National Complementary Therapies Week

from Holistic Therapist Magazine - issue 33

by Holistic Therapist Magazine & The Holistic Health Magazine

Looking after your hands

COMPLEMENTARY Therapy Week Get set for

Carole Preen of the CHP introduces the UK’s first Complementary Therapy Week and explains how you can get involved this March…

order to promote your practices. Get it advertised on social media and contact your local radio station. As we are collecting money for charity, they should give you a free shout out. Contact your local paper and ask them to come along or better still, write an article advertising the event. You can ask participants to either donate to our charity or you can give a £1 of the reduced fee for each treatment. Use the national week to contact clubs, hospices, retirement homes, midwives, health visitors and offer to come and give taster treatments as part of the celebration.

You may be able to set up a trial of your therapies or give a talk and mini-taster sessions in other settings raising awareness and money for

THE first ever UK National Complementary Therapy Week is scheduled to run from 23rd to 29th of March, which is being sponsored by Complementary Health Professionals, the membership body. We feel it is important to celebrate and promote all forms of natural health and the therapies carried out by complementary health professionals everywhere. There are some national days already for aromatherapy, massage and reflexology and these are great but we want to celebrate all the therapies. There are so many that make up our profession - from nutrition and naturopathy through to reiki and crystal healing. There are also less well known therapies such as the EMMETT Technique, Neuroskeletal Realignment Therapy and Spiral Stabilization but there are so many others that deserve to be heard about.

Whatever form of complementary therapy you practice, the National Complementary Therapy Week is a great opportunity to promote your both your own practice and our profession as a whole. You don’t need to be a CHP member to take part.

As part of this celebration, each year we are going to be raising funds for complementary health services. Our first recipient will be the oncology services at the Mulberry Centre at the West Middlesex University Hospital.

There are some downloadable promotional materials, including printable posters and templates for gift vouchers. You might, for example, advertise that £1 from every treatment will be donated to the charity the week supports and you can promote your activities on your social media. Use the hashtag #complementarytherapyweek2020 and please tag us @chp _ ltd on Instagram and on Facebook. Ask your clients and social media followers to promote the event too. You can also ask them for specific feedback on the treatments they’ve received during the week.

The event will have more impact if you can get together with other therapists in your area. Rent a room and give free or reduced priced treatments in

our charity. You could consider local hospitals or a retirement home, or even a corporate setting. Promote the particular benefits of your therapy. If you volunteer at a local charity, you can organise a fundraising event, such as a raffle, quiz night or a sponsored treatment-a-thon that benefits them as part of the week. A nutritional therapist might offer a cooking class for charity, or host a lunch or supper event.

The more of us that get involved, the more successful the National Complementary Therapies Week will be. The increased awareness benefits us all while raising money for a good cause. n

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