Eurythmy therapy training
On 11 October the new eurythmy therapy foundation training on the Goetheanum Campus was inaugurated in the presence of faculty, guest lecturers and supporters.
When the new eurythmy therapy training started on 12 October with nine students, the I A O was the guiding motif: it stands for the healthy human being, the archetype for every therapist.
As a result of the decision by the 2016 Swiss referendum to include Anthroposophical Medicine as a complementary-medical specialty in the state-funded healthcare provision, the profession of eurythmy therapist has also become recognized.
In order to offer a full eurythmy therapy training – up until now a foundation course in eurythmy was required – the Medical Section and the Performing Arts Section have developed a training course as a pilot project (Anthroposophy Worldwide 11/2019) with several graduation levels: four years of full-time training result in a certificate as ‘complementary therapist’; after one more year of studies, graduates will receive the Goetheanum Diploma issued by the Medical Section; and after another year they can take the official Swiss specialist examination (“Höhere Fachprüfung”).
Georg Soldner, the deputy head of the Medical Section, told the students that it was important to later pass on the experience they were gaining now as learners during training to their patients, so that they could be learners, too. Because it was essential, he said, to awaken in patients the will to get better and to practise for themselves. Others expressed the view that it was more important than ever for graduates of a state-recognized training to speak “the language of the authorities”, not least in order to explain to them “what we are doing here”