Last updated: Thursday, 21st March 2024
St Margaret’s Hospice is joining with other hospices and health providers across the UK to celebrate National Complementary Therapy Week from March 20th to March 25th.
This special awareness week is dedicated to promoting awareness and understanding of complementary and alternative therapies.
At St Margaret’s, our Complementary Therapy Team provides a variety of holistic treatments including Reflexology, massage and Indian head massage in a relaxed environment where patients can feel supported and cared for.
To celebrate National Complementary Therapy Week we spoke to Laura Franzen, Complementary Therapy Co-ordinator at St Margaret's, to learn more about more about her role, how the care she provides makes a difference to patients and why she enjoys working at the hospice.
Tell us about your role as a Complementary Therapist.
As a Complementary Therapist, I work as part of the clinical team to provide holistic treatments which take into account a person's physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being.
The holistic nature of these treatments means that they can be very effective in assisting with symptom control and aiding relaxation. At the hospice, the Complementary Therapy Team supports patients, carers and newly bereaved relatives with therapies such as reflexology, massage, aromatherapy and Reiki.
My role as Complementary Therapy Co-ordinator is to co-ordinate and develop the service and the complementary therapy team within the hospice, managing it day to day and participating in the provision of treatments.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
There are many things I love about my role here at the hospice. I really enjoy meeting all of the people I have the privilege to treat, and it is wonderful to see just how much the therapies help make their experience of living with an incurable disease that little bit easier.
I’m very lucky in the teams that I work with – their levels of knowledge, professionalism, care and compassion continually inspire me and make them wonderful people to work with!
Why do you enjoy working at St Margaret’s?
I enjoy working at St Margaret’s because it is a place that is caring and compassionate towards the patients and their families, and I get to work alongside a fantastic team of knowledgeable, skilled professionals who are lovely people too!