Where is your path leading? Do you have a strong pull to what you should be doing? Are you following your life purpose?

We can often resist what is clearly in our hearts, denying it due to a sense of fear or feeling of inadequacy.

‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.’ Marianne Williamson

I would like to share with you what I was guided to do and how I ended up creating accessible eLearning Oncology Courses & Learning Pathways in Clinical Practice

My path within Complementary Therapies has never ceased to amaze me. It has taken me in directions I never expected or dreamed of. At times I have resisted the path before me because it was too hard, made me uncomfortable or because what I was being guided to create had never been established before.

I became a therapist practicing in Massage and Reflexology in 1998 and from the minute I set up practice I knew this was my pathway, my way of life. Connecting with others and easing their bodies and minds spoke to my heart and I knew this was the work I was sent here to do.

From there I learned many massage and reflexology techniques, I trained in Reiki, Craniosacral and Meditation alongside becoming an Accredited Therapy Lecturer.

Those days were so full, invigorating, and exciting as I treated clients with many needs ranging from Stress, Anxiety, Relaxation, Cancer, Hormonal imbalances, Lymphoedema, MS, MND, Parkinson’s and a range of disabilities.

Additionally, I created ‘Stress Awareness’ courses and taught in disability centres, adults with learning difficulties, vulnerable women’s groups as well as therapies in college. I loved the teaching sessions, but I was now well and truly out of my comfort zone.

Little did I know back then that this was an emotion I was going to have to accept in my life as I chose ‘Courage over Comfort’ many more times in the years ahead.

In 2006 I was employed as the Reflexologist at the Holistic Cancer Care Centre at James Cook Hospital in the UK, treating patients undergoing surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the Hospital, Haematology wards and Holistic Centre. During this time while treating patients going through physical and emotional turmoil, my understanding and experiences grew ten-fold as I held the feet, hands and energy of traumatised people.

In 2010 I moved to Sydney, Australia and was Subject Matter Expert on the Integrative Medicine Steering Committee at the $200 million purpose-built “Chris O’Brien Lifehouse”, designing protocols, guidelines and contra-indications for Reflexology and Reiki, and creating a workshop which I delivered across Australia. I was delighted when the Lifehouse accepted all the protocols and guidelines and to this day there is an employed Reflexologist on site treating patients.

Please understand I had no grand plan in place, these series of events led me to my next step and when I returned to the UK in 2013, the FHT and AoR accredited my Cancer Care Workshop for Massage, Reflexology and Reiki Practitioners. I continued in clinics treating clients and delivered my courses throughout the UK and in Australia.

Well, this is where things went off in another direction and not one I expected. Over the years of teaching cancer care workshops, I had many therapists ask if I could deliver my cancer care training online as many lived in more rural areas and the cost of travel, accommodation, time away from work as well as the training was proving to be a huge obstacle to them.

Initially I totally rejected the idea. What did I know about online courses or creating eLearning platforms? Was it even possible to demonstrate the right approach and touch threshold for working with patients in cancer care?

Curiosity was triggered in me and made me keep thinking about how to adapt face to face training into an eLearning course. I approached Catherine Colling from Reflection Media and asked her opinion. Catherine like me had family members who were diagnosed with cancer, so it was very close to her heart to help others going through this. Although Catherine had never created an online course before she was willing to give it a go.

With a ‘let’s give it a go’ attitude we set off on our journey into creating an eLearning platform. I kept on working in clinics, travelling, and teaching my cancer care workshops on weekends alongside adapting the material to make it suitable for all kinds of learning styles. This was a cottage industry project, with all my power point handouts laid out on the floor of my kitchen while I worked out the right flow to create the modules.

Catherine would take my work and create them into wonderful slides and we met regularly as she recorded my teachings and incorporated them as a voiceovers. We interviewed and recorded 2 patients with cancer to give the authentic voice of what people are going through and how our therapies can help them. Videos were created to demonstrate touch, positioning and therapy techniques. Catherine worked tirelessly spending time looking into different learning platforms and transferring material on to them to see if they were suitable.

Anyone who has written a book or developed something new, will tell you how the process can be a painstaking labour of love creating, correcting and improving. The cycle can leave you feeling elated, deflated, ecstatic and exhausted. There were times we took the wrong turn and had to start from scratch again. There were times when I questioned my sanity for thinking I could do this, but deep in my heart and soul I knew I was being guided to create this learning pathway. I pray to God and no matter how many obstacles came along, no matter how tired I was I knew this was part of my path and I was being guided to see it through. Put another way, I knew the big fella upstairs was not going to allow me to quit lol!.

In February 2019 I went to Catherine’s office and we launched ‘Complementary Therapies in Cancer Care’ for Massage, Reflexology and Reiki Practitioners. The first eLearning training in this field.

Did my work stop there? No, it did not. Yet again I could see another learning pathway which would benefit so many people.

Many of the therapists I have trained are passionate about making a difference for people with cancer, and after qualifying from my course they value clinical placements where they can put into practice what they have learned.

Born from this need was the ‘Clinical Practice Pathway’. This initiative works on the principle of a ‘mutually respectful exchange of skills’ where therapists providing 20 hours of therapy treatments to patients or carers, meeting clinical standards and completion of case studies, will in return gain guidance, supervision and experience within a clinical setting. At the end of their placement, they will receive a certificate for clinical practice from the hospice/centre. There is no cost involved for the centre in participating and providing clinical practice placements, or to the therapist other than their time.

Who benefits?

  • Patients & Carersbenefit from the much-needed relaxation and stress relief our therapies facilitate.  
  • Therapists gain further skills meeting ‘clinical standards’ from established healthcare providers, improving their prospects in the healthcare field.
  • Hospices and cancer centres receive additional support, enabling their valuable service to continue and expand.

Participating Hospices: To date there are 5 hospices participating based in Edinburgh, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Milton Keynes, Dorset and Darlington, a BMI Hospital in Glasgow and Hummingbird Cancer Support in Oxford:

https://butterflytouchtherapiestraining.com/clinical-practice-placements/

Clinical Practice Trial: We successfully concluded a clinical placement trial in 2020 in Edinburgh at St Columba’s Hospice Care and articles were published by the CNHC, NACTHPC & FHT. Click here to read: https://butterflytouchtherapiestraining.com/accessible-clinical-practice-via-a-mutually-respectful-exchange-of-skills/

Where to next? There is still no grand plan and I am happy where I am, but who knows what the Universe has in store for me. I have learnt not to resist when I am out of my comfort zone and to trust in the pathway before me

Do you have a vision? A sense of something you are being guided to do.

Is it sitting in your heart, but the voice in your head is always finding reasons not to try?

‘Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.’ – Richard Bach

If you had no limitations, where could you go, what could you do, who could you become?

Examine what steps you can put in place to give you confidence of success. Are there courses you can take, or can you access a business mentor who will help you define your goal and the steps to achieving it?

Remember, nothing is a failure if you learn something from the experience.