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Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH, is a professional homeopath with a special interest in children challenged with neurological, neurodevelopmental, immunological and behavioural disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, sensory processing disorders, ADHD, learning disabilities, epilepsy, tics, night terrors, anxiety disorders, excessive aggression and jealousy.
Anke is also available to assist those with more common childhood complaints such as bed-wetting, eczema, allergies, asthma and ear infections. Please note that homeopathy does not treat conditions or disease per se but rather stimulates the individual's ability to heal itself. There are no specific homeopathic remedies for any of the above conditions, it is always the individual that is being treated. Anke's approach focuses on addressing the underlying causes of illness, including traumatic events, lack of recovery after infections, exposure to toxins and more. Anke has been in clinical practice for 29 years. Adults are also occasionally accepted, please inquire. |
Education |
Anke Zimmermann holds a yoga teacher's diploma from Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Toronto, a Naturopathic Doctor's degree from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (previously the Ontario College of Naturopathic Medicine) and advanced training in classical homeopathy from the Canadian Academy of Classical Homeopathy, leading to Fellowship of the Canadian Academy of Homeopathy designation. She also holds an Assistant Early Childhood Education certificate from Sprott-Shaw College in Victoria.
Please note that as of November 2, 2018 she is no longer practicing as a licensed naturopathic physician as recent changes to the College's Immunization Standards would have made it difficult for her to continue to serve many of her clients, including those with vaccine injuries and autism. As a result she has voluntarily withdrawn her license and is continuing to work as a homeopath, which was her main area of interest all along. Anke's training includes nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy, lifestyle counselling, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, applied kinesiology testing, IV therapies, bodywork, physical manipulation and various energy healing techniques. Upon graduation from naturopathic college, Anke Zimmermann was honoured with awards for achieving the highest grades in the class in both botanical medicine and homeopathy. Her favorite modality of treatment has always been homeopathy and she has taken additional training in homeopathy with some of the world's best homeopathic teachers, including Andre Saine, George Vithoulkas, Louis Klein, Rajan Sankaran, Sadhna Thakka, Alfons Geukens and many others. In addition Anke is a natural medical intuitive, a skill refined through many years of close contact with thousands of clients as well as through daily meditation and other consciousness practices. |
Achievements |
Anke founded the Equinox Centre for Natural Health in Newmarket, Ontario, in 1994. By 2005 it had grown into the major complementary health care centre in York Region, offering the services of ten practitioners, including five naturopathic doctors, an acupuncturist, a massage therapist, a nutritionist and a counsellor.
In 2004 Anke was honored with a 'Naturopathic Medicine Achievement Award' at the "Celebration of Women" event in York Region for outstanding contributions to the community. She taught classical homeopathy at the Ontario College of Homeopathic Medicine for three years and guest-lectured at the Ontario College of Naturopathic medicine. Anke has also given countless presentations on all aspects of natural health care to the general public, businesses, service organizations, schools and colleges. She has also written hundred of articles for various publications, including Naturopathic Doctor's News and Review, Hpathy and Simillimum and is working on a book. In January 2015 she was invited to speak about her work with homeopathy and developmental disorders at an international Neurology and Biochemistry Conference in Portland. Here is a link to the presentation at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. She has also presented at the BC Annual Conference for Naturopathic Physicians and is a regular speaker at the BC Society for Homeopaths. In March of 2017 she presented a poster at an international autoimmunity congress in Bologna, Italy on the use of homeopathy in the diagnosis and treatment of vaccine injuries. In October of 2019 she was a speaker at the International College of Integrative Medicine. Her presentation, titled 'Developmental Disorders, Vaccines and Homeopathy' received a standing ovation by 80 medical doctors, osteopaths and nurses. If you are interested in having her as a speaker please don't hesitate to contact her, she is very happy to share her knowledge. Anke is a member of the British Columbia Association of Homeopaths. |
My Story
Over the years I've had many people ask about my personal journey with naturopathic and homeopathic medicine, so here it is.
From a very early age I was filled with a burning curiosity about the natural world. I was always outside, catching bugs, butterflies, lizards and mice, collected and pressed plants and flowers and then examined everything with a magnifying glass.
I also raised hundreds of caterpillars to butterflies and a few thousand tadpoles to frogs, bred fish and conducted a 'genetic experiment' with my guinea pig - much to my mother's dismay. But I just had to know what would happen if I mated my sleek black female piggy to my friend's multi-coloured, long-haired one!
My father had a great collection of books, including a few by Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich, which I happily consumed at the tender age of 14. Now I was hooked not only on the mysteries of plant and animal life, but also on those of the human mind.
Another passion - the exploration of the human soul and consciousness - was planted around age 20 when I was introduced to the writings of Krishnamurti and Paramahansa Yogananda. I also came to Canada at that time and just reveled in the wonderful diversity of humanity in Toronto, a far cry from a semi-rural existence in very white, very conservative, Christian Germany.
From a very early age I was filled with a burning curiosity about the natural world. I was always outside, catching bugs, butterflies, lizards and mice, collected and pressed plants and flowers and then examined everything with a magnifying glass.
I also raised hundreds of caterpillars to butterflies and a few thousand tadpoles to frogs, bred fish and conducted a 'genetic experiment' with my guinea pig - much to my mother's dismay. But I just had to know what would happen if I mated my sleek black female piggy to my friend's multi-coloured, long-haired one!
My father had a great collection of books, including a few by Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich, which I happily consumed at the tender age of 14. Now I was hooked not only on the mysteries of plant and animal life, but also on those of the human mind.
Another passion - the exploration of the human soul and consciousness - was planted around age 20 when I was introduced to the writings of Krishnamurti and Paramahansa Yogananda. I also came to Canada at that time and just reveled in the wonderful diversity of humanity in Toronto, a far cry from a semi-rural existence in very white, very conservative, Christian Germany.
Discovering naturopathic medicine and especially homeopathy, was a total revelation for me. Here was a profession which allowed me to fully explore all of my different passions in life and help people by doing so. What could be better?
While still in naturopathic college, about 30 years ago, I had a friend who claimed to have cured his son's autism with natural methods. This was very intriguing to me as I thought that autism was incurable, although it was not a very common condition back then.
After graduation I became ever more interested in childhood developmental and behavioural disorders and saw many children who were affected by such conditions. The methods I used were able to help many of them, at least a little, but not all. One child in particular remains in my mind: A severely autistic boy who was extremely hyperactive and almost totally out of control. He literally climbed the curtains and walls if he was not smearing them with feces. I tried everything I could to help him but failed.
I also witnessed the struggles of personal friends of mine who, tragically, had first one and then a second son with autism. Their lives were very chaotic and challenging for many years.
Then in 2011 I discovered the work of Dr. Tinus Smits and it completely changed the way I approach autism and many other childhood developmental and behavioural issues. He discovered that, in susceptible individuals, various toxins and stressors, including medications such as antibiotics, Tylenol and aneasthetics, as well as vaccines and common chemicals such as flame retardants and bisphenol-A could exert combined pressures on the developing nervous system to trigger autism and related conditions. He developed protocols which helped to identify and address all these different types of stressors in a really elegant way.
For me it was an extraordinary discovery and quadrupled my tool box to assist these children literally overnight. Around the same time I noticed a big uptick of parents telling me that their child had suffered adverse reactions to vaccines, which came as a bit of a shock as I had not thought that vaccines could be problematic previously.
I then embarked on several years of intense research into vaccines and vaccine safety, over 10,000 hours by now. It has been a devastating journey into a deep, dark, rabbit hole. Anyone who seriously investigates this topic will come away feeling very disturbed about what we are doing to the children of the world. Don't take my word for it, find out for yourself.
Anyway, the good news is that there are now approaches which can help to identify and heal vaccine injuries as well as the many other chemical injuries children suffer from, which are contributing to the increasingly common chronic childhood conditions, from allergies and asthma to all kinds of neurological and developmental concerns.
If only I would have known about these approaches 20+ years ago when I saw that little out-of-control autistic boy. I still wonder sometimes how his life may have unfolded. My own life is now completely dedicated to helping such children and their families and also to educating others about such promising new therapeutic methods. It saddens me tremendously to see so many children being diagnosed with these disabling conditions and not receiving all the help they really need. Fortunately, with the work of Dr. Smits, I, and many other practitioners, can now better assist many more of these children and families.
Sadly, the topic of vaccine injuries and especially autism and vaccines is and remains highly controversial to all but the parents of vaccine-injured children and a handful of scientists and doctors around the world. The College of Naturopathic Physicians of BC changed its bylaws regarding immunization standards in 2018 as a result of one complaint filed by a well-known homeopathic skeptic from the UK. The College has taken the official position that there is no evidence linking autism and vaccine injuries and has forbidden the naturopathic physicians of BC to 'counsel' parents of autistic children regarding the possibility of vaccine injury.
(You can read the entire missive regarding these changes here https://cnpbc.bc.ca/changes-to-the-colleges-immunization-standard-and-prohibition-of-cease-therapy-2/, exerpt here: "It is the generally held view of the College, on behalf of the naturopathic medical profession, that for most patients, the benefits of the vaccinations recommended by the BC Centre for Disease Control significantly outweigh the risks. The theory that vaccination injury is a cause of autism is not supported by scientific literature at this time. Therefore, naturopathic doctors must not counsel patients, including autistic patients and/or their parents or guardians, that vaccinations are a likely cause of autism. Any naturopathic doctor who counsels a patient and/or his or her parent or guardian that vaccinations are a likely cause of autism may be investigated by the Inquiry Committee of the College and may be subject to disciplinary action."
I tried my best to provide hundreds of studies to the College linking vaccines to autism through aluminum, immune activation, auto-immune phenomena and more, but they squarely disregarded the huge pile of studies and research I delivered.
So, since my work had taken me squarely into this area of controversy I decided to voluntarily withdraw my license in order to be able to continue to freely serve the special population under my care as well as to continue to speak my truth and to share the concerning findings these families, some scientists, myself and others have discovered. I did not want to risk having my license forcefully removed simply because I was doing the right thing and helping these families. This was a hard choice but the better one.
Science is an ongoing process and who knows what will happen over the next few years. Meanwhile, it felt like the morally right thing for me to do in order to live with integrity.
The College was ultimately most helpful throughout this process and supported me in this decision.
Meanwhile I am continuing to serve a now international clientele of families with children on the spectrum and am also now creating a therapeutic preschool for children on the spectrum in Sooke, BC. This will be a pilot project, incorporating many different therapies that benefit these special children. It's an exciting new adventure and will hopefully help a lot of families!