I enjoy working with a wide range of clients. Whether office workers, retirees, or amateur, non-elite level athletes, one of the best parts of the job is the variety of the people I deal with on a daily basis.
I don't believe in a 'one size fits all' approach and so you won't find any menus or set sequences in my work. Instead I treat each client as an individual, taking into account factors as diverse as medical history, occupation, stress levels and personality in determining the best massage for them. This also means you'll never receive exactly the same massage twice, as my massage will inevitably adapt as I get to know the client better and as their lives present new challenges to them.
Informed consent and feedback are incredibly important during sessions. You'll never entirely relax if you don't know what's coming next and so I'll always spend a little time explaining what will happen before each massage. And I'll always encourage the client to tell me how the massage feels in order that I can fine tune the pressure and techniques to make it as pleasurable and effective as possible.
I consider it important to take a holistic approach and so may offer simple, but effective, advice on changes clients can make in their every day lives to improve their health. I will also refer to other therapists if I feel the client will benefit from different forms of therapy - it is always more important to see a client improve than to 'hang on' to them unnecessarily.
I am a qualified Swedish Massage Therapist and am currently training in Remedial and Sports Massage with Scottish Massage Schools. Additionally, I have also attended numerous professional development workshops, ranging from deep tissue massage to headaches.
As long as I'm working as a therapist I'll never stop learning, attending courses and workshops, reading... Being in a job that offers such scope for professional development is a wonderful thing, which just gets better when I consider that my knowledge and expertise will keep on improving indefinitely.
I am a member of the Scottish Massage Therapists Organisation (SMTO), the foremost governing body for massage therapists in Scotland, guaranteeing minimum professional and ethical standards. I am also a practitioner member of the General Council for Massage Therapy, which is chiefly concerned with regulation in the industry.
The “massage and...” range of guides offers detailed information for you to download, print and share about massage therapy and how it relates to a range of conditions and injuries as well as some broader topics.
