We are delighted to announce that Mat Atkins, Complementary Therapist here at Hospice of the Valleys was recognised for his fantastic work at the Integrative Health Convention and Complementary Therapy Awards 2022.
Mat found that Complementary Therapy needed to be delivered differently during the pandemic and delivered Patient Generated Guided Imagery by Telephone. Patient Generated Guided Imagery is a technique in which the patient supplies the narrative of a positive experience and the therapist uses that narrative as the source of the guided imagery session, with the aim of relaxing the patient, helping reduce stress and giving a sense of well- being.
Mat said
During the Covid-19 pandemic all our working practices changed – including Complementary Therapies – I found myself conducting many patient generated guided imagery sessions over the telephone – to patients, carers and bereaved relatives during this challenging time.
So, with that in mind I wanted to establish whether these sessions were effective or not so I devised and completed a study entitled “To evaluate the effectiveness of patient generated guided imagery via the telephone”. This was submitted internally to the clinical governance team for scrutiny.
My mentor encouraged me to submit the study to the Integrative Health Convention Complementary Therapy Awards & it was considered the best entrant by the prestigious panel on 11th February 2022 for the palliative care category. The panel of judges particularly liked the outcome measures incorporated in the study.
Congratulations Mat a fantastic achievement!
