After spending many years on the design, development, and implementation of IT systems in the corporate world, I turned my attention to systems of a different sort – the physiological systems that keep the amazing human body functioning.

I enrolled for the two year diploma course at the International Academy of Reflexology and Meridian Therapy (IARAMT) in Johannesburg and graduated cum laude in 2019 with a Diploma in Therapeutic Reflexology. The course included 200 hours of practical reflexology. During our training we learned to apply both western and eastern medical principles, studying western anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pathophysiology; as well as the traditional Chinese medicine view of human health shaped by acupressure Meridian pathways and the Five Elements framework. This holistic system is supported by a focus on lifestyle, exercise and a healthy diet.

The shift to working and studying remotely allowed me to enroll for some wonderful interactive online courses in the UK. I am now an approved practitioner of Reflexology Lymph Drainage which I studied with Sally Kay; and of Advanced Facial Reflexology and Zone Face Lift which I studied with Ziggie Bergman  through the London School of Reflexology. Sally Kay and Ziggie Bergman are winners of the Association of Reflexologists (UK) Excellence awards, among others.

Treating clients through the pandemic gave me great insight into how much stress is stored in our bodies. I found that when clients combined treatments such as counselling with reflexology, they made very good progress. As Bessel van der Kolk puts it in his book The Body Keeps the Score, this is a top down and bottom up approach: “There are two ways of changing the threat detection system: from the top down, via modulating messages from the medial prefrontal cortex (not just prefrontal cortex), or from the bottom up, via the reptilian brain, through breathing, movement, and touch.”*
Movement and touch can of course include other therapies too, such as tapping, yoga or therapeutic massage.

I welcome providing a complementary therapy and collaborating with other health professionals.

In South Africa Therapeutic Reflexology is a profession regulated by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA). Practitioners are required to register with this statutory council and with the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) who issue a practice number. My professional society is The South African Reflexology Society (TSARS).
My AHPCSA number is A12193 and my BHF practice number is 0870447.

*Van Der Kolk, B.A. (2015). “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma”. Ch. 4, Page 63. Penguin Random House.