I'm not going anywhere...

I’ve had a few conversations with patients recently, where I have mentioned that I’m moving towards doing some practitioner education, presenting courses on both DermoNeuroModulation (DNM) and Voodoo Floss later this year. Having written a bunch of course material, and had some discussions about where to hold them, it’s all still a bit of a work in progress, but you can learn more about at my new website, Tactile Tactics!

Occasionally, the response has been, “Oh. Bummer. Am I going to have to find someone else now??”

Which you certainly don’t, although I can understand that concern- when you’ve found a therapist that works well for your particular concerns, it sucks finding out that the rug’s being pulled out from under you -so to speak- with whatever life changes are upcoming for the therapist, be that retirement, moving towns or countries, going part time after having kids.

For me, I didn’t go looking for this.
I’ve never had any particular interest in teaching, but I’m aware that nobody else in NZ has made a commitment to DNM the way I have in practice, and nobody else has the depth of understanding that would allow them to present this material easily.
For me, this additional focus has been driven by the experiences I’ve had using DNM in clinic, and very much wanting to share it with other practitioners in various fields -massage, physio, chiro, osteo- because it really is the future of manual therapy.
That’s a big call, I know, but in the 20 plus years I’ve been putting my hands on bodies, this is the single most significant thing that I’ve come across in that time. I just don’t want it to be another 10 years until anybody else decides to teach DNM, because it’s just that good that I can’t not share it with other practitioners!
I’m far from bored or ‘out of love’ with practice, (which is certainly a reason some move into educational roles) I’m not burnt out, I’m not moving out of or away from anything, this is something I want to do in addition to clinical practice- even with four and a half years’ experience using DNM clinically, I feel like I’m not even much past just scratching the surface of what’s possible, so it’s hardly time to give that side of things up.
The place to further my practical/procedural knowledge is definitely working with patients. Alongside that, presenting the material to others is a good way for me to consolidate and refine the accompanying theoretical/propositional knowledge, and engaging with both will in many ways inform my approach on those combined fronts.

So, unforeseen circumstances aside, I’m not going anywhere, I’m just working on doing a better job of what I’m already quite in love with, sharing what I understand about the nervous system, and how to change pain through considering a new, 21st century approach to manual therapy!