Opinions for budding Holistic Therapist?

[victry77]

Hello, my name's Vicky and I'm new to the forum I would be really grateful if I could collect up some opinions from members who are interested in the holistic approach.

I'm T1, diagnosed almost 2yrs ago aged 30. Next year I'm planning to begin training as an Holistic Therapist. I'm doing Reiki and Aromatherpy for the first year and Indian Head Massage and Hopi Ear Candling the second year. I'm also hoping to do an Open University course in Diabetes Care and any other courses/workshops that might be on offer concerning general health.

I'm very much hoping to work part-time as a therapist and one thing I've been reading on a very good forum is that the most successful therapists tend to have a niche market. An area where they can specialise; so, obviously I thought I could target my services to diabetics. I just wondered if anyone here thought this was a particularly good idea? Bear in mind, this is still very early days but I really want to get a head start on this and do my research.

The reason I became interested in holistics in the first place was because of D. I found the treatments lovely and they just gave me such a boost. It felt good to de-stress and I felt it very beneficial to my mental wellbeing. A positive way to help take care of myself physically and mentally. My idea was to offer my services free to start with at some local diabetes supoprt groups, do taster sessions, give out gift bags, etc, and then if I managed to find a suitable therapy room to rent, I would offer a 30% discount to ALL diabetic clients on EVERY treatment ALL of the time. A "Diabetic Discount Offer" if you will

For those who enjoy Holistic Therapies, does this sound like a good idea? For those not necessarily into HT, would you be encouraged to try some treatments out if you had a permanent discount, and possibly most importantly, if the therapist was diabetic herself?

Again, I'm jut playing with ideas right now but any opinions or ideas from anyone on this forum would be most welcome.

Thank you
Vicky

 

[IanD]

I've had an interest in health store type food & remedies, even trying the Bates eye treatment. (Which did not improve my sight.) I've tried a number of supplements, like cinnamon & kerala but effects were not significant, or negative. Only carbohydrate reduction gave a significant improvement.

That has largely been concerned with healthy diet rather than alternative therapies. Apart from developing diabetes 10 years ago, I have stayed healthy. I take multivitamins (just in case my food is deficient) & glucosamine/chondroitin to keep my joints supple. I started it for a bad bout of tennis elbow a few years ago. It cleared quickly. When I ran out of G/C recently I soon had a leg joint problem which cleared when I too it again.

I am sceptical that any alternative therapies would improve BS control, except that any improvement in well being will help the person, & thus aid control. Newly diagnosed may appreciate the support you could give, but really I think you would need to advise on nutrition (not as a dietitian as that requires a qualification.)

Hope that helps.

 

[victry77]

Thanks for your reply, Ian. See, I was looking at the therapies as a way to promote relaxation and a way to de-stress as opposed to have a literal effect on stabalising BS. Obviously, having D is stressful therefore I would have liked to cater to that stress by offering permanent reductions for diabetics, including long-timers. I've seen how rockety my BS get when I'm all stressed and highly-strung, and that's not to say my BS aren't sometimes elevated even when I'm all chilled and relaxed -I just think something like a nice massage is good for anyone feeling tense, especially good if you're getting a discount because your diabetic

Someone else mentioned that advising on nutrition was possibly the most important thing if catering for diabetics (you also need to qualify as a nutritionist to do this) but have to be honest, it wasn't really the route I wanted to go down. I wasn't really looking at imparting advice, as such, but more for providing support and understanding.

Example; a recently qualified therapist I know is targeting people who are registered carers for the sick, elderly, disabled. She was a carer for her grandfather for many years and worked several years for a homecare agency. She isn't giving out advice on benefits or the best ways to do this, that or the other, but simply providing a service that she hopes people will find beneficial both physically/mentally with the added bonus that anyone he is a carer will receive special discounts, etc.

I suppose it's down to how you promote yourself. I'd never promote myself as being a "diabetes specialist", I'd see myself just like every other therapist who promotes positive mental/physical well-being with the added "advantage" of being diabetic so perhaps able to target my business to my "ilk" :lol:

Anyway, thanks again, Ian. I'll play around with a few more ideas.

 

[hanadr]

Hi Vicky
If you specialise in diabetes care, I think there's a need for helping people to feel good about themselves.
I personally ignore my T2 most of the time, but I know there are folks who find the whole thing overwhelming. If your own control is really good( non-diabetic level) this would certainly validate your therapy.
Hana