Local groups

COVID-19 has meant that up until very recently, FHT local groups (LGs) have been unable to meet face-to-face. In this issue of International Therapist, we cover two recent meetings that have been held virtually...

Complementary therapies in cancer care at York

Carole Dalton, York Joint Coordinator very kindly offered to talk to us about her role as the Complementary Therapy Lead at a local hospice, writes York Joint Coordinator, Louise

Black. Carole talked about how she has developed her own training courses and is currently offering these to therapists wanting to increase their knowledge and confidence when working with clients who are living with cancer.

It was inspiring to listen to Carole talk about the work she and her team of therapists do in the hospice and the positive impact they have on improving their clients’ end of life experience.

There was an interactive discussion around the benefits of massage therapy and the practicalities of providing a treatment and communicating with someone receiving palliative care. Attendees highlighted concerns around taking on a formal counselling role with clients, but Carole said that often it is important to simply offer a listening ear. She said clients often find it beneficial to talk openly to their therapist during their treatments as they can sometimes find it difficult to talk in the same way to family and friends.

Transcendental meditation at Eastbourne and South Downs

Our guest speaker Marek Lorys joined us for a discussion on transcendental meditation, writes Eastbourne and South Downs Joint Coordinators Pam Hardy and Hazel

Curtis. Marek has been practicing this form of meditation for 50 years and began by advising us that the best way to gain the most from our meditation is to practice for twenty minutes morning and night. He shared studies which look at the possible benefits of meditation, including improved sleep, increased brain function and creativity, more energy and a greater resilience to stress.

Attendees asked how to choose a mantra to repeat during the meditation sessions and Marek explained that everyone has their own mantra dependent on how they are feeling and that no two are the same. The evening passed quickly, and it was agreed that Marek should return for another talk, perhaps once in-person meetings are able to take place.

FIND YOUR LOCAL GROUP

Local groups are a valuable hub for all those with a passion for therapies. Hear from excellent speakers about the latest therapies and business ideas, and chat to like-minded therapists.

EAST MIDLANDS

Alfreton Leicester Lincoln Northampton Nottingham

EAST OF ENGLAND

Colchester Essex Hertfordshire Norwich

NORTH EAST

Durham Newcastle Tees Valley

NORTH WEST

Chester Liverpool and Rainhill Manchester (North) Manchester (South) Morecambe Bay Preston Wigan, Leigh, Rainford and St Helens

NORTHERN IRELAND

Antrim Belfast and District Lisnaskea

IRELAND Donegal

SCOTLAND

Ayrshire

LONDON

Brixton and Kennington North London North West London South East London

SOUTH EAST

Brighton and Hove Chichester Dartford, Gravesham and Medway Eastbourne and South Downs East Kent Milton Keynes North Kent Oxfordshire (South) Waterlooville Worthing

SOUTH WEST

Bath Bournemouth Bristol Cheltenham Ipplepen Salisbury Swindon Taunton

WALES

Pontyclun and District Swansea Wrexham

WEST MIDLANDS

Birmingham (South) Birmingham (North) Coventry Hereford Stourbridge and Dudley

YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER

Calderdale Harrogate Kirklees York

DID YOU KNOW?

Attending a local group meeting - even a virtual one - can gain you two CPD points if the subject relates to professional development. Find out what subjects are covered as CPD at fht.org.uk/cpd.

CAN'T FIND A GROUP IN YOUR AREA?

Why not become a local group coordinator? It is a very rewarding role, and there is a range of additional benefits available exclusively to coordinators. Go to fht.org.uk/create-your-own-local-group for more information.

MORE INFO

For group contact details and information about forthcoming meetings, go to fht.org.uk/local-groups

Local Group Coordinators discuss future meetings

On Monday 26 April, FHTs Local Group Coordinators came together on Zoom to discuss the future of local group meetings as we ease out of the most recent lockdown.

As restrictions ease, in-person local group meetings are planned to resume. This will be welcome news for those members who are looking to get back to pre-pandemic normality, but we would like to highlight that future meetings may look a little different.

To ensure the FHT continues to support all members, it is likely your Coordinator may decide to adopt a hybrid approach and host both inperson and virtual meetings within their yearly calendar of events. By taking this new approach, the FHT hopes to achieve the balance between fulfilling physical, face-to-face, support while maintaining flexibility for members and speakers to come together across the country.

For upcoming virtual meetings, please visit fht.org.uk/virtual-local-

group-meetings

Thank you to all of you who nominated someone for this year’s FHT Excellence Awards.

Our judges are now busy working their way through a shortlist for each category and we will be announcing our 2021 finalists in August. Each finalist will receive a special logo and be listed on the FHT’s website. Please keep an eye on your regular FHT e-newsletters for updates or visit fht.org.uk/awards.

Good luck!

Chiropractor and business coach, Nikki Collinson-Phenix, shares tips to help you bounce back to business as we ease our way out of the pandemic.

As we all entered the first lockdown in March 2020 and you realised that you couldn’t work with your clients in person, what did it teach you about your business?

A lot of the therapists I work with suddenly realised that their entire income came from being in the treatment room, so when they were no longer able to provide treatments, it made them extremely financially vulnerable. And sadly, not all of them were able to claim grants or other support from the government, or they were only able to claim a very small amount.

I had a similar wake-up call a number years ago, when I injured my back and was out of action for a year. At that time, all of my income came from being in the treatment room. As soon as I learnt that lesson, I made sure I put provisions in place so that I had multiple income streams, in case something similar happened again. It meant that (fortunately, for me) when we went into lockdown last March – yes, I couldn’t see my clients for a long time – but it wasn’t as financially catastrophic as it could have been.

I know that for some therapists, that realisation that their income completely stops when the treatment room door is closed, has taught them that their business model is not as strong as it should be. And even when COVID-19 is no longer a major threat to health, it’s possible that other things might stop you from treating clients in person. If you are a hands-on worker, what would happen if you were to break your finger or wrist, and you couldn’t physically do your job? Are there other ways that you can generate income and continue to support your clients and business at the same time?

Some therapists I have spoken to really embraced working in the online space during lockdown and even when they return to the treatment room, want to keep doing some of that online work. Maybe you feel the same?

Or maybe you found some gaps in your knowledge, that you would like to address going forward? It might be learning more about how to use social media or training in a therapy that is hands-off and you can offer over the phone or Zoom, such as a

Bouncing back to business

talking therapy or nutritional therapy.

Did being forced to stay at home make you realise that you actually really enjoy spending more time at home? Did it make you consider changing your working arrangements? Maybe you want to work more or less hours, or change the days and times you work, or where you work?

So, before looking to the future, the first thing I’d like you to do is just take time to reflect on the past year and the lessons that you have learnt – I promise it will help as you plan the best way forward for you and your business.

Be visible and consistent

As a professional therapist with so much to offer, it’s important to get yourself out there and be seen, particularly now that you are seeing clients in person again. Something I noticed during the lockdown was that some therapists really retreated, while others embraced the fact that they had to go online if they wanted to stay visible, even if they couldn’t provide treatments at the time. The downside for those who took a step back was that some of their clients, even their most loyal ones, started to look to their competition for remote support, because they saw them showing up online and reaching out to their clients.

Going forward, what I’d like you to do is start getting yourself noticed and to do that, I need you to think about where you would find your dream clients. Where do the people you want to attract to your business hang out? Once you’ve worked that out, you then need to start showing up in these places and making yourself visible. If you’re happy connecting with people online, you could explore different forums or social media groups. Offline, you could maybe tap into different clubs, societies, social groups or businesses they’re connected to and have an interest in. Could you then give a talk or treatment demonstration, online or in person? Can you give them useful links, tips, a checklist, short videos or taster treatments? What can you do that will help to get your face recognized by these people?

Another option is to get a feature in your local newspaper, magazine or radio show. Or perhaps you could write a guest post for someone else’s blog, whose readers are your dream clients. Or you could collaborate with someone – maybe even another therapist – to create a great 

initiative that will help to get you both noticed. The important thing is that, even if it feels like it’s not really working, you keep going. Eventually, people will keep seeing your name and think, ‘Who is this person? I need to learn more about them, because they’re everywhere at the moment!’ That’s when they’ll start to searching for you online and on social media. Get yourself visible – it’s so powerful.

The next thing is to be consistent. Only showing up when you want to promote a new treatment doesn’t look very good from a business perspective. You need to do whatever it is that you are doing on a regular basis, wherever it is that your dream clients are hanging out. It might be posting content, offering top tips on Facebook every now and then, or sending out a monthly newsletter to clients. Just stick with it and remember that running a business is a marathon, not a sprint.

With so many social media platforms available, it can be really overwhelming trying to manage all of them. Pick the one you think your dream clients are most likely to use. It might be Facebook, or if they are more business-minded, LinkedIn might be more appropriate. If they’re more visual and creative, it could be Instagram. Pick the one that you feel is most relevant, build up your confidence and get really good at it, and then when that’s going well, look to branch out onto another platform. You can use social media schedulers, so that you can plan out different posts on different platforms and give yourself some time back later in the week.

Promote transformations, not treatments

When you are reaching out to new clients, it’s really important that you focus on promoting the solution you provide (the transformation), rather than the treatment itself.

Often when I’m looking at a therapist’s marketing materials, it lists the treatments available and the cost. If this sounds familiar, going forward, what I’d really like you to do is move away from talking about the modality itself, particularly if it’s a holistic or hands-on therapy, and to concentrate instead on how it will benefit the client.

Now why am I saying this? It’s because when people are struggling with something, they’re at Point A. It might be that they’re not sleeping properly, they’re feeling anxious and stressed, or they have a knee or skin problem. All they’re interested in is getting to Point B, which is where they feel great again, they feel confident and energised, and are able to do the things they want to do.

When you are writing copy to promote your business, I want you to start thinking about the words that would resonate with someone who is at Point A but wants to get to Point B.

Often you will find that people talk about Point A in their marketing, for example, ‘Are you feeling tired?’ or ‘Do you have an injury that is holding you back?’. The only problem with this is that it obviously focuses on the negative stuff.

More recently, there has been a shift towards talking about Point B, the transformation your client will experience when they come to you for a treatment. It’s about focusing on what the client wants to feel when they leave your therapy couch. Do they want to feel a sense of calm and inner peace? Do they want to feel more confident about their appearance? Do they want to improve their running time, or just enjoy being able to play with their kids or grandkids?

Every time you promote your business, whether it’s something on social media or a printed leaflet, make sure you are talking about how you can help the person reading it to get to Point B.

If you’re not sure about the sort of words to use, ask your existing clients ‘When you’ve had a treatment with me, what words would you use to describe how you feel afterwards?’ Then start using these words. For example, if I was suffering from insomnia and somebody kept popping up (because their marketing is visible and consistent!) and they are saying, ‘I have a special interest in helping people to get a great night’s sleep’, they would be the first person I’d call, even if I’ve never tried the treatment they are offering.

There’s a saying that you don’t sell a mattress, you sell a good night’s sleep, so remember to talk less about the vehicle – the treatment – and start talking about the transformation. T

When you are reaching out to new clients, it’s really important that you focus on promoting the solution you provide rather than the treatment itself.

Nikki Collinson-Phenix is a registered chiropractor, Western medical acupuncturist and massage therapist who has been in private practice for more than 20 years. She is also a business coach and mentor for therapists. nikkicp.com