About Butterfly Touch Therapies Training
About Marie Duggan ATL, IIHHT, ICHT, CST & Reiki Master/Practitioner
I am an accredited CPD Training Provider in Complementary Therapies and Cancer Care. Creator and developer of workshops and provider of accessible CPD e-Learning courses. I empower therapists to adapt their skills to support patients with a cancer diagnosis.
My journey in therapies began in 1994 when my Mother was diagnosed with cancer. I saw the relief and relaxation she received through Aromatherapy massage and Reiki at our local hospice. I also saw how much she missed the touch and valuable ‘me time’ when she became too ill to attend the hospice.
After Mum died, I trained in Aromatherapy massage and went on to train in many Massage techniques, Reflexology, Reiki and Craniosacral therapy and I have never stopped learning. My first experience of treating patients with cancer was at the ground breaking Holistic Cancer Care Centre at James Cook University Hospital in the UK. I delivered treatments in the centre, on the wards and the Hematology Department, to patients going through surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In 2010 I lived in Sydney, Australia for a period and was invited to join the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney, a $200 million dollar cancer centre. As Subject Matter Expert on the Integrated Medicine Steering Committee I delivered the guidelines, best practices and contra-indications for Reflexology and Reiki in cancer care. Using these guidelines, I created a cancer care workshop and delivered it to therapists throughout Australia. Upon returning to the UK my course was accredited by the UK therapy associations for reflexology, reiki and massage and I have delivered it to hundreds of therapists internationally.
I received many requests from therapists who could not attend my face to face workshop due to travel, cost or family commitment, asking me if I could provide more accessible training. This led me to spending 3 years developing the e-Learning Complementary Therapies in Cancer Care for Massage, Reflexology and Reiki practitioners. The e-learning has created a new learning pathway and removed barriers to accessing quality training in cancer care.
The course is CPD accredited by the AoR, CThA, FHT & RAoA and was launched in February 2019.
Cancer is global, touching all of us, with many more people diagnosed each year. I hope you will join me in providing stress relief, reducing anxiety and improving quality of life for patients going through cancer.