I'm confused. VTCT Swedish Massage or a weekend course?

Hi Angel Star

I know the weekend one sounds tempting but I would seriously consider the VTCT one. It'll give you time to perfect your techniques, and all important practice. You also need to make sure that the weekend course will allow you to be insured or you won't be able to work at all. Will you be confident treating clients with just a weekend course? Just a couple of things to think about. I'm sure others on HP will have some more input for you.

Good luck
Lilypie

Frankly the course you would do with th GBT has to be mediocre. What do you think you would learn in a weekend (? 16-20 hours max)

Don't care what anyone else would say, you cannot learn how to do a full body massage in a weekend.

If you feel you can, then go ahead, just don't be surprised that clients do not return.

What will you learn about:-

1.) stroke, depth, variation (effleurage, petrissage tapotement, adaption).
2.) Muscle, insertion points, fibrosis, triggerpoints.
3.) Client care, consultation. room setting, hygiene, etc, etc etc,.

My finding has been anywhere that say they can do basic courses in a very short period of time are cutting massive corners.

Would you want to go to someone who had done a weekend course?

I wouldn't.

Even with VTCT course I did loads of extra study to supplement the qualification I had achieved, as I felt less-than-fully conversant with the oils etc. There's loads to learn and if you want to do some good in the world you should read widely, but if you just want the qualification, maybe the weekend one would do.

Personally, when working with Essential Oils, I would not charge a client for a treatment from a short course qualification, but would seek further study.
Sorry if this costs you more than you had wanted to pay, but you need so much more than a bit of paper to help some of the clients who may seek our expertise.
Lesley

I would say that there is nothing mediocre about fast track or intensive courses in Swedish or any other massage accredited by the Guild of Holistic and Beauty Therapists. As someone who has had lots of dealing with the Guild I have been more than impressed in the time and effort spent assessing coures and advising on the content. I myself train (after writing it!) a Swedish Massage course over 2 or 3 days. It is a prerequisite that the student has an A&P diploma so that area is already covered for me. A student can go the long way round and attend college one night a week for umpteen weeks and still not get it nor practise massage comptently yet pass the exam on the day - does it necessarily make them any better - no. Maybe intensive coureses are not for everyone, however they are not ALL mediocre and if you are ever unsure please contact the Guild directly. As for clients not returning, well thats just insane, even a college student could give a rubbish massage, dont prejudge the quality of a massage given by a fast track student, its pretty insulting really. I have taught for the past 11 years and I would not put my name nor my company name to someone who gave a substandard or unsafe treatment and I run a successful therapy business and nationwide training company... I must be doing something right!

Totally disagree RY.

I have worked in the massage industry for over 14 years and have to say I have came across all types of courses for massage.

I stand by my opinion that you cannot learn a massage routine from scratch with everything that goes with it in two days.

There is absolutely nothing you can say that would convince me otherwise.

In my opinion that is why we have such poor practitioners in this country. I will not argue this point with you as I speak from years of exprerience of what I see as substandard practitioners many of who do a two day course and then come to me to rent rooms and as I have already said cannot sustain a client base as their practice is poor in the extreme.

Whether you run a successful company or not says nothing of the standard of what you churn out.

People nowadays want a qualification without putting in the effort hence the OP's post asking whether to forgoe a year course for a two day one:rolleyes:.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. That goes for courses and the poor punter/client who turns up looking for a good treatment which imo in this country is sadly lacking.

I speak as a clinic owner and also a punter/client who travels widely across the UK to see what else is going on from Scotland to London.

Those who can do........those who can't....(you know the rest)

I do both - do and teach.. so your point being???

Good job i am not the sensitive sort!! lmao :p:p:p

Reading back through the OP's post would suggest that the OP has no qualifications in any form of CT.

I would strongly suggest that the OP attends a more comprehensive course than a two day could ever cover. By that I mean an VTCT, ITEC, SQA or even a degree course (they do exist you know, takes three years;)).

I would never, ever let someone who did a two day course from didddly squat ten feet near me.

As for accreditation "companies" they only exist to make money and have no government regulation. They are in essence businesses who take money from teaching companies to accredit the courses and then in turn take money from the course students to insure them and allow them on the register.

The "register" means little in the way of anything other than to say that the person listed has done a course (which the course company pays to have listed) and is insured with them (which again the student who has now qualified has paid to join).

Stuff doing treatments I think I will manufacture my own company to allow others to do "accredited courses" and then offer to insure the students who come through.

I will make a packet.:D

Well, lets face it some folk are making a packet out of "accrediting".

Whether you run a successful company or not says nothing of the standard of what you churn out.

People nowadays want a qualification without putting in the effort hence the OP's post asking whether to forgoe a year course for a two day one:rolleyes:.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. That goes for courses and the poor punter/client who turns up looking for a good treatment which imo in this country is sadly lacking.

I see you chose to ignore this RY

I agree with Patchouli.

Being a trainer myself I would say you can teach an array of techniques to most people, and by the end of the weekend there will be a degree of competance. But, there's more to massage than this. Skills take time to mature, case studies take time to be covered with supervision and feedback, the students own personal development as a therapist etc.

Running two day massage qualification courses will not give the public confidence in complementary healthcare, and it's just an excuse for the beauty industry to exploit therapists and pay them minimal wages.

RP

I give a friend who is training to be a therapist some advice yesterday:

#Check out the course that you are interested in

#Don't take shortcuts because it might seem a good idea at the time

#Get the best tuition and accredition you can afford.

Cheers

RP

This discussion has come round before, not everyone can commit to, or afford to undertaken year long courses. Also a therapist can be qualified to a very high level but that doesn't automatically make them the best therapist.

Obviously a therapist needs to have good techniques and a good A&P knowledge, they also need to have excellent people and communication skills and know how to make a client feel special.

Any course in any therapy needs practice and more practice. I paid alot of money to attend a private massage school and to be honest the teaching was appalling.

I think its a personal choice how you choose to train and what effort you put into practice and becoming a great therapist.

This discussion has come round before, not everyone can commit to, or afford to undertaken year long courses. Also a therapist can be qualified to a very high level but that doesn't automatically make them the best therapist.

Obviously a therapist needs to have good techniques and a good A&P knowledge, they also need to have excellent people and communication skills and know how to make a client feel special.

Any course in any therapy needs practice and more practice. I paid alot of money to attend a private massage school and to be honest the teaching was appalling.

I think its a personal choice how you choose to train and what effort you put into practice and becoming a great therapist.

I agree with healingreiki.

I have practiced, written courses and taught many therapies for over 30 years and would agree with you.

IMO All forms of courses/workshops have their place in each individuals learning curve. IMHO workshops, week ends, home study etc are useful as an insight into your chosen therapy and a basic grounding. I do believe that no (hands on Course) for practising therapists should be taught unless it contains a substantial amount of hands on work.

Of course you can obtain insurance to practice from any of the above.

Patchouli I also have seen many substandard practitioners that have done a so called professional courses.

I think a two day massage course would give a very good foundation, but certainly not to practitioner level. I have seen this happen in the sports therapy industry too. A sports massage certificate in 1 day, after doing a 2 day body massage certificate. I think these courses, along with the distance learning courses sold by the likes of BSY and Stonebridge, amongst others, that lead to 'practitioner status' with no hands on training, should not be insurable. Unfortunately, there are insurance companies, just in it for the money, (as are these training companies), who will insure them.

Im happy that the whole CAM industry will be undergoing regulation, because it will hopefully lead to the end of these cowboys, and let well trained professional therapists get on with what they were trained to do.

I see you chose to ignore this RY

No, I didnt ignore it, i went to bed as I had to be up early to train some students in Swedish Massage..... :p

I agree with healingreiki, people may have an amalgam of reasons why they might want to fast track their learning - lack of effort on their part may NOT be one of them.

No, I didnt ignore it, i went to bed as I had to be up early to train some students in Swedish Massage..... :p

:rollaugh:Oh No Not a another one day course.:rollaugh::fit:

Sorry I am having a cheeky fun day.

:rollaugh:Oh No Not a another one day course.:rollaugh::fit:

Sorry I am having a cheeky fun day.

No, lol its a whole, massive, excessively long two days!!!!! :hidesbehindsofa:

No apologies here for being in a good mood!!!! lol 😎

I have a friend who did a 2 day Swedish massage course. She was fine for a while, but then she got a client who wanted massage not just for general relaxation and pampering, but because she suffered with back pain. My friend had no idea what to do as all she's been taught were the basic strokes and a routine. She lost all confidence in giving a massage and now refers massage clients to me. It's a shame, because having had a massage from her, she's actually very good at the routine she's been taught. She just doesn't have the knowledge to get her through if anything out of the norm crops up and therefore has no confidence.

She is the only person I know that's done a 2 day course so my experience of them is limited, but based on her experience, it's not something that I'd recommend anyone else to do if they were looking to make money out of it.

Personally, I was glad to have the knowledge and support of my tutors during both my Swedish and sports and remedial courses. We're never going to stop learning in this field, but I'm definitly pleased I took the route I did because I now have a network of people I can go to for advice and support when I need it. I'm not sure you could develop that sort of relationship with people you've only known for two days.

Hi Nefra

I think what you have said is very sensible and a typical example of how clients (and even the therapist) can be disappointed. There is so much to learn and process, it is ongoing career. I always advice Swedish/Holistic massage therapists to study sports and remedial techniques because they will be giving often what many clients seek - reduction in pain and discomfort, not a rub across the surface. For other Hp'ers: This is what I was trying to (very poorly) say in previous posts. As one Sweden massage therapist once said to me, "I had a client who is a cyclist come to me asking if I could work his IT band. Tell me Dave what's that and how do I treat it"? I just laughed, and she was well trained in Swedish and had a good tutor. I think she got into neuromuscular techniques after that.

This thread is showing up that prehaps there is different levels of massage skill, but it is ashame that the public are unaware of this. (I known what Sportstherapy would say about that 😉 - probably "Regulate" 😀 !)

Cheers

Reiki Pixie

i think in 2 days you can teach someone how to perform a full body massage routine, but thats it, you cant teach pressure, or pathology or anatomy etc etc.

The regulation thats coming our way is in the form of 'self regulation', it is much needed, and there will minimum standards of training required to be a registered therapist, unfortunately it probably wont stop the one or two day (or even no day distance learning) massage courses, which claim to lead to practitioner status, however it will hopefully educate the public to use only recognised therapists.

How long does it take to be good?

This is an interesting thread, for me there are a number of issues on both sides of this arguement and frankly the biggest variable in the mix is the quality of the student and their natural apptitude and ability to learn. This point has been made before. As someone who has studied both long form and short courses I have a number of observations. They are my opinions, backed up by some facts but I hope represent a balanced view :-

1] Dismissing any methodology out of hand is a weak start to an arguement. Intensive courses are exactly that. I am sure good and bad exists in all forms of teaching. BTW, I AM qualified to comment on teaching standards.

2] The need for practise and follow up from short courses is always stressed by the better providers.

3] Weekend courses tend to be for 1 or 2 students. How much attention do you get over 30 odd weeks in a class of 20.

4] I did my VTCT Swedish massage at college and found the experience to be very good. It had a lot to do with making some great friends with whom I still have contact. I do recall we did spend over half the time doing the A & P. Which is necessary but can be studied independently.

5] Many people are not aware that being good at something might not make you a good tutor. Independent training organisations with self employed tutors HAVE to use people with a recognised teaching qualifications for their insurance purposes. Colleges can use anyone they consider competent under the terms of their insurance.

I have found that my experience at college gave me the confidence to add other training on a more intensive basis. Some people will always need the "class room" environment to learn and still others couldn't learn to massage is they had new hands grafted on. I do know one lady who struggled at college and found that an intensive course allowed her to get the tutor to focus on her weak areas, which in a larger group is difficult, I also know a therapist who only passed the exams because of the help and support of the other students at college.

It has already been said, its horses for courses (no pun intended). If someone is unsure check feedback and self asses your learning profile.

My final point relates to regulation and control. There have been a number of comments here about the motivation of independent accreditation and regulatory organisations. To dismiss their motives as financial then call for government regulation seems odd to me. Profit based organisations survive ONLY if they provide a good service. We are all too aware of government bodies with a regulatory and or statutory brief, they appear far from infalliable.

Simon

Thanks for all your views regarding this, some interesting replies. Well I did decide to go and do the course at college, however, as you'll see from my other post about ulnar nerve injury I'm not sure what to do now.