How it all started:

In 1990, Healing Hope founder Kim Rockshaw began a journey of healing involving animal rescue and holistic healing that changed her life forever.  Serious illness had ended her career as a classical, professional musician.  Finding no help from allopathic (traditional, Western) medicine, she began working with homeopaths, acupuncturists and nutritionists. As her health improved, she began to work as the Feline Medical Director of the Evanston Animal Shelter in Illinois.

To quote Ms. Rockshaw:  “In 1988 when I developed serious and life changing health problems, I thought my life had ended. But reaching out to help homeless animals gave me a reason to live. My own suffering taught me compassion and gave me a burning desire to help alleviate medical problems and pain in animals. Since I saw such great results with holistic medicine with my own health issues, I was determined to study and learn in order to help our beloved animal friends.”

While working at the animal shelter, Ms. Rockshaw was able to employ some of the things she was learning with stubborn and even seemingly hopeless medical cases. One such case involved a pigeon who had a severe neurological problem caused by a virus. Usually birds inflicted with this virus die, as it causes their head to turn sideways and up, in a 45 to 90 degree angle. . . thus they usually starve to death. There is no allopathic treatment for this and most birds die very shortly. Ms. Rockshaw experimented with homeopathy and found the second remedy tried to be successful in curing the bird within one week!

After moving to California in 1992, Kim wanted to further pursue her love of homeopathy with formal training. After years of study she earned her degree from the British Institute of Homeopathy in 2000. A few years later she obtained Flower Essence Practitioner certification from the Nelson Bach Foundation. During this time she also began her holistic consultations services and now primarily focuses her work on animal patients.

Though her education in homeopathy and holistic medicine was a major focus for Ms. Rockshaw upon arriving in California, she also pursued her love and passion for rescuing needy felines. In 1992 she was shocked to find her own neighborhood in San Clemente swamped with stray and feral cats. Thus began her mission to single-handedly “clean up” the streets of San Clemente. If adoptable and healthy, some of the cats were taken to the San Clemente Shelter. Some cats, however, had too many personality or health issues and could not be adopted from a city shelter. In addition, Ms. Rockshaw started a number of feral cat colonies around the town. Thus began her personal sanctuary mission.

Our Facility:

Healing Hope Sanctuary is run from the home of Kim Rockshaw. Felines are kept both in the home and in the large enclosed back yard. This outside area houses mainly the FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) and feral cats. Animals are not housed in cages, except if they are being quarantined for medical purposes, or at the beginning of their stay, when their personality and health is being evaluated. Shelters and hutches are set up in the back yard, as well as an open garage.

Because Healing Hope is quite small and self-sustaining, we cannot have more than 30 cats on the premises at one time. We cannot take in new felines, unless one of the few adoptable ones goes to a home, or unless one of our senior cats dies.  Exceptions are sometimes made to temporarily house an animal in crisis or until the cat can go to a shelter or another suitable setting.