How to make it as an…inclusive therapist
Sue Stretton, director of the Healing Hands Network, explains how you can volunteer with a charity and use your beauty skills to help those most in need
Career Path
1.
Be passionate about the cause
“I’ve been doing beauty therapy for 38 years, working in my own salon, A Touch of Class in Coventry, before becoming a home-based therapist. I always knew I wanted to do charity work to give something back. In 2007, I joined the Healing Hands Network, a charity dedicated to the relief of suffering for those dealing with the physical and emotional after-effects of war.
“I was sent to Bosnia for two weeks to give treatments to those still suffering from the effects of the Siege of Sarajevo, where, between 1992 and 1996, inhabitants of the city suffered malnutrition and sniper fire. It was amazing to meet those people, hear what happened to them and their families, and see how my skills could be beneficial.
“In 2008, I joined the charity’s committee and worked my way up to director, a role I’ve been doing for the past four years. Also, since 2011, we’ve been doing work here at home with our UK Forces Project, treating returning service and ex-service personnel dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
2.
Swot up on your chosen charity
“You don’t need a particular qualification to do this type of volunteering – our 140-strong membership is a mix of traditional beauty, holistic and complementary therapists.
However, therapists who are used to working in a commercial setting are ideal because sticking to time is such an important aspect of the job. You see on average six to seven survivors or ex-service personnel back-to-back in a day, and all of them have different needs.
“I’d also advise researching the charity you want to work with to make sure it’s well established and has a good infrastructure. You want to join somewhere that invests in its members and offers ongoing training and support.”
3.
Be prepared to deal with emotions “The biggest challenge in this job is the trauma you come across. You’re dealing with clients’ emotional health even though you’re giving them a physical treatment. It can be hard to go out there and perform continuously when you see what happened to them during the war or in service to their country.
“It’s not uncommon for therapists to take that trauma on board when performing the treatment and bring it home with them. It really can affect you. This role is about being able to deal with the emotional and physical trauma, while also looking after yourself. I’ve found taking time to reflect on the day and writing your thoughts in a journal is a good way of dealing with the suffering you’ve seen and heard.
“As a charity, we look after our therapists by running induction workshops to prepare them for handling trauma, and hosting PTSD training days run by myself and an ex-military psychiatric nurse who works for the NHS and specialist charity Combat Stress.”
4.
It’s your chance to learn to work differently
“By doing this work, you learn an awful lot about yourself – not only your strengths and weaknesses, but how to approach therapies in a different way. With these clients, you’re confronted with all sorts of contraindications and it’s important to think on your feet and use your professional knowledge to adapt the treatment to their needs. It really stretches your abilities.
“As a result, your treatment standard goes up another level and when you return to your usual clients they can see a difference in your work, an improvement, giving you a deeper confidence in what you’re doing.”