In my blog about Sustainable Massage therapy, I am going to describe how principle of sustainability in relation to massage practices. I will get into more detail of the environment, economic, social and human relationship within a massage practice.
Environmental Capital
The environment is such a huge thing to describe, it’s something you see every day and can take no notice of, even when it is a big part of everyone’s life. The environment has been taken for granted for so many years that it will never be the way it was, so many years ago. But now that people have realized what us human have one to this world, we are taken a bit more care of it such as, recycle, reuse and reduce. Using less power by turning power off at the wall, using energy saving light bulbs. Having a compost bin so we don’t throw away things that can help animals and our garden. Using the input and output rule will help keep the environment healthy and safe from degradation. Output rules states that waste should be at a level which can be assimilated without environmental degradation and the input rule states that in the case of renewable resources, harvesting should not impair renewal. Non renewable resources should be used at less than the historical rate in which renewable substitutes can be found or manufactured.
Social Network.
Social networking is to do with the relationships between two individuals as well as in a group situation. It is maintaining good friendships with a wide range of people and these people are people who are positive and encouraging towards you. Surrounding yourself with these sorts of people helps you to become a more positive and encouraging person and helps you not to be drained out by negative or draining individuals. After a massage people can shut down, become more emotional but can improve relationships between not just the therapist and client relationship but improve the client’s relationship with others. As a massage therapist getting to know your surrounding and the people within your surroundings helps to strengthen social relationships within the community and can also help with business as you can share information or maybe even get referrals from other massage therapists.
Economic, Financial Capital.
Everyone is always worried when they start up a business as they do not know if they are financially secure to be able to make the business work and work well. They need to know that they are going to have enough money to be able to continue going and as a massage therapist we need to know that we are going to have clients coming to us and getting our name out there to make new clients so we do have the money coming in to be able to pay bills and employees if we decide to employ others as well as earning a wage ourselves so we can live. We need to have a business plan on what will happen if we aren’t earning as much money as we want to and what will happen if we are to overloaded with work and do not have enough time or therapists to be able to deal with the load. Being able to advertise your business is a huge part of getting your business going but the best way of advertising is through others telling friends and family about your business and getting clients to do the advertising that way. It is cheaper and more effective as people are more likely going to believe their friends and family then they are a radio add or newspaper article.
Human Capital.
As a human being, we need enough sleep to function properly and be able make the right decisions. We need to eat and drink the right foods to make sure that are bodies are working to the best of their ability. But most of all that we are looking after ourselves. If we do not do these things then all the other functions in our body do not work to their best and that is when things can go wrong and as a massage therapist we need to be able to work properly without hurting ourselves or others. So doing these things are important as we are not just looking after ourselves we are also trying to help others lives to be better. We all these things that we need such as food water, correct amount of sleep, things such as health and education is a major factor that can make these factors unrealistic. So we need to make sure we have great health by having checkups and seeing a counselor so not just our bodies but our minds have great health and we need to be able to access these services easily and without stress of money matters. So we as individuals need to work with society to make this happen. We need to make sure we learn as much as we can when we are young so we can grow up and be able to use our education to the best of our abilities and maybe even be able to help others. We can help by promoting the health a well being of others, body awareness such as push play, stress management and helping to clean out toxins with the use of massage. As an employer we need to make sure our employees have manageable workloads, they are cared for, safe work loads and provide and promote training to make sure that all these are learnt to the best of your knowledge. But most of all we need to take care of ourselves before we can help others.
So to conclude this blog I believe to have a good sustainable massage practice your need to be able to include all these things into your practice, however it needs to work for you and make your life easier. At the end of the day you need to help yourself before you can help others.
Recourses
Elluminate session 18th May, 2009
Class notes 2009 fundamentals of massage sustainability 21st may 2009 David McQuillan Class Lecturer
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Time Management
Study Skills Task 7
Time Management
Time management was always something I never really thought about; I always thought everything would fall into place at some stage. But since I started studying I was proved wrong. In this blog I am going to write about how I am dealing with time management this year, with my studies, my strengths and weaknesses, and how I am going to overcome my weaknesses.
My life has been cruisey so far, I went to high school came home and worked in the weekends. I had the same routine every week and the only time it changed was in the holidays, where I seemed to have more time to myself then I needed. But since finishing high school and started studying my life has turned upside down. My time management skills which I haven’t needed until now, have had to work in overload. My time management skills were not up to scratch as I would like them to be. I am continually falling behind and not up with assessment, forgetting dates and times, which is never a good thing.
Throughout this year I am going to be focused on getting my time management skills strong and getting them to the level that I am needing to be. I am strong at getting to things on time as I hate being late and always made sure I arrive 20 minutes early, unless I have prior arrangements. I think I am so strong at this as my parents are the same, they like to be early instead of late. So learning this from an early age probably helped me to be so strong at this. But my weaknesses do out way my strengths as I don’t have very good organization skills and find it really hard to use a diary as I am continually loosing things and forgetting where I put things. But as well as loosing things, I am very family orientated and things change all the time, so writing them in a diary makes them so concrete and I just don’t know what is round the corner.
At the moment I am trying to find time for everything as well as time for myself. Having time for the family, studies and work in only 24 hours, there are just not enough hours in the day. So sorting my time management will help me sort my life and help with stress levels in my life. I am going to overcome my weaknesses this year by using a calendar and diary to sort thing in my life. Sorting my priorities that need to be done from the thing I want to do such as hobbies and socializing. I am going to learn how to structure my life into a routine that works for me and stills give me a bit of time here and there to have to myself.
The most important thing I want to do for my time management skills is that I want to make sure that it works for me as well as getting everything done on time and knowing everything that is coming up.
Time Management
Time management was always something I never really thought about; I always thought everything would fall into place at some stage. But since I started studying I was proved wrong. In this blog I am going to write about how I am dealing with time management this year, with my studies, my strengths and weaknesses, and how I am going to overcome my weaknesses.
My life has been cruisey so far, I went to high school came home and worked in the weekends. I had the same routine every week and the only time it changed was in the holidays, where I seemed to have more time to myself then I needed. But since finishing high school and started studying my life has turned upside down. My time management skills which I haven’t needed until now, have had to work in overload. My time management skills were not up to scratch as I would like them to be. I am continually falling behind and not up with assessment, forgetting dates and times, which is never a good thing.
Throughout this year I am going to be focused on getting my time management skills strong and getting them to the level that I am needing to be. I am strong at getting to things on time as I hate being late and always made sure I arrive 20 minutes early, unless I have prior arrangements. I think I am so strong at this as my parents are the same, they like to be early instead of late. So learning this from an early age probably helped me to be so strong at this. But my weaknesses do out way my strengths as I don’t have very good organization skills and find it really hard to use a diary as I am continually loosing things and forgetting where I put things. But as well as loosing things, I am very family orientated and things change all the time, so writing them in a diary makes them so concrete and I just don’t know what is round the corner.
At the moment I am trying to find time for everything as well as time for myself. Having time for the family, studies and work in only 24 hours, there are just not enough hours in the day. So sorting my time management will help me sort my life and help with stress levels in my life. I am going to overcome my weaknesses this year by using a calendar and diary to sort thing in my life. Sorting my priorities that need to be done from the thing I want to do such as hobbies and socializing. I am going to learn how to structure my life into a routine that works for me and stills give me a bit of time here and there to have to myself.
The most important thing I want to do for my time management skills is that I want to make sure that it works for me as well as getting everything done on time and knowing everything that is coming up.
The Ethics of Professional Practice
The Ethics of Professional Practice
Fundamentals task4
What are ethics? My ethics are the rules or standards governing the conduct by which I live my life and make all my decisions as well as the rules or standards someone holds at their profession. A system of moral values that you hold and you try your hardest to stand by. In this essay I am going to discuss the ethics relevant to the professional practice of a massage therapist, discussing in more detail client centered care, informed consent, scope of practice, confidentiality, boundaries, therapeutic relationships, power differentials, transference and counter transference.
I’ve always been a strong believer of “do to others as you would have done to you”. So when it comes to client centered care, I always look back at this saying and think would I like to have this done to me.
Client Centered Care
Client centered care is when the massage therapist is focused on the client, provide the highest quality service as possible and their best interest as well as benefit the client. Accomplishing client goals by having a scope of practice, good code of ethics, standards of practice and also having educational requirements to be a massage therapist. The client needs to be fully aware of the terms of payment, scope of practice, your clinical procedure, recordings and intake forms and all the likely after effects of a massage. When a massage therapist has a good client centered approach to care, you will gain the clients trust and will make them feel safe and well attended too, and that’s when you will have clients coming back to you. They should also be shown respect, compassion and have clear, well informed communication between the client and the therapist. The therapist and the client work together to come up with a treatment plan for the client with their consent. When a therapist takes the focus off the client this is bad client centered care and should be kept away from as well as turning clients into friends or lovers, anything that is taking the focus off the client should be kept away from.
Informed consent
Getting informed consent from clients is a major thing in massage therapy as I have learnt very quickly. Making sure you have the clients consent before you get into the massage and double checking before you go to certain parts of the body. The client needs to be fully aware of what they are agreeing too and know what their rights are. Informed consents helps us as the massage therapist to know where they can and can’t go as some people don’t like certain parts of the body touched e.g. feet, head, gluteusmaximus…. Some religions are the same especially with heads. So getting informed consent covers the therapist and it makes the client feel reassured that the therapist isn’t going to go anywhere that they don’t want them to go, it goes back to client centered care, making the client feel as safe and secure as possible.
Scope of Practice
As a massage therapist our scope of practice is to offer reduced tension, pain and stress related conditions and aid in the rehabilitation of such things as injuries, strains and sprains. Anything other than this is not in a massage therapist’s scope of practice. We can refer onto people that can deal with different things but we can’t offer advice on things such as nutrition and/ or counseling. Massage therapists are asked to keep to the code of ethics set out by Massage New Zealand.
Confidentiality.
Confidentiality is a huge factor in massage, as everything that is said in the massage clinic/ session is to stay between the therapist and the client. All records and intake forms are to be kept in a locked cabinet, which can only be accessed by the therapist, the client or someone else that the client has given verbal consent too. Records can be asked for by a court of law so the information has to be legible and as accurate as known by the therapist. Only recording what the therapist is doing for the client, treatment wise and not putting down thoughts or feeling or any discussion that has happened throughout the session. Making sure the client knows about the rules that you hold with confidentiality and who can access their records, to make sure that the client feels secure and knows that anything they say is going to be kept between them and the therapist.
Boundaries
Boundaries are to be made between the client and the therapist and should not be breached unless it is in the client’s best interest and with the client’s consent at which they fully understand. Respecting client boundaries. Boundaries set limitations to the therapist to stop him/ her from getting into the clients personal space or making the client feel unsafe or on edge. Having boundaries makes it a safe environment for the client.
Power differentials
The therapist has a lot of power over the client as they have the knowledge. Where the client has very little knowledge, if any and may not fully understand and agree to things that they may not usually agree to and this is where the therapist should be fully explaining and asking questions on particular topics to make sure the client is fully aware of what is going on around them. The power differentials should not be used to the therapist’s advantage and should be fully talked about before the session to make sure the client feels as though they can say ‘no’.
Relationships
Building beliefs, trusts and keeping the client happy and safe will help to build the therapeutic relationship. Being able to relax with the therapist. You should always keep your personal relationships, away from you work relationship and not bring them together. A professional relationship is built on open communication and the expectations of professionalism of the therapist. Being clean and tidy, having things ready and being as professional as expected.
Transference and counter-transference
When a client gets attached to their therapist it is called transference, this is when they start buying you gifts, wanting to socialize, becoming dependant on the therapist and doing things other than just coming to you for a massage. This is when the therapist needs to make sure that the boundaries are clear and known to the client and if things continue ether transferring the client to another therapist or making sure that there is regular supervision set in place.
Counter-transference is the needs of the therapist, where the therapist has attachments to clients, is wanting more than a therapeutic relationship, the feeling of not succeeding when the client and therapist didn’t get to what they wanted too. Dealing with counter-transference is to look at the needs of the therapist and think about their personal needs and think about how their client is related to these, as well as having regular supervision.
References
Salvo, S. (2007). Massage therapy - Principles and Practice (3rd edition). Missouri, USA: Saunders Elsevier.
Class Notes
Elluminate Thursday 14th May
Fundamentals task4
What are ethics? My ethics are the rules or standards governing the conduct by which I live my life and make all my decisions as well as the rules or standards someone holds at their profession. A system of moral values that you hold and you try your hardest to stand by. In this essay I am going to discuss the ethics relevant to the professional practice of a massage therapist, discussing in more detail client centered care, informed consent, scope of practice, confidentiality, boundaries, therapeutic relationships, power differentials, transference and counter transference.
I’ve always been a strong believer of “do to others as you would have done to you”. So when it comes to client centered care, I always look back at this saying and think would I like to have this done to me.
Client Centered Care
Client centered care is when the massage therapist is focused on the client, provide the highest quality service as possible and their best interest as well as benefit the client. Accomplishing client goals by having a scope of practice, good code of ethics, standards of practice and also having educational requirements to be a massage therapist. The client needs to be fully aware of the terms of payment, scope of practice, your clinical procedure, recordings and intake forms and all the likely after effects of a massage. When a massage therapist has a good client centered approach to care, you will gain the clients trust and will make them feel safe and well attended too, and that’s when you will have clients coming back to you. They should also be shown respect, compassion and have clear, well informed communication between the client and the therapist. The therapist and the client work together to come up with a treatment plan for the client with their consent. When a therapist takes the focus off the client this is bad client centered care and should be kept away from as well as turning clients into friends or lovers, anything that is taking the focus off the client should be kept away from.
Informed consent
Getting informed consent from clients is a major thing in massage therapy as I have learnt very quickly. Making sure you have the clients consent before you get into the massage and double checking before you go to certain parts of the body. The client needs to be fully aware of what they are agreeing too and know what their rights are. Informed consents helps us as the massage therapist to know where they can and can’t go as some people don’t like certain parts of the body touched e.g. feet, head, gluteusmaximus…. Some religions are the same especially with heads. So getting informed consent covers the therapist and it makes the client feel reassured that the therapist isn’t going to go anywhere that they don’t want them to go, it goes back to client centered care, making the client feel as safe and secure as possible.
Scope of Practice
As a massage therapist our scope of practice is to offer reduced tension, pain and stress related conditions and aid in the rehabilitation of such things as injuries, strains and sprains. Anything other than this is not in a massage therapist’s scope of practice. We can refer onto people that can deal with different things but we can’t offer advice on things such as nutrition and/ or counseling. Massage therapists are asked to keep to the code of ethics set out by Massage New Zealand.
Confidentiality.
Confidentiality is a huge factor in massage, as everything that is said in the massage clinic/ session is to stay between the therapist and the client. All records and intake forms are to be kept in a locked cabinet, which can only be accessed by the therapist, the client or someone else that the client has given verbal consent too. Records can be asked for by a court of law so the information has to be legible and as accurate as known by the therapist. Only recording what the therapist is doing for the client, treatment wise and not putting down thoughts or feeling or any discussion that has happened throughout the session. Making sure the client knows about the rules that you hold with confidentiality and who can access their records, to make sure that the client feels secure and knows that anything they say is going to be kept between them and the therapist.
Boundaries
Boundaries are to be made between the client and the therapist and should not be breached unless it is in the client’s best interest and with the client’s consent at which they fully understand. Respecting client boundaries. Boundaries set limitations to the therapist to stop him/ her from getting into the clients personal space or making the client feel unsafe or on edge. Having boundaries makes it a safe environment for the client.
Power differentials
The therapist has a lot of power over the client as they have the knowledge. Where the client has very little knowledge, if any and may not fully understand and agree to things that they may not usually agree to and this is where the therapist should be fully explaining and asking questions on particular topics to make sure the client is fully aware of what is going on around them. The power differentials should not be used to the therapist’s advantage and should be fully talked about before the session to make sure the client feels as though they can say ‘no’.
Relationships
Building beliefs, trusts and keeping the client happy and safe will help to build the therapeutic relationship. Being able to relax with the therapist. You should always keep your personal relationships, away from you work relationship and not bring them together. A professional relationship is built on open communication and the expectations of professionalism of the therapist. Being clean and tidy, having things ready and being as professional as expected.
Transference and counter-transference
When a client gets attached to their therapist it is called transference, this is when they start buying you gifts, wanting to socialize, becoming dependant on the therapist and doing things other than just coming to you for a massage. This is when the therapist needs to make sure that the boundaries are clear and known to the client and if things continue ether transferring the client to another therapist or making sure that there is regular supervision set in place.
Counter-transference is the needs of the therapist, where the therapist has attachments to clients, is wanting more than a therapeutic relationship, the feeling of not succeeding when the client and therapist didn’t get to what they wanted too. Dealing with counter-transference is to look at the needs of the therapist and think about their personal needs and think about how their client is related to these, as well as having regular supervision.
References
Salvo, S. (2007). Massage therapy - Principles and Practice (3rd edition). Missouri, USA: Saunders Elsevier.
Class Notes
Elluminate Thursday 14th May
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