Welcome to Heart of Bowen & Touch Therapies Online
Learn to adapt the unique treatment you provide for clients with a complex health history or history of cancer treatment
This course is currently closed to new enrolments until further notice. After experiencing a recurrence of breast cancer in early 2024 I am now taking time to recover my health.
Follow Heart of Bowen & Touch Therapies on Facebook for the latest information
Feel free to contact me by email at [email protected] and I will keep you up to date on any developments.
All details, pricing and enrolment information will follow as it is finalised.
As Remedial Massage, Bowen and other tactile therapists it is important that we understand that nearly 1 in 2 people in Australia will receive a cancer diagnosis by age 85. There are more than 1 million people alive today who have had this diagnosis and many more who live with comorbidities and neurological conditions.
Why is this important to us? The next new client that comes into your clinic could have a history of cancer treatment and even if it was many years ago it is still relevant to how we treat this person. Common cancer treatments can leave life long side effects to the nervous and lymphatic systems and leave these clients at risk of developing lymphoedema.
By understanding key principles you can easily adapt your treatment to work safely and confidently and know when you absolutely must refer these clients on to more specialised service providers.
Please note that this course is not Bowen, Remedial, Lymphatic or Oncology Massage training! There are no new Bowen moves taught, no sequences for treatment and no new massage techniques. This is simply about understanding complex health conditions and how to adapt the treatment you provide for your clients.
This is training for every therapist
Join me as you access the course platform to understand how to adapt your treatment for clients with a complex health history or history of cancer treatment.
There are many interpretations of Bowen therapy and most would be considered gentle although, depending on individual training, depth of pressure will vary between therapists. Similarly there are a variety of massage techniques and pressure and positioning preferences that will vary between therapists. Pressure used throughout a treatment is an important consideration when working on clients with complex health conditions. Many clients will present with a complex medical history such as a previous cancer diagnosis, neurological condition or any number of conditions associated with ageing or comorbidity.
Any form of tactile therapy should be modified to adjust for potential side effects from medical treatment. Routine medical treatments for many conditions can result in lasting changes to tissue and increase the lifelong risk of developing lymphoedema. Therapists completing this workshop will gain an understanding of common medical treatments and the skills to adapt their treatment to ensure comfort and safety.
What Have Therapists Said?
"I signed up to this course when I saw it offered as I had heard about Deb's work through the BTFA and having worked with cancer patients before was interested in learning more. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Deb, her compassion and knowledge really shine through. I found myself following link after link and becoming immersed in the content that was constantly being offered to me. I was surprised at how much I was challenged doing the assessments, and as a result have become much more aware of the way I work not only on chronically ill clients but all clients who come to see me. I would thoroughly recommend this course to any body workers and sincerely thank Deb for the enormous amount of work she has put into making this on line course available to everyone."
Sandra Qld
"A self-paced and informative online course highlighting requirements & adaptations of manual therapies for clients with comorbidities. The benefits of manual therapies has been well researched & the content relevant to our day to day operations. It also adds another dimension in doing it with Heart ❤️ Thank you Deb, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Bernadete Qld
"Just wanted to thankyou again for your course and the information involved. Since completing your workshop I have had a few new clients with complex health history, however I have felt more than capable to treat them throughout their journey no matter their stages of health. Thankyou again
Katie NSW
"I very much enjoyed attending Heart of Bowen and Touch Therapies course on-line. I’ve known Deb for many years and was delighted to see that she has produced a course to help other practitioners with her extensive background of treating people with complex health histories and life-limiting conditions.
The assessments which we were required to complete were excellent for me to contemplate my treatments. I was reminded about treating people who needed to lie supine for the entire session. I had treated a lady years ago in a care home while lying on her back and since I completed the course had had 2 patients needing to lie supine on the bed. I also enjoyed researching MS and being able to relate a story of a relative leading a better life after making some lifestyle changes. It was also excellent to study treating clients who have cancer or are in palliative care. The checklist of questions for cancer diagnosis clients is invaluable. I highly recommend all therapists to take this course - in their own time with no travel expenses!! Thanks Deb for helping us all in clinics."
Merry NT
" As a long time colleague of Deb Hart I was very interested in subscribing to her course on working safely with oncology clients. This is because I know of her personal and professional experience with oncology treatment and how she has been able to help many people through difficult times and end of life palliative care. Deb has a wealth of knowledge due to her decades of training and courses in Bowen and manual therapies. I found her online training very informative, full of up to date data and statistics. Her course was succinct and easy to follow and promoting a cautious, safe and ethical approach to treating oncology patients. There were many interesting insights into how current cancer treatment can be experienced by many and what we therapists can do to assist. I would strongly recommend this course to every manual therapist especially because cancer is ever increasing and we all need to learn all we can in order to help people with these terrible diseases and not cause any extra problems for them. This course is well worth it!"
Ariya Lodge Homeodynamic Bowen Therapy
"Heart of Bowen & Touch Therapies online course is an informative, well researched, mind stretching guide to dealing with clients on a wholistic basis - especially those with complex health history.
I had the pleasure of studying oncology massage with Deb Hart some years ago and believe this course and it’s design fills a much needed gap in any massage or Bowen therapist’s knowledge of how to tread lightly and seek help when dealing with this client base.
A firm reminder to be in the present and mindful in all our treatments and feel the difference that makes to our clients.
I would highly recommend Heart of Bowen & Touch Therapies to all therapists."
Heather Hay NSW
