At 90 years old, Shirley Gay is still helping children and families find natural ways to improve their health.
Her journey began decades ago. Shirley came to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 1959 as a pharmacist and settled in Wellington.
While working in a pharmacy in Cannons Creek in Porirua, she began using about 30 homeopathic remedies, guided by a small basic homeopathy book, to help with some of the trickier cases she saw. The results were remarkable.
Before long she became well known in the community as “that” pharmacist, the one people would visit when they needed something a little different.
In 1987, at the age of 52, Shirley decided to follow her developing passion for helping people get better naturally. She packed up and headed to the United Kingdom to study homeopathy at Regents Park College in London.
After graduating following three years of full-time study, Shirley realised there was still more for her to learn. She went on to study at Dynamis with Jeremy Sherr while also working at Ainsworth Homeopathic Pharmacy in London.
Because she was a pharmacist, Shirley was welcomed onto the Faculty of Homeopathy. This led to some memorable experiences, including being presented to the Queen Mother.
A few years later, at a conference in Galway, Shirley caught up with fellow homeopath Mike Dong in a pub.
“I’m going to go back to New Zealand and open a Homeopathic pharmacy,” she told him.
“Really?” said Dong. “I don’t think we have the population to sustain it.”
“Well,” said Shirley, “I’m going to give it a try and I’m going to call it Simillimum.”
And she did. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today Shirley continues to practise and volunteers her time at the Kāpiti Children’s Homeopathy Clinic, which offers parents free natural healthcare for their children through its monthly charity clinic.
The clinic provides consultations by registered homeopaths for children aged up to 12 years old and runs on the second Saturday of each month at the Kāpiti Women’s Centre in Paraparaumu.