Confused

Hi SerendipitySpa

Hello I am new to this site but was hoping someone could help. Im a Aromatherapist and am hoping to incorporating hot stones to my massages. I have spoken to many people about this but im still confused. Do I need to be qualified to used hot stones in my massages? Ive had this problem with careers advice regarding also incorporating crystal healing and im constantly told that as because there is no legal need to be qualified at all in uk therefore spending money on a course might be a waste of money.

There is a but in what you have been told by the careers advice and that is until you have undertaken formal qualifications you do not require insurance to practice but you can not advertise yourself as a qualified therapist, now if your aromatherapy training was to give you a qualification as an aromatherapist, then you require insurance as a legality to practice, for you are now deemed to be accountable for your actions, for insurance you require training.

So if you have no formal qualifications, then you do not require a formal training course to make use of hot stones within you sessions, but I would advise you to go on some form of workshop, just so that you are aware of the safety issues which surround hot stone massages.

Personally, I wouldn't use hot stones in a treatment until I have done a workshop. My insurance wouldn't cover me for hot stones until I have a certificate, and I wouldn't want to give a treatment I wasn't insured in in this age of litigation, especially with regards to placing something hot on the client. What may just be erythema from the heat they may say it is a burn.

[DLMURL="http://www.scienceofmassage.com/dnn/som/journal/1005/therapeutic.aspx"]Journal of Massage Science: May/Jun 10: Science of Therapeutic and Stress Reducing Massage: HAVE YOU HAD YOUR ROCKS ON LATELY?[/DLMURL]

I think it is really a good idea to do a course on hot stones. There is quite a lot to learn on top of what you learn as an aromatherapist or a massage therapist - contra-indications, contra-actions, tests which have to be done before treatment, where to place the stones, temperature of stones, how to actually use them, how to look after the stones. You can also use cold stones so you need to know when and how to use them.

One thing that doesn't often get mentioned with hot stones and aromatherapy, because most people providing any training aren't trained aromatherapists and they think aromatherapy is about something smelling nice, is that heat obviously speeds up how quickly any essential oils are absorbed. I'd say stick to pregnancy massage/child dilutions rather than full strength to factor in how much extra and how much faster any essential oils get into the blood stream.
I hardly ever use essential oils in a first hot stone treatment, there are too many possible reactions to the temperature that I don't complicate the possible reactions with essential oils. Once I know how someone reacts to the heat, I'll may use some essential oils, but heat plus essential oils is definitely a case where less is more.

Thinking you can do hot stone treatments without any training is like thinking you can throw a few essential oils on someone and do an aromatherapy treatment.

I agree that training is needed with any treatment offered, I was commenting more on the fact that I was told by the Careers advice centre that training is not recommended necessarily as people do work without any, as it is not a legal requirement. So I was actually more interested in this. Since this post I have met a lady who offers this treatment and has no qualification in this and she is very knowledgeable and extremely good at what she does. (im by no means saying that you do not need training).

Thinking you can do hot stone treatments without any training is like thinking you can throw a few essential oils on someone and do an aromatherapy treatment.

There are lots of people that offer aromatherapy treatments that have no qualification in aromatherapy and seem to be very knowledgeable, to those without any formal aromatherapy qualifications, and are apparently very good at what they do. They usually don't have insurance coverage for their aromatherapy treatments.

If you do have insurance coverage for your aromatherapy treatments, the first reply says it all - you want something to be added to your existing insurance, you probably need to have a formal qualification. Only your insurance provider can tell you what they require, no message board or Careers Advice Centre will be able to tell you what your insurance provider requires. If your insurance provider covers anything you do without qualifications, great! if they require a certificate, great!
If you have no insurance coverage for your aromatherapy treatments, you can follow the advice of the Careers Advice Centre, or not.

Aromatherapy oils with hot stone massage?

Dear Moonstone

Ask yourself this question: Do I feel confident enough to deliver a safe, honourable, beautifully relaxing treatment with the knowledge I already have? If the answer is no, then find someone who has the correct knowledge to teach you. If your answer was yes, then go out and show them what you've got!

Every therapist working in this Country (UK) has a responsibility to be Insured with a reputable company and deliver safe professional treatments. There are enough therapists out there working who don't bother with the correct training and who don't bother getting insured and who are creating a bad reputation for the professionals.

On the other note of using Aromatherapy oils in a hot stone massage: if you are an aromatherapist and you've trained with a professional stone therapy trainer then absolutely YES - it's the best way of using aromatherapy oil as the heat with take the oil into the blood stream faster and more effectively and the client will benefit from smelling the more potent oil essense it delivers. Otherwise, No don't do it - you won't understand the physical effects and therefore shouldn't use your client to 'practice' on!

Hope that helps.