When Words Escape Us … March 2025
Hello! Welcome to “When Words Escape Us” where we explore all things related to therapeutic touch and more for people living with dementia.
When there’s lots of news there is little time to sit and capture it all in a newsletter. I needed to get some deadlines out the way before filling you in. Lots has been happening and I’ve had to offset that with restful mornings at weekends and setting aside time for calming walks and land-based catharsis. So my lovelies, here’s wosson:
- Are you REALLY listening to your massage therapy clients – I chat with Chris about consent and how working with people living with dementia has improved my general practice on the Massage and Physical Therapists Talk Show
- “Thrive Time” – Vanessa and I have a lovely conversation on her wellbeing show on CHBN radio
- A Yesterday – “Painting a Portrait” – Latest blog
- STEP training – webinars for body therapists and students
- Editorial – my story features in the Business Hub in International Therapist
- Nicolle’s reflections – Enabling with Presence
- Training for 2025
- What I’ve been listening to
- Upcoming news and an invitation
Are you REALLY listening to your massage therapy clients
“Yes, we’ve got our experience, yes, we’ve got our skills, yes, we’ve got our intuition, but I think first and foremost that we’re always led by the client.”
What a delight it was to chat with Chris Maddern of Take A Breather UK – Massage & Wellbeing on the Massage Warehouse podcast about listening more deeply. We cover a lot of ground on communication both verbal and nonverbal, always listening to our client with all our senses to be truly person led. You can watch on YouTube here:
E18: Are You REALLY Listening To Your Massage Therapy Clients?
… or if you don’t fancy watching you can listen while you do the dishes on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1W1LDAI96WR4ipxIQuIO1J?si=cf7bb275f0304840
“Thrive Time”
Vanessa Matthews of Sekhem Massage Therapy and I had a lovely blether about therapeutic touch, where to start and respectful approaches on CHBN Radio. You can also listen to my story about how I got into this specialist work.
Stay tuned after our chat for her beautiful One Healthy Habit – I’ve started to use this technique already … the chat starts at 17mins 24secs in:
Thrive Time with Vanessa Matthews and Nicolle Mitchell
A Yesterday – “Painting a Portrait”
The sense of touch doesn’t always have to be about our hands. Recently on my visits with mum I’ve started using another way to connect using the sense of touch which has been profound and beautiful. What is even more wonderful, one of the carers who supports mum has also started using this simple intervention and he’s been delighted at mum’s response too. I love that he goes the extra mile to build a meaningful relationship with mum. It’s a 2 minute read which you can find here: A Yesterday: Painting a Portrait – Massage for Dementia
STEP therapy focused webinar programme
One of the deadlines I had was with Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT) who are hosting a programme of educational and supportive webinars to help students get started in therapy or help established therapists deepen their learning. I was delighted to be invited among other respected colleagues to provide a webinar for the programme which runs from the 10th to the 21st March.
My educational presentation entitled “The Benefits of Becoming a Dementia Informed Therapist” is part of my passion to enable our profession to become more dementia aware in our practice. People living with dementia are all too often still hidden within our communities, so may miss opportunities to engage in therapeutic services which may support and enable their wellbeing.
Once it’s had its final tweak, I’ll be making this available on my website, so watch this space.
It’s certainly had me stretching my comfort zone twang tight with regards to my techy abilities. 😆 However, it’s good practice ahead of my plan to record training modules of my course to make it more accessible online. More on that later in the year.
Editorial
The other deadline I had with the FHT was for some editorial in their industry magazine “International Therapist” about my story and how I got into my specialism. It seems the sad twist of irony therein sparks an interest.
But my goodness I had to be strict with myself to meet deadlines, prepare for talks with colleagues as well as walk my talk to ensure I carved out time to rest and recharge this winter, especially as winter is the time we naturally should slow down. I am always checking in with course participants and colleagues to encourage them to maintain their self-care, booking in their massage or maintenance therapy.
The issue is out in spring or summer. I’ll keep you posted in a future newsletter.
Nicolle’s reflections – Enabling with Presence
I’ve been adding reels and stories to my website Nicolle’s Reflections – Massage for Dementia, YouTube page and social media about thoughts I have on supporting people living with dementia. I don’t do many as I genuinely only want to pop something up which is meaningful or generates conversations and encourage people about how we can improve our dementia awareness and engage respectfully with a person in their presence however dementia may be affecting them at any given moment. Too often I still see people talk over a person as if they’re not there, even in settings where they are supposed to be dementia care specialists, so my latest wee video invites you to join me in my reflection. I wonder how we can further improve dementia awareness in our communities and care settings. I sometimes suggest to people that, “Ted is still in the room, please can we include him in any conversations. You still wish to be involved eh Ted?” Or sometimes I’ll simply model communicating while respectfully including everyone in the room in the conversation and I’m sure people think I’m bonkers but I truly believe that we can never know what a person is thinking or able to understand in any given moment and maybe they can’t communicate, and we should always remember that to enable Ted to feel that he matters enough to be included. After all, if I feel excluded my response might be anger and agitation, fear or giving up and dissociating and then we are in a spiral of rejection, loneliness and anxiety which affects our cognition and disables us further.
Rashielee Care Home used this reflection to stimulate some discussion about their approaches. You can follow their inspiring story on X: https://x.com/rashielee
So if you fancy joining me in this reflection, you can have a listen here:
Nicolle’s Reflections – enabling with presence
Training for 2025
My Bristol courses are filling up nicely for March and if you’re not able to make it then, don’t worry, I have dates in Cornwall in May for the advanced 2 day course which is for therapists who really wish to deepen their dementia awareness or specialise in this field. You don’t need to have attended the 1 day course to attend but you do need to be qualified or qualifying in massage.
There are 1-day courses open to all in Birmingham on 5th July, Cornwall in August and London in November where everyone is welcome to come and learn great tips on therapeutic touch and compassionate communication to help you connect in a dementia aware way or start offering your services to people who live with dementia.
Of course, if those dates or venues don’t suit or you prefer 1 to 1 training, you can book in with me at the lovely Blue Lotus Therapy Centre in Cornwall for training to suit your learning style and with a focus on your needs. Feel free to drop me a line to discuss a date to suit us both: massage4dementia@gmail.com
What I’ve been listening to
This past month or so I’ve been listening to Keon West’s The Science of Racism https://open.spotify.com/show/0rw8Uww6kL5UZbZfXusDo1?si=55fc98719bb94383
A solidly underpinned book! Keon tackles the complex issue of racism delves into research and why racism is still so deeply embedded in ourselves and our culture. Without creating any spoilers, my understanding is that meaningful systemic change needs to be policy led by government so we are all accountable individually and organisationally to counter embedded #racism which continues to self-perpetuate prejudice even when we wish to address it. Definitely worth anyone’s time for a thought provoking read peppered with Keon’s dry wit to make it more digestible.
An invitation
Finally, I’ve been inviting colleagues if they can contribute a blog or piece to this newsletter as I think hearing people’s stories is fascinating. I’d like to extend this invitation to you. Have you a heartwarming story, a success to share, a magical moment to enjoy together or a challenge we can learn from? I’d love this space to become an opportunity to spread interesting contributions by people who have a wealth of expertise and experience, and we all have that.
You can submit your blog, along with a suitable image to suit the content as well as a short bio & picture of yourself if you’re happy for me to share this too. Whizz it over in an email to: massage4dementia@gmail.com
Let’s learn from each other or be inspired to think a little differently as we all become more dementia aware and supportive together.
Warmest wishes, Nicolle 🧡
#massagefordementia #MeetMeWhereIAm #massage training #CPD #empower