Perfect practice rooms

CASE STUDY CASE STUDY

CREATING A NEW PRACTICE SPACE

Acupuncturist Rebecca Geanty shares the highs and lows of creating her new practice rooms at Treat Norwich, a unique multi-modality health and wellbeing clinic…

Treat Norwich has recently moved to new premises on the edge of Norwich. The recently opened health and wellbeing clinic is a place where the practitioners all strive to work together for clients, combining their skills and knowledge in providing one-to-one care and group sessions/workshops, which empower and educate people to reach a state of well-being and contentment. It’s about natural solutions to health problems with an individualised approach.

Our clients range from those seeking relaxation to relief from pain, chronic or acute conditions, and discomfort and common ailments. We have a special interest in fertility and pregnancy. All treatments are bespoke and tailored for the individual- whether it is body work sessions, talking therapies for mental health, or acupuncture sessions in our community affordable clinics, we combine our professional knowledge to produce the best results for individual clients.

My own degree is in Acupuncture, but we have therapists who offer a range of talking therapies that range from counselling, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy to life coaching. We have a nutritional therapist and a medical herbalist too. Our bodywork modalities include cranio-sacral therapy, massage, yoga, Pilates, Shiatsu, Osteopathy, podiatry, physio and ear candling. Then we have a range of antenatal and postnatal therapies.

The need for a new space

We realised in the second lockdown that with rising costs during the pandemic and the potential of a recession afterwards we needed to expand our rentable space in order to survive. We now have customer parking, ground floor treatment rooms, and suitable access and a toilet for wheelchair users.

We had been looking for the right space for some months. The local commercial market was stagnant and had only two properties in our price range. We were on a very tight timescale. Nothing new was coming onto the market because although lots of businesses were in trouble, lockdown loans and furlough arrangements meant everything was in stasis.

Thinking outside the box

On the run up to Christmas, my partner and also one of our practitioners both spotted the Dyers Arms up for sale in the newspaper. When we saw the building, it was discouragingly run down, but we could see the layout was perfect and the location had a really lovely community

feel. After we secured the change of use and the sale we then had only nine months to do an 18 month renovation. We had a team who worked six days a week to achieve this and my partner David worked well into the evenings and Sundays in order to meet the move deadline.

The main attractions of the building is that because it had been a pub it had so many perfect features for a clinic, car parking, ground floor treatment rooms, a staff area and the space for seven treatment rooms. The old bar area is now my acupuncture multi-bed so the layout was a near perfect fit that didn’t need much tweaking in the structural sense.

We changed the staircase as the original was very steep and so unsuitable for clients with mobility issues. We also changed the roof on the conservatory to give us an extra treatment room.

The interior layout has remained largely the same, except we wanted to create a safer space for our practitioners and their clients to work in if they are working late at night or on their own. We added a few studwork walls downstairs and made access to most of the clinic only possible when chaperoned by your practitioner through code locked doors.

We also made changes to improve accessibility for those in wheelchairs. Levelling the floors, adding ramps and making the new conservatory treatment room wheelchair accessible.

Managing the refurbishment

My partner David works in the building trade so we had a fair idea that we could achieve things on time and a rough idea of costs. They did spiral a little near the end due to Covid material increases but we were prepared for the reality of that situation and made it through with a few non-essential items like bollards for the car park and outside paving at the rear of the building having to wait until later on to be completed. The main thing was that we opened on time and were able to keep on helping people in our new location.

We hired extra tradesmen near the end to help us with the final push which was quite hard to do as everyone was already so busy but it really was imperative that we opened on time.

Interiors: Look and feel

Style-wise we have tried to take the best of our old clinic’s look and build on that in the new space. We wanted to keep things looking fresh and clean as much as possible and not clutter the spaces up as we moved from a building that was originally a factory with very high ceilings into a Victorian building which has lower ceiling height and so we were very conscious not to overload the rooms with non-essential items.

We have had a tremendous amount of positive comments, reviews and feedback, they love it, we are still doing finishing touches to the building, and we had to open with no carpet in the hallways initially due to Covid, but even with that our clients are very positive. It is only a five minutes’ drive from our former location and the fact that we have a car park, and bike rack mean location isn’t an issue, it’s an improvement.

Location matters

I love the NR3 community location. It has a really positive vibe amongst the locals who are already seeing them coming in for Osteopathy or massage for example. NR3 is an upcoming area that has been likened to London’s Shoreditch. Our last location had a more industrial feel externally, it’s nicer to be more community connected and have the opportunity to reach more people through visibility and local footfall.

A word of advice

If you’re thinking about moving or setting up your own practice space, don’t be afraid to take a risk but make sure it’s a calculated and well thought out plan. Move like a leopard, put one foot out, look, explore, plan, look at the outcome, step back if you have major doubts, and if you make the decision it’s the right space, go for it and see your project through. For me it’s also about the team, space is important but the core of Treat is not the building but having a team of professionals with high expectations, and who genuinely care.

iTreat’s founder and proprietor Rebecca Geanty BSc Hons. Lic Ac. MBAcC. ACTEA is a registered Traditional Acupuncturist, specialising in natural fertility for men and women, women’s health and pregnancy. In 2010 she created Norwich Acupuncture Rooms, a community multi-bed, practice to help make acupuncture more accessible and affordable to a wide range of people. Find out more at www.treatnorwich.co.uk or www.norwichacupuncturerooms.co.uk

THE AIR WE BREATHE

Jason Firmager talks to Christian Hendriksen, Cofounder and CEO of Rensair, about the importance of good air quality in the practice room…

Jason: Let’s start with the obvious question. What has clean air got to do with holistic therapy?

Christian: Poor air quality means poor health. Practitioners of holistic therapy have treatment rooms visited by members of the public, so there is a risk that airborne viruses and bacteria can be spread from one client to another or to the practitioner themselves. In that way, it’s no different from a dental treatment room or a cosmetic beauty clinic. In those scenarios, clean air affords protection. With holistic therapy there is a far more interesting dimension too. Clean air is pertinent to all four pillars of holistic health: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

If you take a 360o approach to healthcare, the purpose is to empower clients to thrive in mind, body and soul and to take charge of their own wellbeing. There are countless studies showing a direct correlation between high levels of indoor and outdoor air pollution and poorer health. In fact, Public Health England published a report in 2019 saying that air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure. There is strong evidence that air pollution causes the development of coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer, and exacerbates asthma.

Respiratory health is fundamental to good health and wellbeing. The lungs are responsible for eliminating around 70% of all body waste on a daily basis, so reducing the amount of toxins circulating in the body

can have a profound effect on all aspects of health, both physically and mentally.

Breathing techniques improve mind-body connection and deliver oxygen to each part of the body. In turn, that promotes healing and wellbeing, affecting every single cell. But that can be counterproductive if the air is not clean from particulate matter, especially now that air pollution levels are so high. It’s easy to overlook the fact that the invisible air we breathe can be laden with harmful particles, from viruses and other pathogens to mould, vehicle emissions and even airborne micro-plastic particles.

Jason: So there’s a dual benefit, protecting health and enhancing wellbeing?

Christian: That’s right. Protecting health is critical to overall wellbeing. That’s the preventative piece, the physical side. Equally, clean air is an enhancer, a nurturer. It has been proven to increase cognitive skills, improve decision making, empower information retention and boost productivity. Those enhancements have a direct impact on mental, emotive and spiritual wellbeing. Clean air helps clear the mind, releasing negative energy and facilitating spiritual cleansing.

Jason: What’s the benefit of a portable air purification solution against an in-built one?

Christian: It’s a far more affordable solution for a therapy practice as there are no installation costs or disruption. It can easily be moved around from one room to another and is at least as effective as an integrated HVAC system and far more economical, even when you use multiple units in larger spaces.

The other benefit of portable air purification is that people can choose to bring clean air into their lives outside a treatment room, whether in the office, at home or in their car. That’s a lifestyle choice and research is beginning to show the farreaching benefits, since indoor air is typically 3 to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air.

Jason: There’s no shortage of choice when looking for air purifiers and some are very cheap. What’s the catch?

Christian: The old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is, of course, true and not all air purifiers are created equal. Hospital-grade air purifiers, used in healthcare settings, are far superior to domestic air purifiers sold on Amazon. Instead of focusing on price, there are two fundamentals that can point you to the right solution.

The first is the core technology. ‘Subtractive’ technologies that use HEPA filtration to trap particles and germicidal UVC light to inactivate them are recommended by government and health bodies. ‘Additive’ technologies that rely on chemical reactions, such as ionisers, are considered unproven and there is doubt about their efficacy and the potential for harmful by-products. Recent research in the USA has shown that certain air purifiers add more pollutants to the air than they remove. The second issue is airflow. It’s vital to have a powerful fan, without which any air purifier will simply clean the air around the unit itself and not the entire room. It’s a real engineering challenge to spread purified air and penetrate the room, while keeping noise levels down.

Beware of exaggerated claims and look for independent validation from respected laboratories. Many manufacturers lack that validation and there is a good reason why. Their products are often poor quality and do not achieve the performance claims when put to the test.

Jason: Good point, especially since the results are invisible. How can buyers know that the science actually works?

Christian: You can buy a particle sensor, which is a very small investment. Use that to gauge current levels of particulate matter in the air, compared to the recommended safe level. The EU sets the threshold at 20 micrograms per cubic metre, whilst the Taskforce for Lung Health suggests the target should be significantly lower at 10 micrograms per cubic metre. Rensair units have integrated particle sensors that show when you need to boost airflow to retain optional conditions for respiratory health.

Jason: Where can people find out more about Rensair?

Christian: You can check out our website, rensair. com and fill in a short enquiry form. We like to chat to prospective customers to fully understand their needs and then recommend a solution that’s fit for purpose. In some cases, where multiple units are required for a larger space, we offer a free trial. Rental is also an option. I love talking to customers, so by all means call me direct for a chat.

After a career in financial services,

iChristian set up Rensair in 2020 to produce the air purifier originally invented by his father for

hospitals. Rensair now has operations on 3 continents. www.rensair.com. or call

on: 020 397 38938

Jason’s comments

As a hypnotherapist, I need to pick up on my clients’ slight changes in expression and body language. The need to wear a mask made this impossible, not least because my beard meant I fidgeted with the mask constantly. I tried visors and face shields, but they were impractical. I wanted the air in my practice room to be clean and free of viruses and other pathogens.

My researches led me to Rensair and it’s a product I find myself recommending to other therapists. The unit is quiet, really well-made and incredibly effective. They were originally developed for hospitals in Scandinavia, but lend themselves well to holistic practices of all sorts. The HEPA H13 filter surface is continuously disinfected and the germicidal UVC light combine to make it 99.97% effective. One unit would be sufficient for even large practices.

Since I’ve started using it, the air in my practice room feels cleaner and I and my clients can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the air is clear. Definitely recommended!