Being a homeopath in Ontario

I often get questions about what the scope of practice is for homeopaths in Ontario from people who are thinking of moving. I love being a homeopath here - I get a protected title, some privileges as a health care professional, but freedom to practice how I like.

Homeopaths in Ontario are regulated by the College of Homeopaths of Ontario as health care professionals, unlike a lot of other provinces and states in the U.S. This offers the benefit of only being able to call yourself a homeopath if you have graduated an accredited program. These programs require hours homeopathic-specfic study and practice under a master homeopath. This is great for patients, because if someone is calling themselves a homeopath, then it means they have lots of training (watch out for “homeopathic practitioners” - these are people who have NOT registered with the college, and may not have as much training). However, unlike some countries like India, homeopaths here are not trained in diagnosis, lab work, minor procedures like injections, etc. So we cannot do any of those “protected acts”. So anyone moving from a place where homeopaths are considered “doctors” would have to practice differently here.

If you are a doctor in another country and want to practice homeopathy (and keep your doctor title) in Ontario, you can consider training as a naturopath- you are able to practice with some doctor privileges (you can diagnose, perform injections, acupuncture, and internal exams as a naturopath) but many naturopaths also prescribe homeopathy, so you can still use it in your daily practice.

Homeopaths can do physical exams, but only external ones (no gyne’s!) and cannot give a diagnosis.

Other than not being able to do any protected acts, there are a fair number of other “no can do’s” but they are mostly about marketing - no client testimonials on your website, no putting 15 different letters after your name, no saying you specialize in anything, etc. These are considered ways of showing you are better than other homeopaths out there, and are therefore not supposed to be done. These can be annoying - I like these things when I am a patient, because it lets me know what kind of extra training the person has done, if they have lots of experience in a certain area, etc. But oh well, I consider it a very minor inconvenience.

If you want more information, check out the College of Homeopaths of Ontario’s website or leave a comment below!