Palliative Care Conference - meet the speakers
Palliative Care Conference UK 2019
University College of Osteopathy
Saturday, 18 May 2019
UCO will be hosting the Palliative Care for Manual Therapists on Saturday 18 May in London.
In the video, Conference Chair and Integrated Care of Older Adults course leader, Shireen Ismail introduces the conference and speakers.
Below is some further information from some of the conference's speakers.
Rhiannon Lewis
Rhiannon Lewis is an experienced clinical aromatherapist, educator and author. Trained in both the holistic and medical styles of essential oil use, as director of Essential Oil Resource Consultants (France), she is editor of the International Journal of Clinical Aromatherapy, host and organiser of clinical aromatherapy seminars at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, as well as the successful biennial botanica international conference series.
Rhiannon is also director of the International Clinical Aromatherapy Network (ICAN); an online platform for connecting practitioners, researchers and suppliers of quality essential oils and related products that will be launched in 2019.
Rhiannon’s passion and specialty are providing evidence-based aromatic solutions to clinical challenges faced by patients with life-limiting disease. Her particular area of interest and influence is improving quality of life in cancer and palliative care.
Rhiannon Lewis on the Palliative Care Conference:
“Together with massage and reflexology, aromatherapy is one of the most popular complementary therapies delivered in UK palliative care. It offers psychosocial support as patients journey with their disease as well as improving symptom management and quality of life. In this session, I will define and outline the main roles of aromatherapy in the palliative care setting together with concrete examples of care for patients and their families at the end of life. Participants of the workshop will have the opportunity to experience for themselves the benefits of simple aromatic strategies to improve wellbeing and gain pragmatic insight into the potentials of incorporating aromatherapy with other therapeutic strategies.”
Annie Hallett MSc BACP
Annie has a background in nursing, counselling, education and complementary therapies including healing. In 1993 she started one of the first Counselling and Complementary Therapy services within an NHS Cancer Unit in the UK, which is when she became interested in healing and therapeutic touch. She studied various traditions of healing, shamanism and reiki, but it is the interpretation of energy and healing through therapeutic touch, which has had the most influence on her work. She studied therapeutic touch with its founder Dolores Krieger, both in Australia and in the United States and with Jean Sayre Adams who first introduced it to the UK.
In addition to counselling and complementary therapies, her work in the NHS has included strategic roles along with bereavement support and the teaching of communication skills. She has been involved in the development of various guidelines relating to counselling and complementary therapies nationally and has run numerous workshops across the UK. She is Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) registered and serves in an advisory capacity on their Professions Specific Board for Healing.
She is the author of ‘A Far Reaching Thing, Tales of Healing with Therapeutic Touch.’
Annie Hallett on the Palliative Care Conference:
“Palliative care and end of life care is an area which, for the therapist, particularly demands emotional sensitivity and an understanding of the physical impact of the palliative phase of any condition. This can become a journey where the therapist may find themselves supporting hopefulness and quality of life through to nurturing and offering comfort at the end of life.
This workshop will look at the key components of therapeutic touch and how you can use this knowledge to support your work. We will focus on compassionate intention, and being centred, along with a simple process of 'smoothing and soothing'.