try and change things.
When anxiety, grief, feeling overwhelmed, lack of self-confidence, or anything else is weighing heavily on you, you wonder…
What is happening?
Why are you stuck feeling this way,
on and on, like some terrible merry-go-round?
This takes different forms for different people, but whether it’s feeling anxious too much of the time, feeling sucked down by grief, or being unable to function properly due to stress or lack of self-confidence, we are not meant to stay stuck in such a hard place.
When you don’t feel good in yourself it is because your innate healing system has become overwhelmed or jammed, and can’t move forwards to sort things out.
Explore how you can nudge your body to get things back into a better balance so you can start to feel better.
I feel so much stronger. Wow! What a huge difference! I have the strength to face things now. I am feeling more self-confident and I feel braver about facing new challenges. Lisa, 53 (feeling paralysed by insecurity)
Physical Health
Your body has its own innate healing system, without which you don’t get better from anything.
If you cut yourself, the cut heals. If you catch a cold or ‘flu, you generally get better, though maybe not immediately. Even with more serious illnesses, it is your body’s own healing processes which are responsible for the healing work.
But if this system gets stuck, then your body is not able to move forwards with healing itself, and your health problem does not improve.
Where a person’s innate healing system gets stuck is very individual, depending on what each person has inherited and what has happened in their lives.
Chronic eczema can result in itchy, itchy skin which is either dry or weeping (or sometimes both), and is red and inflamed. Your skin is your biggest organ, and goodness do you become aware of that with eczema! It’s terribly uncomfortable and can really affect your self-confidence. Creams sometimes soothe it and sometimes aggravate it, but whatever you do, it keeps coming back. Sometimes it flares up badly and life becomes very difficult. You may well have had it for years without seeing much improvement.
Cystitis (a urinary tract infection) can make going to the toilet agonising, and mean you have to keep going frequently – plus that need is often urgent. There are times when this is seriously inconvenient! You may also be getting up to pee several times at night, so you won’t be getting enough rest. If you keep getting cystitis over and over again you may well have taken several rounds of antibiotics, and found that the cystitis gets better for a while, and then comes back again, so you take more antibiotics … and so it goes on.
When your muscles and joint are swollen and painful, or when you have pressure on a nerve causing sciatica for example, pain becomes a constant in your life and you learn very quickly how exhausting that is. Your sports activities become curtailed and sometimes even getting up from a chair or crossing the room becomes a struggle. Painkillers can provide temporary relief as long as you keep taking them – but with pain like sciatica, often they are not very effective.
So what about your self-healing mechanism? If you’re not getting better, then your healing mechanism is stuck. It needs a nudge to get unstuck so your body can get itself back into gear and you can start to heal.
Explore how you can nudge your body’s healing mechanism into action so you can start to get better.
My goodness! What a difference! I was waking feeling terrible with my body screaming. I don’t feel tired and achy any more, and the pain in my hands is completely gone. Even if I garden I don’t pay for it with pain afterwards. I am so happy. I feel so much lighter – I’m a person again. Helga, 48 (joint pain for many years)
Who can benefit?
Homeopathy works for people from all stages of life, from birth to old age, and can be effective especially quickly in children. My clients span an age range of nine decades and I see people responding well to remedies from those who are very young to those in their nineties.
It’s amazing! She’s pretty much 100% after three days of your remedy. Normally we would be on antibiotics by now – and we’d probably have needed at least two rounds. Emily, 5 (loose wet cough, from Emily’s mother)
There has been a real change since your remedy. My mood is much better, I have more energy, I am exercising more, and doing more art. I have been surprised by the results of your homeopathy. I didn’t really have any expectations when we started, but it’s made a real difference. Dexter, 23 (stress and lack of self confidence)
I feel so much better on this remedy. I’m not hungry all the time now – I can’t tell you what a difference that makes. My energy is really good – and I’m not getting up to pee in the middle of the night! That’s so nice! Nora, 55 (digestive problems)
I woke up this morning and I felt NORMAL. I haven’t felt like that in months. There was no dizziness and I felt fine and as if I could get on and do things. It was amazing! Katherine, 83 (dizziness and feeling unable to do anything)
What to expect in a consultation
What is involved?
A consultation is a safe, non-judgemental space for you to tell me what is going on for you. No symptoms are unimportant, or “just your imagination”.
We will look at the issue you want to address: what it feels like, what makes it better and what makes it worse, when did it start and, if you know, why.
Talking with Catrin, for the first time I felt properly listened to and witnessed as a whole being, not just a limb that needed treatment. For this I am extremely grateful. Bella, 23 (healing after wrist surgery)
The initial consultation came as a huge relief from the lack of individualised care I’d received before. Niamh, 32 (very heavy, painful periods)
Then we will look at the characteristics of your system. Because homeopathy looks at all of you – physical, mental and emotional.
… the good news is that a lot of the information that helps me to find a remedy for you is easy stuff like:
Do you love pizza or would you rather eat a curry?
Are you a thirsty person – or not?
Do you sleep on your left side or do you prefer to lie on your back?
Are you warm-blooded or are you always the one with an extra jumper on?
Among the thousands of homeopathic remedies, it is often these little details that are the key to choosing the best remedy match for you.
For example, a remedy that will suit an anxious person who is generally warm-blooded, thirsty and loves spicy food, will absolutely not do for an anxious person who is chilly, loves ice cream, and likes to cat-nap.
So the characteristics of your organism are vital. Together with an outline of your medical history and what health issues run in your family, this helps me find the right remedy for you.
How long is a consultation?
A first consultation lasts about 90 minutes so I can cover what I need to know to find the individual remedy which is the best match for you.
Follow-up consultations last 30-40 minutes to give us a chance to explore what has changed since you took your remedy, in order to guide the choice of your next prescription. Follow-up appointments are usually spaced about 4 weeks apart.
What happens after the first consult?
After our consult I will analyse the characteristics of the issue you want to address, in combination with the characteristics of your system, and I will look for a remedy which matches both.
I will then send you a prescription for your remedy with details of how to take it, as well as where you can buy it, depending on where you are in the world.
After a month, at your follow-up consultation, we evaluate how your system has responded and what has changed, both for the issue you want to address, and for your overall person. This evaluation process takes account of how you feel mentally and emotionally, as well as physical symptoms.
Afterwards I will analyse your case and match your new state to a remedy to nudge your body to continue the healing process, and send you a new prescription.
You will probably need a number of different remedies as you move along the path to better health, so we need to change your remedy to match your current state, and stimulate your system to continue the healing process.
I feel so much better. The nausea has gone, and so has my terrible sensitivity to smell. I could barely stand at the sink to wash up! I can eat food normally now and I am sleeping at night again. I don’t spend my time awake for most of the night worrying that something awful is going to happen and not knowing how I am going to cope. Naomi, 63 (nausea and exhaustion from night nursing)
The difference is incredible. It’s hard to believe. I’m doing really, really well. The eczema on my hands, my arms and my face has all cleared up, even around my lips. My face is all smooth; even the dry skin, which has always been a problem, has gone. My skin looks really good – I just can’t remember it being this good. And I feel really good in myself as well – plus my allergies are better. Frank, 23 (eczema)
What are the remedies like?
Remedies are usually small sucrose granules, though they can also be in liquid form. The remedy is placed under your tongue and allowed to dissolve there.
Homeopathic remedies are pleasant to take, and children usually love them. The liquid forms are almost tasteless. The sucrose granules can also be placed in water, the glass given a swirl, and the water sipped if you prefer. They do not change the taste of the water.
Homeopathic remedies are quite sensitive, and you should avoid eating or drinking anything except for still water for 10 minutes before and after taking them. They also need to be kept out of the sun, and away from heat and strong smells and not be stored near computer hard drives or strong magnets.
Homeopathic remedies can be taken alongside conventional medication, as long as you do not put the two in your mouth at the same time. Homeopathic remedies will not interfere with the beneficial action of conventional medication.
What changes to expect and how to plan
What changes?
Everybody is different, so it is difficult to predict how you will react, but with the right remedy:
Physical symptoms should improve, and depending on the history and how they have been treated in the past, may well go away entirely, though how long this can take depends on how long you have had the problem.
Mental problems should start to feel more manageable. You start to get a bit of distance from things that felt insurmountable, and with this change in perspective you often start to realise that there is a road forwards, where before it all felt impossible.
The remedy Catrin prescribed not only eased the symptoms, but actually helped to restore a fast flagging confidence. Olivia, 59 (hot flushes for over a year with anxiety and loss of self-confidence)
It’s amazing. All that grief I felt for so long, it’s all gone … all that anxiety and emotional stress is just not there any more. Quite incredible. Kim, 52 (grief and anxiety)
It is so much better! I have not had that awful pain or ache or inability to walk – or that pain getting up. I can walk normally again and get on with my life, Thank you so much! Mandy, 63 (plantar fasciitis)
More about changes other clients have described here.
As well as feeling better in yourself, you often feel clearer about your situation and also gain insight into yourself as you go along.
People often find this helps the process of change, as well as being quite reassuring, because you start to have a better idea of how your system functions and reacts to life.
How long before I see a change?
The pace of change will vary from person to person; it can take from days to weeks to see some change for chronic situations, and as little as minutes for acute situations such as panic attacks.
We will be in a better position to judge how you might progress after we have seen how you respond to your remedy, but you should budget for at least three appointments initially. There are over 3000 homeopathic remedies, and whilst we usually make progress from the initial consultation, sometimes it can take more than one appointment before we hit on the right remedy.
We are going to be working on finding the right nudge for your body so you can get better and enjoy your life more.
You should make permanent gains without having to:
suppress symptoms
deal with unpleasant or damaging side effects
cope with addiction or toxicity issues
take medication forever
You are investing in better health: a better future for yourself so you can be as free as possible from physical and mental difficulties.
Free to be the person you feel is really you.
I was getting headaches anywhere there was any kind of noise, and I was really anxious about things, especially about getting things right. Since your remedy my headaches have gone away completely and my anxiety is down from 80% to 20% and still getting less. It has really made a big difference. Harry, 12 (anxiety and headaches)
Fees
I take payment in British pounds sterling. Payment can be made by credit card at the start of a consultation.
Full consultations
Full consultations are required to deal with ongoing health problems both mental and physical.
A full consultation looks at all of you, so we need enough time to consider your entire system and find a remedy to match it and nudge your body to start your move to better health. Please book a discovery call first to find out more.
First Consultation (about 90 minutes) £140 for a first appointment (approx €160 or US $188)
Book a discovery call
Follow-ups (about 40 minutes) £86 (approx €100 or US $115)
Book here
Acute Consultations
Acute consultations are for immediate problems requiring quick attention.
These are usually for symptoms which you have had for less than two weeks. A sudden flare up of longer-term problems may also need acute treatment, but you should be aware that to deal with the underlying issue will require a full consultation.
Acute consultations take approximately 20 minutes.
Acute consultation for clients seen in the last six months for a full consultation: £35 (approx €40 or US $45) Book here
Acute consultation for new clients or those not seen in the last six months: £45 (approx €54 or US $60) Book here
Clients will be sent a prescription and instructions on where they can purchase the remedy they require.
Or email urgent@catrinmerletthomeopathy.com if there is not an appointment available online.
Book a free 20 minute call now to discuss how I could help you.
I look forward to talking with you!
