The first seven months of 2019 absolutely whizzed by and I was so busy that my feet just didn’t touch the ground.  By the end of July, I was well and truly ready to take a break.  Thank you all so very much for your wonderful support and commitment, I have felt absolutely blessed to have had the opportunity of meeting and sharing knowledge with so many wonderful and enthusiastic practitioners. 
Sadly, the final part of 2019 was an extremely difficult and challenging time for me personally and I was forced to cancel some of my workshops as a result.  For those of you that it affected, I can only apologize and hope that you will be free to join me again in 2020.

My time out taught me many things both personally and professionally, and whilst I am determined to continue teaching, I will not be offering as many workshops or travelling as much as I have done in the past.
The upside is that I am looking at ways in which I can provide some online training for at least some of my workshops and will be concentrating on developing new and interesting workshops for the future. 

My first new workshop for 2020 is all about the inflammatory effects of stress and how that affects your pain responses. 
PAIN, STRESS AND THE INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE is a subject I have written about previously https://www.fht.org.uk/article/stress-pain-and-reflexology and continue to research.  There is also a strong link between the Vagus nerve and inflammation and those of you who are AoR members will have read my article on this in the December 2019 issue.  It is important to understand that stress can have a huge impact on your physiological and mental well-being and with reflexology we have a fantastic tool in our hands to help those who need our support.  For details of workshops currently available, please take a look at my website:  https://www.reflexmaster.co.uk/about-pain-stress-and-inflammation.html  More will be added as soon as I can confirm the venues and dates.

NERVE REFLEXOLOGY DIPLOMA
We started out with ten excited and keen practitioners for the very first NERVE REFLEXOLOGY DIPLOMA in Ireland, but as time progressed students began to drop out, one by one.  The reasons were many and varied and in October 2019 the remaining four attendees graduated. 
These four amazing practitioners put in the effort and were rewarded with the status of ‘Qualified Nerve Reflexologist’. They are one of only five practitioners in the whole of Ireland.  Huge congratulations to Linda Colhoun, Anne-Marie McQuaid, Catherine Smith and Siobhan Mognahan.  I am so very proud of you all.
Nerve Reflexology is a complex subject and certainly not for the faint-hearted.  It is challenging but rewarding, commands both your time and your full commitment.  It takes you into subject areas you may have previously had very little exposure to and study time outside of the workshops is an important aspect of your ongoing learning.
The next Nerve Reflexology Diploma training will be held in Portsmouth (UK), bookings are open and the dates have now been posted on my website https://www.reflexmaster.co.uk/nerve-reflexology-diploma.html
If you feel up for the challenge and are prepared to commit your time, effort and finances, then I would love to hear from you.

I will once again be travelling to Canada in 2020.  This time to speak at the 'Reflexology Association of Canada' conference in Victoria, alongside my colleagues Barbara Scott and Sally Kay.   I will also be offering a two-day post conference workshop on ‘Pain in Cancer Survivors’ on 27th/28th April.  If you are coming along to the conference and are interested in booking onto my workshop, you can do so here:  https://reflexologyconference.com/pain-in-cancer-survivors/
On the other hand, if you are unable to attend the workshop in Victoria, I will be running the same workshop in Toronto on 26th/27th September 2020.  You can book here:  https://www.reflexmaster.co.uk/pain-in-cancer-survivors.html

PAIN IN CANCER SURVIVORS
Last year I wrote that I was seeking funding for the research protocol I had prepared for ‘Pain in Cancer Survivors’; to date, I have not yet managed to secure that funding, but I will continue to knock on doors until one of them opens for me.  In the meantime, I continue to teach the workshop and have had some wonderful feedback from attendees.  Not only has the sequence proved beneficial for Chemotherapy Induced Neuropathy, but it has also benefited those with MS and diabetic neuropathy, with an additional benefit for general pain conditions too. 
The ‘Video on Demand’ sequence for this protocol was previously hosted by VIMSY but I was advised at the end of 2019 that by April 2020, VIMSY will disappear as a hosting platform, so I am in the throes of trying to make the video available through one of my other platforms.  For those of you who have already purchased access to the video sequence, you will continue to be able to view it through the current site and when things change, you will be notified.

PAIN MANAGEMENT – AN INTRODUCTION TO NERVE REFLEXOLOGY

This workshop has undergone a small change to its structure for 2020.  Instead of an emphasis on back and neck pain, the emphasis will be on low back and pelvic pain.  There will be no pre-course learning materials sent out in advance and the workshop will take on a slightly different focus.  The techniques taught can be used as a stand-alone treatment or added to your current reflexology skills for a more in-depth and longer session.  For information on the course dates for 2020 please visit:  https://www.reflexmaster.co.uk/course-dates.html

Thanks again for your support and for those new to my blogs and who are interested to learn more about pain management with reflexology, I look forward to meeting you.
May this year prove to be your most interesting year so far!

 

Nerve Reflexology Diploma

2018 saw lots of changes for me in terms of what I teach in my CPD workshops but importantly it was an absolute pleasure to meet so many new practitioners and share my knowledge and experiences in the field of Pain Management in Reflexology. 
Nico Pauly of MNT-NR International, with whom I was an assistant teacher for almost 13 years handed me the reins to the UK training of the Nerve Reflexology Diploma and it is set to run for the first time this year in both Northern Ireland and Leicester.   https://www.reflexmaster.co.uk/nerve-reflexology-diploma.html .

When I originally trained in Nerve Reflexology I found it difficult to understand all the new terminology, the clinical reasoning and the finite details of the Nervous system.   So, before I started developing it here in the UK I decided to carry out some research utilizing skills from business students at the University of Portsmouth. We sent out a survey and those of you who responded told us that you wanted to learn the theory online with face to face practical days. Unfortunately, after doing a full cost-analysis on my behalf, it turned out, this is not a cost-effective way to learn.  It also turned out that despite already offering the diploma in module format not everyone was able to, or indeed wanted to, continue past the first module.  I travel across the UK to teach these modules and as time went by, it became less and less viable to continue teaching the diploma in this way.  In June 2018 we held a meeting of teachers with the MNT-NR board and agreed to retain the original format of teaching the diploma at three separate levels.   The ideas being, you can dip in and out when/where you choose, for example, you can do Level 1 here in the UK, and perhaps go across to Denmark and do Level 2 with TouchPoint, or perhaps to Belgium with the Master himself, Nico Pauly and his team.