I’m pretty well known amongst friends and colleagues for striking out against the tide in life generally, so it’s probably no surprise that in this time of credit crunch and belt-tightening, I’ve taken on a new, long term financial commitment (and no, Becky, I promise it’s not a monthly delivery of new shoes). Just as we should probably be counting every penny, Paul and I have signed up to sponsor a child through SOS Children, paying a set amount each month via direct debit.

As a therapist, if I’m going to expect my patients to entrust me with helping them to heal, I need to give regular attention to my own self-healing and self-development. Through self-reflection, I’ve gradually come to realise that the issue of motherhood and caring for little ones might be a relevant factor on my own healing journey. This means, of course, that part of my motivation to become a child sponsor is in fact somewhat self-serving, which is probably unavoidable, given that, in the end, something good almost always seems to come out of something bad.

Paul and I don’t have kids, largely because I spent most of my late twenties and thirties recovering from near-paralysis due to multiple sclerosis, and while we’ve discussed IVF, fostering or adoption at length, none of these options feel quite right to us. It’s probably fair to say that Paul’s more comfortable with our childless state than me: as a soft-hearted anarchist who despairs at the state of the world, he’s not keen on “dragging a soul from the heavens” in order to make a baby (bear with me here – he’s studying the Cathars for his history degree at the moment, and apparently that’s what they believed – it’s not a view I share).

On the other hand, I have occasionally wondered whether I’m going to regret not having children, even though my friends’ kids, and all the young patients I treat, are a constant source of joy in my life. For me, it’s not so much wanting to be pregnant, go through childbirth or rear my own biological child: it’s more about having a stake in the future generation and “a place to put the love”, as my friend Sue describes it.

We’d been considering sponsoring a child for a while, and spent quite a bit of time researching the various charities working in this field, finally narrowing the choice down to SOS Children or WorldVision. When we learnt that all SOS Children’s UK operations are funded through gift aid (where the tax paid on donations is claimed back by the charity), so that all our donations would be spent abroad providing a safe family set-up for an orphaned child, the decision was clear.

Because the supported children in the SOS villages have been orphaned, donors are encouraged to write to the child they sponsor, so I’ve been busy choosing a few postcards and photographs of Brighton & Hove, and the surrounding scenery, to go with our letter, in the hope that they’ll be useful for the child’s geography class. The sponsored child can write back, if he or she wants to, and if he or she is learning English, but there’s no pressure on them to do so, which is just as it should be. I’m well aware that becoming a sponsor like this is just a tiny gesture from a couple of hugely privileged Westerners, and I genuinely believe that kind acts tend to beget kindness and good fortune, so I suspect that we may end up getting as much out of the relationship as our sponsored child will. Think about it: doing something good for someone else also makes you feel good, so can it ever be 100% noble? You might remember an episode of the 1990s series Friends, when Phoebe tries to do a genuinely altruistic act, and to her annoyance ends up being rewarded for her kindness each time. I suspect I’m going to sympathise, because I already feel extremely grateful to have this amazing opportunity to build a friendship with a child all the way across the world.

For more information about homeopathy help with your own sense of personal fulfilment, visit www.phoenixhomeopathy.com, and for more information about the work of SOS Children, visit www.soschildren.org.

Disclaimer: Any views or advice in this weblog should not be taken as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, especially if you know you have a specific health complaint. Prescribed medication should not be stopped or varied without conventional medical advice. Please remember that homeopathic remedies and other health measures should be individually-selected to match the whole person, not just the unwelcome symptom. Seek professional advice rather than self-prescribing if your complaint is chronic, severe or long-standing, or if you are pregnant, elderly or on orthodox medications.