Some Background

Hecate Women's Health Collective was born in January 1979, but the origins go back much further. All of us in the Collective have been involved in alternative health care in one form or another for several years, often while still labouring within the traditional health system, and we have also been working in the women's movement in different ways.

We have all felt increasingly frustrated by the limitations and paternalism of the medical health system, and increasingly concerned about the unmet health needs of women. Beginning as a closed Collective of seven, we have been able to establish the kinds of working relationships and base we wanted. This has proved to be a successful decision in terms of mutual support, shared knowledge, increasing confidence, and efficiency. However, as at the beginning, we see Hecate being much more than its seven initial members. Hecate will always be the women who use it.