Profile
Martin Burt
Background -----Qualified with VTCT and ITEC ----- Qualifications

Registered with the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT) - No.72918
& in the FHT Complementary Healthcare Therapist Register
Member of the International Council of Holistic Therapists
Member of the International Federation of Health and Beauty Therapists
Member of the Professional Association of Clinical Therapists
(The FHT provides for its members an extensive Code of Ethics)
I hold a DBS -previously CRB enhanced disclosure

I specialise in holistic therapies and I address the personal requirements of clients, particularly the effects of occupational stress and health issues.

Background   top

Before being a therapist, I spent 30 years as an applied physicist. My interest in holistic therapy started when my wife at the time was prescribed aromatherapy to help her fight Hodgkin's disease. She received this in St.Michael's Hospice, Basingstoke. Until then, I knew nothing about it. The therapist allowed me to observe for a while and from that time, I could perceive the benefits, allowing the relaxation and giving the body and mind a chance to focus on the issues of healing.

When my wife finally recovered, after a stem-cell transplant in Southampton, I saw the value in continuing with the therapies to help stop the condition recurring. By this time, I was a very stressed individual so rather than just taking my wife to the therapist, I indulged myself. My first aromatherapy blew me away. I drove away feeling so chilled but felt my reactions were heightened. It was a memorable experience that made me feel that I wanted to try doing this myself, if it could have such an effect on stressed people like me!

Some while later, an aromatherapy course at our local adult centre came up, which my wife & I enrolled for. She was not too keen but I thought it was great and asked what I needed to do to qualify and be able to be a therapist. So, I went off to Basingstoke college to do the basic massage course, so that I could then do aromatherapy.

My wife's thin hair struggled to recover from the chemotherapy, so I took the opportunity to learn Indian head massage to help it (which it did according to observers). While learning IHM, I became very aware of something going on with me and my clients that went beyond the physical science that I was used to. I was driven to attending a Reiki course and thus therapies and spiritualism were playing a leading role in my life. While doing the aromatherapy course, I managed to fit in reflexology. This was another eye-opener. How could working on the feet relate to the rest of the body, but hey, it does!

Relaxation and de-stressing, once the purpose of my involvement, began to give way to a broader belief in the ability to help in so many ways with life's everyday issues. The techniques of deep-tissue massage enabled me to realise the benefits to sore muscles and soft-tissue issues of which we all suffer at times. The extension of techniques to people suffering other debilitating illnesses led me to a course in palliative care for the massage therapist, bringing me the full circle back to the hospice environment where my story began.

I now work on patients with cancer!

Recently, I have started work on adults with learning difficulties. This was a whole new challenge and is very rewarding.

Qualifications   top

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