Friends of ‘The Centre for Integrative Care’
Supporting a Holistic Approach to Living with Life Changing Medical Conditions
As a religiously and politically neutral organisation, we offer a co-production approach to better health and well being for the people of Scotland
Welcome to the Friends of The Centre for Integrative Care
Hello and welcome to the Friends website. The Friends charity are an independent group of people with a common vision. That vision is to support the work of the Centre for Integrative Care in any way that will ensure patients and society have access to holistic and integrative medicine and care as part of the NHS system. We will also work with the community and collaborate with other organisations including health care specialties, third sector and health and social care partnerships to ensure access for all.
Why do we support the Centre for Integrative Care and why do we think it is special? Well, many of us attended mainstream NHS services before attending the Centre. For a variety of reasons, our condition baffled many of the mainstream services we attended. However, in our journey through this system, we managed to find ourselves at the door of the NHS Centre for Integrative Care. This offered many of us a lifeline. As we and health care professionals struggled to make sense of our condition and suffering, the Centre supported us to explore and make sense of what was going on. As one patient describes, “It just managed to join the dots up of all the specialities I had attended and made sense of the bigger picture for me”
read more
The Friends, who were previously known as the “Friends of the Homeopathic Hospital”, have been operating since 1995. Run by a small independent committee, we are a fundraising charity. Our main objectives are to promote and advocate for the welfare of the patients involved with the Centre. We can assist by financial means and voluntary practical help in order to improve the quality of care or the environment for the patients attending the unit.
The Friends also work to create, encourage, foster and maintain the interest of the public in the Centre and its work by providing a link between the Centre and the community that it serves.
Recently we have also become more active in advocating for the Centre and its services. We are currently exploring ways to work in partnership with other agencies to enhance and improve self-management support and care options. If you would like to get involved with our new activist group then please get in touch.
This website will hopefully help to achieve better engagement with you all through offering up to date information on the activities associated with integrative care and providing online and face to face talks, groups and classes.
If there is any way that you think we could make things better, please let us know.
Thanks
Rona
What can the Centre for
Integrative Care do for you?
Centre of Excellence
The Centre for Integrative Care is a service recognised by many as a centre of excellence. It is an award winning service delivering person-centred care which respects individual autonomy, offering support and approaches that puts the individual at the Center of everything they do. The service offers specialised skills and treatments delivered by experienced practitioners, using innovative ways to meet the challenges of complex multi-morbidity and long-term conditions in the varied population it serves.
What is Integrative Care
“The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well.” Hippocrates
Integrative care refers to increasing the harmony and coherence of your whole being. It focuses on the person, not on either the disease or a particular therapy. Integrative care is intended to promote and enhance well being, resilience, and the realisation of an individual’s potential capacities for self-care, self-regulation and self-healing.
Information & Training
The Friends offer a variety of online classes including seated yoga, tai chi and meditation and relaxation. If you have a particular class that you would like the Friends to support, please let us know by using the ‘contact us’ link above. For more information on our current classes, look under ‘Services’ then ‘Group and Classes’.
Online Drop In ZoomCafe
We are hosting a one hour ‘Drop in’ Cafe on a Monday at 10am and Wednesdays at 3pm for those who are able to join us by zoom. If you would like to join us, then please get in contact by using the contact button below and we will send you the link. If you don’t know how to use zoom and would like some support to get started, then get in touch too. We would be happy to help if we can.
Click here to find out about our Zoom Cafe
Talking shop
Some of you maybe finding the whole thing with the coronavirus challenging and worrying. Not being able to get out and about, seeing family or friends or having an long term condition that makes things even more worrying for you. If you are struggling and need any support, then please let us know. The best way is via the contact link at the top right of this page. Its easy and quick. Go on, give it a go, we are friends afterall.
High Approval Rating
The Friends would like you to comment on your experience of being referred or using the Centre for Integrative Care. Did you have any issue with getting a referral? How was the care like that you received? Let us know. Get in touch and give us your feedback. Better still, why not give your opinion on the Care Opinion website
Help The Friends to do more to support the work of the Centre for Integrative Care.
Support us by buying our 25th anniversary badge
Our Mission is to Support the CIC & Secure & Safeguard it’s Future
Who are Friends of CIC?
Friends are current and past patients, retired healthcare workers, family of patients, indeed anyone who sees what a wonderful quality of life improvement that people with chronic conditions can achieve through CIC and give up their time to spread the word.
health
holistic
wellbeing
I am a clinician fortunate to have worked at the Centre for Integrative Care for over twenty years, as have quite a few of us. The Friends have been around for over 25 years to support our work. The ultimate aim of the Centre is to enhance people’s capacity for self-care and to help them to manage their life and the stresses that contribute to imbalance and disease and ill-health. Through exploring links between the mind and body, and the possible stressors within their life and offering different therapeutic approaches, individuals are helped to become better at self-regulation and self-care – thus improving and sustaining overall health and wellbeing, and quality of life.
Our work is about meeting people where they are, sharing their journeys and helping them to explore and create better health within their own situation and to re-build connections – with themselves, with their families and with their communities. We recognise it is not easy for people to engage in improving their health when they have complex problems and long-term conditions. The Centre is there to help support people with self-management and encourage self-care and regain confidence and a sense of empowerment, and to give a renewal of hope and recognition of true potential for living.
The Friends are pivotal – they help keep the service grounded and ‘in touch’ through their feedback, comments, and suggestions. They allow ‘befriending’ and an introduction to the services the Centre can offer to those who may not otherwise have heard of it. They allow opportunities for people to meet (virtually and in person) and form a supportive and forward-thinking community by paying attention to social links and a sense of connection with the bigger picture. I like to meet the Friends at events – they are a fun group of individuals, all quite different, and considerate of each other and encouraging. I enjoy hearing the ideas bounce about and they always give me something new to think about. Fund-raising from the Friends has been warm-hearted and of great support and enabled a lot to be achieved through their generosity over many years. I really appreciate having the Friends and wish them well with our grateful thanks on behalf of all the staff – to the next 25 years and beyond!
Upcoming Meetings
Afternoon Bash
Wednesday Afternoon Meeting Online Click Here
Monday Coffee Morning
Coffee Morning via zoom
Latest From Our Blog
Faculty of Homeopathy
FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE Founded in 1844 and incorporated by Parliament in 1950 the Faculty of Homeopathy supports registered medical professionals with their homeopathic practice. They are the only homeopathic organisation to be recognised by professional...
Launch of the MEP Interest Group on Integrative Medicine and Health
Need more information on EuroCAM click here Today we seen the launch of the European Interest group on integrative care and health.The newly established Interest Group on Integrative Medicine & Health continues the work of the former MEP Interest Group on CAM....
Helping Ease Anxiety and Depression after Stroke – Glasgow Caledonian University Research
Helping Ease Anxiety and Depression following Stroke: HEADS: UP Online course Glasgow Caledonian University are looking for individuals who might like to take part in their research. You are invited to take part in research about anxiety and depression...
CROSS-PARTY GROUP ON CHRONIC PAIN – ELECTIONS
If you would like to get involved with the Chronic Pain Group then please contact Dorothy-Grace Elder by email: dg.elder@ntlworld.com More to follow
Health and wellbeing as fundamental as GDP – National Performance Framework
As you know, 'The Friends' are politically and religiously neutral. We don't have any affiliation to political or religious groups. However, as we move and get ready for the Scottish Elections in May 2021, how do you think the Scottish Government has performed. Have...
The Research Council for Complementary Medicine
The vision of RCCM is to promote research that will widen the availability of and access to safe and effective complementary medicine for patients within the National Health Service in the UK, to help prevent disease and improve patients' health and quality of life. ...
European Congress for Integrative Medicine
European Congress for Integrative Medicine The European Congress for Integrative Medicine aims to bring together medical practitioners, healthcare professionals, therapists, researchers and health politicians to facilitate the advancement of healthcare systems that...
A call for help – The Friends need you!
With so much work to be done during this difficult time to keep our members connected, we need to ensure we have a full and active committee. We are therefore looking to our members to get more involved. We currently have vacancies on the committee that we need to...
Homeopathy Research – Case for Homeopathy
About homeopathy Homeopathy is a natural form of medicine used by over 200 million people worldwide. It is safe, gentle and effective for a wide range of conditions. Homeopathy is also cheap. In France, where it is widely available as a healthcare option, a government...
Covid-19 Research with Glasgow University
Making our voices heard - the experiences of disabled people and COVID-19 Are you a disabled person? We would like to talk to you about the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Glasgow and The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine are conducting research...