Complement Ther Med. 2000 Dec; 8(4): 234-40.

The story of naturopathic education in Australia.

Evans S.

School of Natural and Complementary Medicine, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia. sevans2@scu.edu.au

Early naturopaths in Australia learned their skills via a loose combination of self-education and an apprenticeship-style system. Naturopathic education developed gradually and outside mainstream education until the last decade. Now it has formalized to include university training. These changes in education are paralleled by dramatic increases in popularity in the practice of natural medicine. Legislative changes regarding the provision of higher education by private institutions, plus the popular acceptance of natural medicine in the last decade, have led to the current situation where degrees are available to naturopath via a number of different pathways.Copyright 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.