Spiritual and Energy Healing works on an energetic level to help us improve and harmonise our health and wellbeing. This knowledge and skill has its roots in primordial human history.
Its essence is incorporated into many ancient religions, philosophies and teachings.
Our College of Healing was created in 1983 and has evolved from the philosophy and practice of the group called The Atlanteans (1957). Under the banner of this society they ran Healing courses inspired by the teachings of Helio-Arcanophus, a spiritual guide channeled by healer and counsellor Tony Neate. It was this spiritual philosophy that brought them together and inspired them to be Healers, mostly during the ’60s and ’70s in the London area. A group of the Atlanteans which came to Malvern was later named the Pegasus Foundation.
Our College also incorporates knowledge and understanding from other sources of the perennial philosophy or ancient wisdom.
The teacher known to us as the Lama is another influence offering us additional input and this spirit brought the heart quality much more strongly into the overall mix, providing us with a greater understanding of the healing which we are teaching today.
In the early days there were no formal certified courses in Healing and the initial impulse to develop an in-depth course came from a pioneering physician with strongly holistic views, Dr Alec Forbes, who challenged Tony and Anne Neate and others in the group at a conference to come up with a way of training healers to a higher standard than was currently the case (early 1980s). He wanted to recommend healers to his patients, but was dissatisfied with the outcomes up to that time.
At the instigation of Dr Forbes, an initial team of Dr David and Gilly Smallbone, Tony and Anne Neate, David and Diane Furlong (latterly O’Connell) and Hertha Larive formed and over two years (1981-3) managed to devise a way of successfully delivering this, despite the general feeling at that time that healing couldn’t really be taught. The College of Healing has continued to be a pioneer in the healing field in the UK, continuing to evolve its training and standards, based on the understanding that there are fundamental techniques, laws and principles of energy flow and operation, and how harmony and balance can be established for the recipients of this therapy. Our symbol encapsulates our positive loving energy. Whilst there are as many methods of healing as there are healers, these principles allow COH healers to fully develop their healing potential in their own way and be independently assessed to ensure graduates are safe and competent to be allowed to work with the public.
COH has also been intimately involved in the national arena for healing, firstly in the founding and development of the Confederation of Healing Organisations (CHO) and then with UK Healers (UKH) which was formed post House of Lords report on Complementary Medicine in 2000 to develop standards, codes of conduct and self-regulation in the movement. Diane O’Connell was instrumental in developing National Occupational Standards and the core curriculum for healing, which all healing organisations have to adhere to for their course to be accredited by UKH.
Over this time the healing movement has developed and grown to become part of the complementary health movement in this country, which has come under the health and wellbeing banner.
Throughout the years, many people have studied with the College, not all becoming practising healers. Some students were already professional nurses, doctors, complementary therapists, and health professionals of all kinds wanting to learn about healing and how they could integrate it into their own work. Others did the course for their own personal development, healing and growth.
When we first put the training together, it took place over three weeks. Each week was 6 months apart so that the learning could be incorporated and there was no written work and only a practical assessment.
Today, we have a Foundation Course over two weekends taught by facilitators and an extensive Practitioner Course, taking 12 weekends over two years, of a demanding academic standard.
In addition, there are 6 optional Advanced Healing Modules involving 24 days learning at our premises. There is an option to qualify for a Diploma by passing four out of the six modules.
Our Tutor Training Course lasts 2 years and will qualify practicing graduates of the COH to teach the Practitioner Course and the Advanced Healing modules.
We set up a College of Healing Membership Association (COHMA) in the UK in 2013.
The COH banner has been spread abroad in Spain, France, Denmark, and Japan, by Diane and others over the years. As a result of this, we set up a new membership body in Japan a few years back, for those who graduated, which is still alive and well today. COH Japan has grown under the leadership, dedication and service of Elida Matsumoto with a number of graduates from the courses over there.
Many teachers have graced the COH with their presence over the years bringing their different skills and experience to add to the College. From the original group there was Hertha Larive, Dr. David & Gilly Smallbone, Tony & Ann Neate, David and Diane Furlong (latterly O’Connell) and Tricia Thomas. The next generation included Ben Stevens, Charlie Wright, Annie Drury, Jean Danford and David Balen. The latest generation includes Meg McDonald, Jo Radley, Lizzie Gunning and Fran Doidge.
We have a Tutor Training group just completed with plans to hold another one in the future to ensure continuity.
No organisation can operate without people to do the administration, who do the daily job of keeping the College on track and making sure the courses run as well as possible and keep in touch with the students etc. Henley Thomas was the first administrator and worked hard to get the COH established. Val Stinton and Richard Booth worked well together for many years and Richard helped develop the training course for the Confederation of Healing Organisations and helped the College become accredited with the Open College Network, so we could run the courses in various adult education centres which we did for a number of years.
There have been many others who have helped, such as Buz de Villiers, and Andy Denne. For some years now we have been very ably served by Jess Abrahams, with the support of Sarah Cowell and Steven Lawrence, and with Fiona Winter editing our magazine.
Previously we ran everything from Runnings Park, set in 17 acres of lovely Malvern Countryside. For a few years now, we have had our home at Bridge Hall in the centre of Malvern where we run our courses, meetings, healing groups and workshops.
March 2024
You can read Diane O’Connell’s reminiscences of the College here.
Glossary (please click on the topics listed on the left to see more on each one)
- Atlanteans
- Helio-Arcanophus
- Dr Alec Forbes
- Tony Neate
- Ann Neate
- Hertha Larive
- Our symbol
- Dr David Smallbone
- Confederation of Healing Organisations (CHO)
- UK Healers (UKH)
- Membership Association (COHMA)
- Magazine
- Runnings Park
- Bridge Hall
Atlanteans is the group which preceded our College until The College of Healing was created in 1983. We ran Healing courses under the banner of The Atlanteans, the society which had originated in 1957 to propagate the teachings of H-A, Tony Neate’s guide. It was his spiritual philosophy that had brought us together, mostly during the '60s and '70s in the London area, and had inspired us to be Healers. The next step was to run courses when we taught others what we ourselves had learnt.
Helio-Arcanophus (commonly called H-A) has been an inspiration behind the teachings offered by our College for many years and is one of our spiritual mentors. This spirit was a High Priest of Atlantis and was channelled by members of the College, in particular by one of the original Tutors, Tony Neate. His teachings forms the basis of the Guide Book, as well a series of pamphlets and the book 'Life and Living'.
His approach to offering Healing as well as a different understanding of ways to live more positive lives has underpinned the teachings of The College of Healing. Our particular flavour reaches out in a unique way and his love and humour shine through.
During the late '70s we met Alec Forbes, a consultant physician who became the first doctor at the Bristol Cancer Help Centre. He was dissatisfied with the Healers who were unprofessional in their attitude and urged us to start a school for Healers. We were, on that occasion, attending a Wrekin Trust weekend at which the main speaker was Frederic Lionel, an elderly French mystic, whom we looked on as a French counterpart to Sir George Trevelyan!
For over 50 years Tony Neate channelled a source of higher consciousness called Helio-Arcanophus (we call him H-A) giving teachings of love, harmony and balance. These teachings have been printed in a number of books, including:
• The Guide Book (Gateway Press)
• Channelling for Everyone (Piatkus)
• New Dimensions in Healing (Eye of Gaza Press)
• Secrets of Planet Earth (Eye of Gaza Press)
Tony ran a Cancer Help Centre in Cheltenham in the ’80s. He started a health food business in the ’70s with his wife, Ann, and through this began to study nutrition. He toured Europe with Dr Alec Forbes, a retired consultant physician who became the first Medical Director of the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, and who turned to Tony for advice on the highest quality supplements that would be most beneficial for his cancer patients. Dr Forbes persuaded Tony to start a company that would make first class nutritional products, and this brought about the birth of the Nature’s Own/Cytoplan Group which is now a charity.
In 2011, Tony’s Guide, H-A, introduced him to a new finer energy called Allbeing whose emphasis is on Peace, Joy, Freedom, Harmony and Balance.
Tony worked as a healer and counsellor for nearly 30 years, specialising in past-life regression, spirit release and nutritional advice. He co-founded the College of Healing, Spirit Release Foundation and the School of Channelling and worked for many years at the College of Psychic Studies in London
Anne Neate was an Opera Singer before she met Tony and began her more spiritual life with the Atlanteans. She spent many hours editing the channeling from Tony and was a stickler for grammar and spelling! Here she continues the story of the early years of our College...
It would be another three years, 1986, before Runnings Park had its own lecture room, the Pegasus Room, which looks down the valley to Hay Bluff: so we used our barn-of-a-lounge for courses for during the first few years and, sometimes, the dining room in the hotel. Also, we had no chef in those early days, but the catering was handled with great aplomb by Tricia, Diane and Judy. The food was delicious but hard work for them!
“True Healing comes through transformational consciousness” was a phrase coined to describe our attitude to the whole healing process and the depth of understanding it encompassed.
We had quickly realised the importance of self-examination and the need to include basic counselling skills in the curriculum; it had to cover a broad range of subjects.
In order to learn and practise counselling skills, we turned to Peter Hawkins of the Bath Counselling and Psychotherapy Course, who visited us for 3 days every month for a year to get us started, after which we continued the course in Bath. Apart from The College of Healing, we needed to undergo his training for our own sakes at Runnings Park - a group of adults with 8 children between us, who had to work together on all levels to bring a Centre and a College properly into being. That meant endless meetings - it was not easy! Should we apply for an alcohol license? Should we encourage business courses? Should we serve meat dishes? All big questions at the time.
In September ’83 we embarked on our first College of Healing course with 6 students, and Hertha Larive as our Principal. Sir George Trevelyan had kindly agreed to be our Patron.
The preparation work we had put in during the previous year paid off and, apart from a few minor adjustments, the Course remained the same for many years, and hundreds of students came through our doors. We later added Post-Graduate courses on a Part 4, in which we were able to teach particular subjects in great depth. For many people, Runnings Park became their ‘spiritual home’.
After undertaking the COH course a second time, some of our earlier students, such as Ben Stevens, and later Annie Drury, became tutors.
Wendy Harris ran the Healing Clinic in the new therapy Centre which had been built by Henley and Tricia Thomas, and we were able to offer a number of Complementary Therapies.
In fact, we had 3 offices on the premises by then: The College of Healing office which was run by Richard Booth, the Administrator, and Val Stinton; the Pegasus office run by Henley; and the Runnings Park office run by Diana Morshead.
The title, The Atlanteans, had changed to ‘The Pegasus Foundation’ when started up in the 1980’s, a name inspired by Tony, and it was under this banner that all of our courses, apart from The College of Healing, were administered.
We had many people helping us. Paul Mayo, Tony Roeber and others wrote interesting articles for the newsletters, illustrated by excellent
drawings. By then there were two newsletters, COH and Pegasus, and Helen Balen – David Balen’s first wife – helped me in editing them.
1986 was an exciting year, with the launch of our book giving the story of our journey, Where’s there Love by Annie Wilson; and also the Pegasus Room being opened by Spenny, Marquis of Northampton. The COH courses had built up to 20-24 students at a time and it was a joy to use that lovely room. We were amazed at the transformations which took place within students over the two or so years which each course took to complete. It was very rewarding. Hertha needed to retire from being Principal and David Smallbone and I became Co-Principals.
And so it continued until 1995, when I was approaching 70. I decided that it was time for me to retire and hand over the reins to a younger person. Diane had come into my mind and I put the proposition to her. She wanted to ‘think about it’, which she did over the following two months, after which we were delighted that her answer was in the affirmative. We felt she was ‘the right person at the right time’ to take The College of Healing forward into its next phase. It has been for me an amazing and fulfilling experience.
Hertha Larive, a well-known speaker trained in Esoteric Psychology and Healing whom we had met in Cheltenham, was also present at the Wrekin Trust weekend and expressed an interest in being involved. During ’81 and ’82, a group of us met in our homes with Hertha once a month to design a substantial and professional Healing course.
Created initially by Bobbin and developed by Jean Danford, our symbol combines strong protection from Archangel Michael with the caduceus, a symbol of healing from Greek times, which is also incorporated in the NHS symbol. Our heart in the symbol radiates our unique loving intention and unconditional love. The colours represent the chakras and the staff of the caduceus is held and supported by the Malvern Hills where we have always been based.
Dr David Smallbone was the partner of Gilly Soper, whom he had met at a Body Mind and Soul gathering. When Gilly heard that we were planning an extensive Healing course she said; “Oh you must come and meet my partner. He’s a doctor and a Homeopath and he’s interested in Healing”. So, after an initial meeting, David joined us at some of the monthly meetings. Also Gilly’s sister, Bobbin, was the artist who designed our original symbol of the Caduceus within the circle which in the 1990’s was superceded by Jean Danford’s present version. We were delighted to have a doctor on board – it gave the College a more professional standing, and, in the old days, was especially helpful for the ‘Systems of the body’ and lectures on ‘Recognising the Signs of Emotional, Mental and Spiritual problems’ and ‘The role of Environmental Health’.
David also helped with the accreditation system - how a person would qualify to become an Associate, a Member or a Fellow - and the necessary paperwork, practical demonstrations and personal interviews that were entailed. In fact, in the early days we had two other doctors, Andrew Pearce and Peter Mansfield, who also took some of the doctors’ lectures.
In 1986 Hertha Larive decided her life was so busy in other directions that she needed to retire from her role as Principal. The result was that David Smallbone and Ann Neate became Co-Principals.
Diane O’Connell found that working with David was easy, as he was really supportive and helpful and a good person to talk things through with. He was a great teacher and the students found his talks on the body interesting and fascinating as he had the ability to put it over in an easily understandable manner. He was a pioneer at a time when for a Doctor to be a homoeopath and Healer was rare. His knowledge of Health and Remedies was vast and his interest in natural approaches to health
led him into working in an expert consultancy role with a number of vitamin and mineral companies, helping them to develop or improve their product ranges for the benefit of their customers and clients as well as latterly being a lecturer for a nutrition college in the Republic of Ireland.
He was philosophical, humorous and generous with his time and advice. He is missed by his family, colleagues, students that knew him and the movement as a whole.
Confederation of Healing Organisations (CHO) is our umbrella body whose criteria we adhere to, along with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC).
UK Healers (UKH) deals with standards of education and was formed post House of Lords report on Complementary Medicine in 2000.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldselect/ldsctech/123/12301.htm
College of Healing Membership Association (COHMA) is a professional membership body created in 2013.
https://www.collegeofhealing.org/membership-routes/membership-levels/
Our magazine is published once or twice yearly. In it we share with each other our Healing news, events and interesting articles. https://www.collegeofhealing.org/magazine/
Four families - Tony and Ann Neate, David and Diane Furlong (now Balen) Henley and Tricia Thomas and Judy and Mick Jewell - moved to Runnings Park in July 1981, three weeks before the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Realising we were situated on the Worcestershire Beacon, we rushed up to the top on that special occasion and were initiated into the lighting of the beacons as they blazed far and wide across the country
We were four families, eager to start running courses in our newly formed centre. But there was a great deal of transformation which had to take place first in order to make one gigantic house stretched around a central courtyard into four good-sized houses plus a hotel with a swimming pool and, eventually, 25 bedrooms. David Furlong, who was then married to Diane O’Connell, was the prime mover and architect of all the changes that had to be made, including the Pegasus Room, five years later.
Bridge Hall in the centre of Malvern is a very convenient venue for our courses, meetings and Healing sessions near to the centre of Malvern with easy parking and access to a wide range of accommodation.