Following a call out from the professional association last month, a member of the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT) shared her experience on how massage has benefitted patients with cancer and sickle cell disease.
Claire Best, who has been a member of FHT for 11 years, told us about her experience of using complementary therapy while working with sickle cell and cancer patients at St Georges University Hospital in London.
Claire works as a massage therapist for the charity Full Circle Fund, who are pioneers of holistic support in the NHS, providing free complementary therapies to those with life limiting and life-threatening illnesses.
Claire said “Back in October, I bore witness to the loneliness affecting sickle cell and cancer patients, some who hadn’t had visitors and others who’d been shielding at home. I didn’t need telling; it was tangible in the air. On my first day back on the wards, I was massaging a young sickle cell patient who was simultaneously using her phone. Halfway through, she put down her phone, her eyes filled with tears, met mine and she spoke the following words: “Claire, you think you’re doing so little, but you have no idea how much you are doing.” For context, the young woman had been shielding and was in the middle of a potentially life-threatening sickle cell crisis. Time and time again, I am blown away by the huge impact massage can have on someone’s life and someone’s spirit. This job is a privilege.”
Since the pandemic, complementary therapy alongside conventional standards of care has never been so sought after. Treatments such as massage, reiki and reflexology provide a new level of care and comfort to patients, carers and NHS workers.
Over the past two years, the benefits of complementary and holistic therapy are highly reputed among healthcare professionals for their ability to improve quality of life, boasting benefits like no other during times of stress and despondency.
