A NEW JOURNEY…My adventures into integrative holistic healthcare started with my quest to find holistic ways to further assist my students with special needs and their families. I started out slowly and simply by introducing yoga and mindfullness techniques into my inclusive classroom every morning. At the end our day together, my students were encouraged to play back the days events and share something they were grateful for. These changes yielded tremendous results for all persons concerned and our respective families as well.
Despite this wonderful beginning, one particular child in my classroom was still struggling. This particular student of mine and his family became my first and last thought every morning and every night. With all my experience and knowledge in education and psychology, I was having a difficult time reaching him. My student was diagnosed with Autism, ODD, SPD, ADHD, and his parents were feeling overwhelmed, tired, and hopeless. Treatments were expensive, and subsidies delayed. I prayed, I cried, I researched and realized the more informed I became, the more I realized how little I really knew and had yet to understand.
As luck would have it during one of my many Google searches, I came across this amazing lady in the UK named Lorraine Senior. Lorraine was a special ed teacher who was able to help her students with Autism and other intellectual disabilities through the use of Reflexology. I contacted her, learned about her F.R.T program and how she had helped many children and introduced her F.R.T program to timetables across schools in the UK. I was so intrigued and inspired, that before you knew it, I had contacted the Reflexology Association of Canada, found myself a teacher and was registered for a class. I decided to pursue and investigate Reflexology for myself and put it to the test.
I pursued my studies in Reflexology part time while I worked full time as a teacher, until I became a licensed and certified reflexology therapist with R.A.C (Reflexology Association of Canada) and the Quebec Chapter of Reflexologists. My students became my first case studies and it wasn’t long before their parents and I were able to see positive results. I was able to successfully combine my knowledge in the fields of education, psychology and reflexology to help both my students and their parents as well, who were demonstrating signs of stress, anxiety, and sleep disorders as a result of their children’s situations.
Reflexology is not a cure, but I have observed some improvements through regular sessions indicating the following results:
- Reduction in stress
- Reduction in anxiety
- Improved mood
- hese improvements in some cases showed reduced frustration, angry outbursts, isolation, more control of difficult behaviors and improved relationships with family members and classmates.Improved gross motor and fine motor skills
- Improved sleep patterns
- Improved digestion
- Improved cognitive skills, thinking and focusing
- Improved language skills
- Improved social skills
These improvements in some cases showed reduced frustration, angry outbursts, isolation, more control of difficult behaviors and improved relationships with family members and classmates. Through Reflexology another mission for me had evolved to offer assistance to similar families affected by the realities of what it means to raise a child with special needs.
A former teacher of 26 years, (and trained aesthetician; my family owned a beauty salon, so this was plan B – I now work as an Integrative therapist, Reflexologist and workshop facilitator, serving both mainstream children and adults as well as persons with special and particular needs. I continue to explore, to learn, and to connect the dots, so as to offer the best possible care and assistance to my clients, my former students and their families, as well as my community as a whole.
True value and meaning come from being authentically you and sharing yourself, your knowledge, your talents, your heart, your passion. It makes the load a little easier to carry for people that can use a helping hand, and it leads to a more fulfilling journey for yourself and all those you touch. Help is out there, don’t be ashamed to ask for it. I reached out, and I’m happy to say my life has never been the same since.
Marie Mady Holistic Therapies 