Getting a Foot In The Door With Reflexology (Reflexologist)

Member Name: janharper

Product:	Reflexologist
Date:	01/03/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: rewarding, inexpensive to set up.

Disadvantages: Hard to build a prasctise

I have spent much of my working life in advertising but six years ago I decided to get out of the rat race and train to do something completely different.

A holistic therapies course at our local college seemed to fit the bill. It was a year long course including physiology, anatomy, aromatherapy and reflexology.

The whole course was interesting but I soon realised that I had a talent for reflexology and that I loved doing it.

To be a professional reflexologist you need to take a properly accredited course because, without that, you will not be able to get insurance to practise.

There are no laws as such (at present) that stop you practising without qualifications, but without the protection of insurance, you may be storing up trouble for yourself if there was ever a claim against you.

Quick six week courses are not sufficient and you need to study the longer course plus some physiology. There are also legal issues regarding things like health and safety and due care and attention that you will only learn on a full length course.

Reflexology is based on the principle the all the main organs with the body are represented by different parts of the foot. Manipulating these areas stimulate the respective organs. It is also used on the hands and the ear lobes.

This isn't a cure for anything but it is very relaxing and can be used to compliment traditional medicine (with permission from the GP.)

Once you have passed your exam which involves practical case studies and theory, you are ready to start working professionally. The qualification that I have is the VTCT Diploma.

I also joined the MAR which is the professional body for reflexologists. The first thing to do is to get insurance and searching around for this will get you the best deal as the cost varies hugely between companies.

To start off with you will need a kit box. I use a big plastic box with a handle. This holds your cotton wool, rose water for cleansing, talc, towels, and other items. It is not expensive to start up.

You can do this work as a mobile reflexologist visiting people at home, or set up a treatment room which would, of course, be more expensive.

My advice here would be to start off with a mobile practise before paying out rents and other overheads for premises.

This is a great profession to be in, but it takes a long time to build up a practise. If you are lucky you might even be able to find employment in a holistic therapy centre somewhere. The most important thing you need besides expertise at the techniques involved, is a love of what you are doing. If you don't have that enthusiasm this will be projected to your patients/clients and the treatments will not be so good that people want to re-book.

Summary: You have to enjoy doing this to make a success of it.