A different way of caring? An exploration of alternative health care relationships

What does ‘care’ mean in contemporary society? How are caring relationships practised in different contexts? What resources do individuals and collectives draw upon in order to care for, care with and care about themselves and others? How do such relationships and practices relate to broader social processes? This chapter explores these questions by revisiting two ethnographic studies. One study on alternative therapies of self discovery and the other on the practice of Western Herbal Medicine. These two alternative health practices can appear very different at first. The authors show how the practitioners in both studies share many similar beliefs, hopes and approaches when delivering care to their clients.