Conference to promote the use of complementary therapies

A conference which aims to promote the use of complementary therapies as part of an integrated healthcare system to benefit patients is taking place in Stafford next week.

Complementary Therapies in Mental Health has been organised by Staffordshire University in partnership with South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust and The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Healthcare.
 
The event, taking place at St George’s Hospital on Tuesday September 29, will also announce new national guidelines for practitioners - the culmination of a three-year collaborative programme between the partners.
 
120 health professionals, academics and students have signed up to attend the conference which will focus on best practice and includes workshops on the use of aromatherapy, hypnosis and energetic touch therapy on people experiencing mental health problems.
 
Staffordshire University Senior Lecturer Angela Carryer said: “It's about integrated healthcare, bringing together conventional and complementary health systems for the benefit of the service user.
 
“We are also intent on professionalising the sector and part of that is to encourage students to study at HE level - a key part of which is clinical practice and placement within a healthcare setting, working as part of the healthcare team.”
 
George Gray, acting Chief Executive of the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, will be giving the keynote address at the conference and this will be followed by a number of best practice presentations.
 
Gillian Lea, Lead Therapy Practitioner for North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust will be making a presentation with a service user who has benefited from complementary therapies while Professor George Tadros, Professor of Mental Health and Ageing at Staffordshire University, will talk about his work at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham involving Tai Chi in managing dementia.
 
The conference is also being used as a platform by two enterprising graduates from the University’s Foundation Degree in Complementary Therapies to launch their new business Therapeutics UK. Adele Webberley and Amy Hargreaves are looking to send trained practitioners to clinical and care centres to administer treatment. 

Staffordshire University offer the Foundation Degree in Complementary Therapies at the following partner colleges: Burton, Cannock Chase, Leek, Newcastle-under Lyme, Shrewsbury, Stoke-on-Trent and Tamworth and Lichfield. A case study of Adele Webberley and Amy Hargreaves is available on request.