Anthroposophy at Park Attwood
Park Attwood is a doctor-led clinic which uses anthroposophic medicine alongside orthodox approaches. It's set in huge gardens in the Worcestershire countryside. It was shortlisted for our 2007 Integrated Health Award.
There is space for a dozen inpatients who tend to be very sick, with illnesses like cancer or ME. As well as continuing patients' conventional treatments, it offers counselling, art therapy, massage therapy, eurythmy (a form of movement), homeopathic and herbal remedies, nutritional therapy and time with nature.
It also supports outpatients with a wide range of illnesses and conditions. The anthroposophic approach supports patients to explore the spiritual meaning of illness and how illness can initiate an inner journey, which goes hand in hand with the outer medical experience.
One patients comments 'It felt that up to my stay at Park Attwood, my health care had been compartmentalised with different professionals separately attending to my needs (physical, emotional and spiritual); at Park Attwood I found an approach that really included the whole of me in its consideration and which can truly be called “holistic”, a term that is so freely, but perhaps so often inaccurately used.'
The doctors and nurses are conventionally trained, and see the anthroposophical approach as an extension to orthodox medicine, not a replacement. For staff, the work is rewarding but emotionally challenging. One nurse comments 'Patients are not defined by their illness. Because the therapeutic approach encourages patients to meet all aspects of themselves, the nursing can be demanding'.
Much of the food on offer is organic and patients are encouraged to exercise within their capacities by walking and helping in the garden. There is even a swimming pool.
Not all of the acutely ill patients referred to Park Attwood will get well. Perhaps what's most remarkable about the centre is that it helps people to accept and cope with their illnesses - a quiet place after a rollercoaster of medical interventions.
A patient fighting an aggressive cancer comments ‘the care I have received at Park Attwood, the different way of viewing illness and the relationships I have made, have all contributed to a turnaround in how I feel. The first day I went there I decided it was a place where I would be content to die. Now I see it as a place where I am learning to live.’
