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The purpose of this group is to share information related to offering massage therapy for the dying.
Members: 92
Latest Activity: Aug 15, 2016
I have just completed my third year of employment for a major health system. I have been a Massage therapist for about 30 years (living proof it can actually be a long career). I work with hospice…Continue
Started by Hanna Eakin Dec 31, 2012.
Initiate, Activate and Engage in the Rhythms’ and Cycles of 2012Learn to align and design your year with the elemental forces of creation!Teleseminar Class January 7 2012Live Class January 15…Continue
Started by Dolores Nov 29, 2011.
Hey Everyone,I'm excited to be a part of this growing group!My question comes from a perception that, more often than not, people seem to provide massage on a volunteer basis for hospice programs.…Continue
Tags: Volunteerism, Aspects, Business
Started by Kate King, MA, LMT. Last reply by Hanna Eakin Sep 19, 2011.
Texas Association of Massage Therapists invites you to....-Massage & Medicine -Finally the countdown is here. Want to register for the TAMT convention being held at the Norris Conference Center…Continue
Tags: CranioSacral, Therapy, Touch, Compassionate, Medicine
Started by Shelli Davis-Redford Sep 11, 2011.
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"Geriatric Massage" and "Serving the Dying" were just added to Ariana Vincent's menu of massage therapy services
http://www.arianainstitute.com /services.htm
I am a massage therapy graduate, still uncertified (the test sucks, so hard). Anyway, I never dreamed I'd think about hospice massage until last year when my best friend was dying of colon cancer.
Massaging her feet, shoulders, head, legs...gave her relief that narcotic pain killers couldn't.
I have never had such a fullfilling experience in such an awful time.
Now I am considering doing hospice massage for a living instead of working on "healthy" people. The dying need massage more than anyone.
This is a powerful page Ariana - thanks for creating it. It is such an important topic that people are often uncomfortable to approach.
I have been working with stage 4 cancer clients, using essential oils for many quality of life aspects in palliative care. I'm also training nurses in clinical aromatherapy for hospice care.
http://www.aromaceuticals.com/classes
My next foundational aromatherapy class is a 1-day intensive that will be given on April 2 in Dallas.
I also am a volunteer hospice massage therapist with Vitas, Citrus Valley, and Inland, hospices here in southern California My Web Site
follow the link for additional data, trials, explanations, etc.
Ariana, you're a gem. Thanks for all your efforts!
As for me, personal experiences helping my father before he died while on leave from my Occupational Therapist position at a 200 bed long term care facility, then returning to work to find so many pt's. had passed away in my absence, then residents seemed to decide to leave this earth en masse after i returned. Needless to say there was not much time to grieve, which led me to leave my job to work for myself again, with a "healthy" massage clientele. As i began working with expectant mothers and attend with labor and delivery at a half dozen natural births, my balance was restored so that i could work more effectively than ever with dying folks. As far as classes, Tracy Walton's course was great for Caring for Clients with Cancer, and of course the Daybreak Geriatric Massage Institute's Lev 1 & especially Level 2 workshops were very helpful for me, as well as others, but it seems other things beside technique coursework helped to develop the empathy or compassion to do this job well. Caring for clients with specialty massage right up to the day they passed taught me much. Working with hospice clients and their families, sitting in Centering prayer and contemplative meditation has helped enormously to overcome the ego that wants to save everyone all the time, and allow a normal amount of grief to process.
I've learned much from listening to the stories others have told in lectures from Naomi Feil's Validation Therapy, or Jim Comer's books on family dynamics with a dying parent, to specialty massage programs i tried to develop for a hospice company that later didn't utilize it taught me a lot about the death and dying industry, as well as attending annual conferences like the Texas Ass'n. for Services and Homes for the Aged for almost ten years has enlightened me to the struggles those providers have daily addressing the needs of our elders. There are so many classes i still want to take, but in the meantime, i learn from each of my clients everyday, and the hospice clients seem to know better than others what life is all about. As i've said before, it is sacred ground we walk on. When we're with them every bush is burning, and we just have to remember to take off our shoes.(with thanks to Elizabeth Barret Browning)
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