Naturopaths may encounter people with life-limiting illnesses who pass away whilst in their clinical care. The loss of clients due to death can be traumatic. This article explores a practitioner’s experience of grief as a naturopathic clinician and illustrates the negative impact of insufficient recognition of personal needs, and the risk of burnout, compassion fatigue and bereavement maladjustment that can inevitably lead to poor personal health, onset of disease and loss of professional identity and practice.

Self-care and professional support that enables naturopaths to emotionally process intense experiences, recognise boundaries and limits, express gratitude, and re-charge can improve personal insight, ensure ongoing compassionate care of patients, and enrich clinical practice enjoyment. In the context of providing naturopathy, self-care plays a crucial role in continued engagement, interest and satisfaction. It may also help to prevent complications including post-traumatic stress syndrome.

These abstracts are brief summaries of articles in recent issues of medical journals. Articles selected are of a general nature for the information of practitioners of naturopathy and herbal medicine. A dominant theme is often present throughout the journals, which will be reflected in the reviews.

These abstracts are brief summaries of articles which have appeared in recent issues of herbal medicine journals, some of which may be held in the NHAA library.

The AJHNM-based CPE questionnaire system is a voluntary system designed to assist members in the accumulation of NHAA CPE points. Questions are divided into the appropriate subject categories (herbal medicine and medical science) and each question refers to an article in this issue of the Australian Journal of Herbal and Naturopathic Medicine. Points accumulated through completion of these questions should be recorded in the NHAA CPE diary. Each completed question is worth one mark in the relevant category. Your completed CPE diary should be returned with your membership renewal at the end of the calendar year. For further information, please see the NHAA CPE Members’ Manual on the NHAA website www.nhaa.org.au.