Therapeutic massage
  Indian head massage
  Emotional Freedom
  Technique
  Hopi ear candles
  Thai foot massage
  Reiki

About Roushan

'Roushan was sensitive, empathic and person centred - a true professional.' - TD, Scottish Executive.

Background

I have been practising since 2002, and am always looking for effective ways to treat and manage the symptoms of stress, having suffered from stress-related illness myself. In 2002 I proposed a project using complementary therapies to help those suffering from stress and stress related illness. This project was given funding by the 'Welcome to Wellbeing' Millenium Award Scheme, and ran for 6 months.

The therapies I offer have been chosen due to direct experience of their effectiveness by myself or my clients.

Prior to my work as a professional therapist, I experienced many different work environments, and their attendant stresses. I have managed and delivered the curriculum of an English School in Japan; worked in the Pleasance Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival; and headed the client services administration section of a busy stockbrokers. I am therefore keenly aware of how the work environment can increase or reduce the stress of those operating within it!

Having completed a COSCA certificate in counselling skills, I value an approach where each client is supported in a person-centred way. I would invite anyone to come for a treatment, in the assurance that I will provide a safe environment, where you are not judged for whatever lifestyle choices you may make. I value and respect each client as an individual with your own unique and valid attitudes to wellbeing and ill health.

I am a member of 'Embody' complementary therapists association (www.embodyforyou.com), 'Therapies United' (www.therapiesunited.com), and the Association for Meridian Energy Therapies (www.theamt.com). I worked for four years in health promotion with the NHS, and I am a member of the patient involvement committee for the Royal College of General Practioners.

'Treat the person, not the disease'

I am a firm believer in this holistic principle, and find that it empowers people to be approached as a unique individual, with their own unique responses to wellbeing or ill health and with their own priorities in life. I prefer where possible to be led by the client's own perspective than to be prescriptive about wellbeing. I can offer a person assistance and information regarding their wellbeing, but the greatest results will come if that person is motivated to take an active role. This, however, is a new way of being for most of us, who have for years taken a very passive role in terms of health, feeling that health professionals knew more about us than we did ourselves, and that we were ignorant bystanders.

In the traditional medical scenario as most of us experience it, we are given 5 minutes of an overworked doctor's time. We may feel that we are unable to voice our concerns, or that we cannot ask for more background information on our treatment, or simply that we are wasting the doctor's time. The traditional medical model leaves us as very passive participants in our own wellbeing, and leaves doctors with an awful lot of work to do.

I try to encourage and support each individual to take personal responsibility for their own wellbeing, and find that people who adopt this attitude are capable of great leaps in physical, mental and emotional health.

When complementary therapies are introduced into a person's healthcare regime, they can act in great support of that person's interaction with traditional healthcare professionals. Complementary therapies can, in addition, be extremely helpful in cases where traditional medicine is often unable to offer a solution. For example, for people who suffer from repeated tension headaches, or from back pain. Or from that constant companion, stress. It is always rewarding to see how the therapies can make a difference to people's lives, and I hugely enjoy being able to deliver them.

NHS work

After gaining my first professional qualification, I also worked for four years in health promotion for the NHS. This involved giving information to the public on a variety of topics from cancer prevention to mental health, physical activity to healthy eating. This work has been a complement to my therapeutic work, and gives me a great perspective from which to approach wellbeing. As part of my work in health promotion, I have carried out work for the SHAW (Scotland's Health at Work) NHS scheme, performing health checks for employees, and providing information to companies on various aspects of employee wellbeing.

Qualifications:

• Certificate in Thai Foot Massage
• Certificate in Massage for People with Cancer
• Certificate in Meridian Therapies (EFT)
• Diploma in Hopi Ear Candling
• COSCA certificate in counselling skills
• Scotvec Level 3 Certificate in Training Practice
• Diploma in Anatomy, Physiology & Massage
• Reiki Certificates, Levels I & II
• MA (Hons) English Literature, Edinburgh University