Madeleine’s Credentials
Madeleine Townsend has been a practitioner of Chinese Medicine and Homeopathy since 1986. She studied shiatsu, massage and Chinese medicine from the Institut des Médecines Orientales du Canada in 1986, and then travelled to China, where she obtained a diploma in Acupuncture, Massage and Chinese Medicine from the Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1988.
Beginning in 1989, she studied homeopathic medicine at the Institut des Thérapeutiques Naturelles in Montreal, and obtained a diploma in 1993, while concurrently obtaining a diploma in Advanced Studies in Acupuncture and Energics in Chinese Medicine from l’École Supérieure d’Acuponcture de France in Montreal.
Following that, she studied for two years at the Institut National de Medicine Chinoise Canada-Chine in Montreal, obtaining a diploma in Advanced Diagnostic and Therapeutics in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She also obtained a diploma in Advanced Diagnostic and Therapeutics in Homeopathy, (Sankaran, Scholten, Vermeulen et al), Focus 20/20, Montreal, studying from 2001 to 2004.
Chinese medicine views the human body as a network of energy systems which ideally are in harmony, not only with each other but also with the patient’s emotional and physical environment and with the Earth and its seasons.
-M.M. Townsend
What to Expect
On your first visit, Madeleine will try to obtain a thorough understanding of your health and the exact symptoms you are experiencing, so she can find a remedy compatible with you and your symptoms. During this confidential, in-depth case-taking process, she will want to know precise details of your current illness, but will also consider other aspects of your health including your past medical history, diet, lifestyle and personality. You will be asked many questions (and some of them will seem strange for those not used to homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine) as she builds up a picture of your unique makeup, a bit like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
This first consultation usually takes between one and two hours. A follow-up consultation will usually be one week after the first visit, although in some cases it may be sooner. This session will be shorter, and Madeleine will ask about changes that have occurred, and, using her detailed notes for reference, decide on the next course of treatment.
The number of consultations needed is difficult to predict – it depends on a number of factors such as your age, how long you have had the symptoms, the depth of the diseased state, your response to the acupuncture treatment and to the prescribed remedy. Most often, once the initial presenting symptoms have been resolved, the interval between visits lengthens, and we will decide together when to revisit.