The Motto: Conference Day 2

"Patients health is our primary concern"

Day 2 started with a huge injection of reality, and ended in hysterical laughter. 

Alison Livings and Galina Imrie gave a wonderful joint talk on insurance, cautions and contraindication, three areas that therapists in this increasingly aggressive world need. On day 1, Kelly Hoply discussed the need to protect yourself, and I think this talk truly reinforced the extent to which a therapist should go to give themselves peace of of mind and protection. Insurers can give you advice on communication with clients when a complaint and claim seems imminent, and they can also pay out for any claims made against you, giving you both emotional and financial support. 

Galina gave an extremely comprehensive list of cautions and contraindications that one should take into consideration whenever treating any client. However, in some instances it really does boil down to your gut instinct. Make sure you are insured and you know your insurance policy as well as you know your trade. This will certainly help you minimise risks. 

Next up was Andrew and Carol from the Obsidian Retreat. Andrew convinced us of the benefits of juicing, dietary change and colonics to reverse type 2 diabetes. Addressing the symptoms and medicating our approach to food is the usual path, but "there is another way".

Greg Wimbourne from Kaizen Clinic gave us all an introduction to clinical homoeopathy  which fights like with like. He supports Lynne Mc Dougall who yesterday made the very valid point that there is no such thing as 'IBS' it really is just an umbrella term. As a clinical homoeopath he believes in isolating the pathogens in the gut and eliminating them one by one.

Steve from Optibac gave some useful hints and tips on how to decide which are the best probiotics to replace after a colonic, very useful steps for any therapist. 

Shoela Detsois then gave a talk on adrenal fatigue, and how many of our clients may be suffering from it and how we can help them as well as ourselves.

Richard Armstrong gave us some wonderful tools to read our client better and therefore increase our business and success. 

And finally, Rani Louise Don gave us the gift of laughter, teaching us a fun and playful way of managing our own stress and passing the advice on to our friend, family and clients. Playfulness allows us to access the right side of our brain better which increases our creativity. 

As you can see there was a lot going on today, all very useful and practical talks. 

Looking forward to RICTAT2013, Ian McDougall announced that the conference will be two fold. Firstly focusing on looking after the therapist and secondly going back to basics. Which is why the 2 days of awesomeness shall beheld at Champneys!

To make sure you all keep in touch please remember to find us on here, Twitter and Facebook. :)

RICTAT-eers Unite: Seminar Day

RICTATEERS: the wonderful people who make up the organisation RICTAT. They are enthusiastic, eager to learn, sharing and caring individuals who have been trained to be the best at what they do!

9.05 on day one of our 2 day extravaganzer and the vibe is electric! All delegates are congregated in the reception room, chatting and catching up over coffee and biscuits. As people arrive the reception seems to be bulging with colonic therapists all eager to get started on the awesome learning we have in store!

Our seminar leaders ranger from PR experts to supplement specialists. RICTAT always provide a range of speakers who are able to support delegates in both the business building and furthering understanding of gut related issues.

First up was Norman and Steve from Optibac. They were delivering a talk on the importance of probiotics and prebiotics. The talk reminded me of the importance of remembering our bodies are teaming with microbes , in fact we are nearly 95% microbes! I think the 3 things that I took away from the talk were that bacteria are cannibalistic, prebiotics are the thing of the future and that there are more people out there than we realize who only poo on a Saturday morning! Obviously these are the most memorable points (mainly because they were so shocking)  but honestly there was much food for thought for therapists, giving them even more usable information on the role and importance of pro- and pre- biotics.

Second we had the Teresa Doherty, who engaged or delegates into a discussion on the importance of proteins, touching on the ever debated topic of vegetable vs. animal protein  She managed to present this controversial topic without harsh judgement, allowing for critical thinking. I now know that I must not eat more than the equivalent of 3 small chicken breasts a day and that protein must be measured out in the size of a pack of card or a box of matches. It all may sound cryptic to those who were not there, but for those who were, you know what I mean.

Next up was Lynne Ms Dougal who in her own very personable way managed to get the audience Emotional Freedom Tapping. Would you believe the topic was IBS! I think it is fair to say that Lynne has an amazing talent for exploring topics from a very holistic angle. I guess her main point was that IBS is an umbrella term and that as a colonic therapist. You should be isolating the symptoms and treating them, without being blind to other potential diagnoses, whilst recognising that the underlying emotional state of the client needs to be addressed. Sounds daunting, but she shared some really easy bedside techniques which can make a huge impact on the clients wellbeing and colon health.

Fourth in line was Tracey Dell, who wowed us with her business savvy! She gave some useful tools on how to market your business for free, using PR. As many of the delegate are both therapists and business owners this was a very useful talk, giving some real examples and real exercises to help boost business for colonic hydrotherapists anywhere. This session focused on creating a press release, but I am sure gave everyone the confidence to be more creative in their marketing.

Finally we had Kelly Hopely, who gave an extremely down to earth and honest talk on the importance of keeping a work life balance. Therapists are exactly that, they help people, to the point the may forget themselves in the aiding of others. In order to prevent your own burnout, Kelly shared some techniques she found useful to keep her juggling act fluid. with 4 glass balls and only one rubber one, it is very easy to know which one to drop... as it will always bounce back. We must all learn to say 'no', to self preserve and to set boundaries whilst maintaining a diet that is not full of too many stimulants (which cause stress to the body).

All in all a very successful day. I hope those who attended have walked away with much food for thought. In order to keep the conversations going between therapists, and to ensure therapists do not feel too isolated why not join us on Gut Guru. Meet like minded people with a wealth of knowledge.

Autism and the Gut

Theresa May has managed in one act to show her ability as Home Secretary and the compassion of the Tory Party. An unexpected bi-product was the public’s relit interest in autism and autism spectrum disorders. I am going to jump on the band-wagon and also discuss autism, but from a slightly different angle.

Dr Anil Minocha is a gastroenterologist and nutritionist, he has written several articles about the relationship between the gut and ailments, other bodily functions and psychological issues we may not automatically associate it to. One of his latest articles strongly suggests that there may be a link between the gut and autism.

"There is some evidence suggesting autism is associated with impaired gastrointestinal health especially alterations in gut bacteria. The theory is that changes in the bacterial flora of the gut may promote increased growth of neurotoxin producing bacteria in the gut with potential to cause manifestations of autism."

So whether we are willing to admit it or not many children may not be autistic ‘from birth’ but may be from their diet. More research needs to go into the actual link between the two. However, from a personal perspective I have seen how some gut imbalance may have such an impact on a child. I have a cousin who was born ‘normal’ and his development was on track (as far as doctors, parents and specialists can tell). At age 3 he suddenly had a horrific allergic reaction to a new type of food he had not up until then eaten; cheese. This reaction developed into intolerance to dairy which manifested in aggressive eczema. Along with the physical ailments, both parents and doctors noticed a huge change in his behaviour in terms of conversational development, concentration and several other areas. By age 5 he was showing signs of Asperger’s Syndrome, but was never fully diagnosed as his symptoms sat on the line between Asperger’s and 'normaloity'. 

How can we avoid such occurrences?  Maybe more research into the DNA of the microbes in the gut will give us more insight into what our children may react badly to. One hugely helpful thing we can do is ensure we keep children’s diets full of un-processed foods, whole foods and foods full of goodness. My cousin ate cheese, cheese made for children. Cheese is milk that has been processed. He had drunk milk before, even eaten ice cream, but it was cheese that caused his eczema and may well have triggered the Asperge’s type symptoms that followed.

For those of you reading this who are colonic therapists, it may be worth noting the list of foods and supplements that can maybe reduce the symptoms of autism and spectrum disorders. It will be very useful when trying to understand and advise a client who has autism or a spectrum disorder.

It is all fingers and thumbs!

Hand-washing is one of those idiosyncratic things that we all do, but according to research we only do it every now and then, and often miss washing hands at the most crucial moments of our daily lives!

I do not want you to mistaken my tone for cynicism, which it quite easily could be considering hand-washing is not taken too seriously here in the UK. I think this may be because we associate hand washing to children, the elderly and those who need 'protecting', those who are more 'susceptible', but in all honesty we are all vulnerable at all times.  UN Global Hand washing day is around the corner, a seemingly silly sounding event, that is in fact extremely important.

To put hand-washing into perspective let me share with you the story of the volatile and fragile cloud of microbes that exist and affect our bodies.

So imagine, there are whole colonies of microbes on your body, with their own DNA and behaviours that will continually react to whatever you do. Pathogens are the bad microbes which upset the microbial crowd and as a result can send your body into chaos!

Now although washing your hands can upset the microbes, most of them are OK with soap as long as it is not too harsh, however not washing them and potentially allowing bad bacteria to fester, can much more harmful.

As many of you reading this are colonic therapists, I think it is important to take a moment and think about the number of times a day you come into contact with people and their microbial cloud. Now think about the number of times you come into contact with potentially harmful microbes in the form of faecal matter, mucus (from a cough or a sneeze) or even sweat. I do not want any of you adopting OCD with regards to hand washing, but I would suggest we all become a little more conscious of what we are doing, and not relying on our clients to have the best hygiene. If you assume every client you meet has not washed their hands, you will probably up the dosage of your own hand washing.  

Here is a gentle reminder of how these germs (not just cold and flu) can spread, I think it is fair to say that Dettol have done so much for our awareness of germs spreading.