The complementary therapists at the Hospice form part of the Hospice’s Patient and Carer Support Service.

Therapies are offered on a needs-assessed basis to patients and their informal carers on the in-patient unit, in conventional Day Hospice, during the Day Hospice Support Days and on a domiciliary
basis where necessary.

How can holistic complementary therapies help?

Holistic therapies treat you as a whole person and not just as a collection of symptoms.

They are designed to complement conventional medical management by helping you to:
• deal with the treatment itself

• minimise any side-effects

• recover from the shock of diagnosis, relapse or bad news

• adopt a positive outlook on life

• develop relevant coping strategies

• maintain and enhance your body’s innate defence mechanisms.

Described below are some of the therapies on offer by the Hospice. We aim to increase the range
of therapies and their availability as our resources allow.

Hypnotherapy and Relaxation

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness in which you are neither fully awake nor fully asleep during which you may forget your symptoms and problems and will respond to the hypnotherapist’s positive suggestions. Forget the hypnosis of popular entertainers: in qualified hands it is used in
modern medicine with many beneficial results. It can help with pain relief, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression and sickness and vomiting.

The many tensions of modern life can lead to tenseness of the muscles and can actually increase pain or breathlessness. Relaxation therapy helps you to reduce bodily tensions and allows you to ‘let go’ mentally. A relaxed body leads to a relaxed mind.

Reiki: the therapeutic touch

Reiki (a Japanese word) is a form of healing involving the laying on of hands, a procedure as old as the hills. The aim is to strengthen the body’s natural tendency to heal itself. By creating an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity, the Reiki practitioner encourages this natural process. Reiki relaxes and rejuvenates, seeks to promote wholeness and to amend the emotional causes of disease because the human touch conveys healing care and love. Apart from giving you a sense of well-being, Reiki often helps in relieving pain, fear and other distressing symptoms, lifts your spirits and increases your vital energy.

Counselling: A listening ear

Counselling helps people to find their own way of coping with their problems. The mere fact of talking openly with someone can have therapeutic effects and enable you to cope better. It must never be forgotten that the patient’s nearest and dearest are suffering too, especially when their loved one dies - counselling may help them to come to terms with their grief.

Meditation brings calm to life

Today’s life-style with its many distractions leaves little or no time to develop an inner peace of mind. Meditation allows the mind to become completely still and calm, bringing relief to body, mind and spirit. It teaches you to reach a state of passive alertness which blots out negative thoughts and distractions. It is an effective way of lightening the mind and teaching you to forget about everyday stresses. Meditation, like relaxation, can be taught so that you can practice it whenever you wish.

Aromatherapy: the power of plants

A French chemist discovered the principles of aromatherapy when he burned his hand in the laboratory and plunged it into the nearest liquid which happened to be essential oil of lavender.
He was amazed at how quickly his burns healed. He began research into the healing powers of
other essential oils. There are some three hundred such oils which may be applied through inhalation, massage, ointments/lotions, baths or foot baths. All of these can be of great therapeutic benefit.

Reflexology

Reflexology is a non-invasive treatment which is emotionally, mentally and physically balancing.
It is the technique of applying gentle pressure and movements to particular reflex and pressure points on the feet and ankles that affect areas elsewhere in the body and which can stimulate key points on
the acupuncture map of the body. This, in turn, can break up undesired uric acid and calcium
deposits, release energy blockages and promote deep relaxation, thus enabling all the body systems to work more efficiently and stimulating the body’s own healing mechanisms.

Indian Head Massage

This method of relieving stress and tension has been used by Indian women for over two thousand years. It includes massage to head, neck and shoulders with the aim of stimulating the circulation thus expediting the removal of toxins from the body and assisting in the distribution of oxygen to all the body’s tissues. Face massage soothes, comforts and rebalances energy flow. This treatment can be performed with the individual fully dressed but greater benefits accrue from having contact with the
skin and using essential oils - just head, neck, back, shoulders and arms need to be accessible.

Hopi Ear Candles

These administer gentle, non-damaging heat which stimulates the peripheral blood circulation
and strengthens the body’s immunological defence system. They also stimulate innate energy points
and reflex zones. Additionally, high energy light from the flame penetrates through the candle tunnel
like a headlamp, transporting a vital spectral frequency inwards to the body’s important energy centres and refreshing them.