PTSD and Massage
Our campus is in a city that shares a military post. This leads many retired soldiers into our massage therapy program. In this program meditation, yoga and qigong practices are introduced as avenues to calm or center one’s mind. From my experience in conducting these classes ex-soldiers commonly have a difficult time participating in these class exercises. In what ways would you suggest to accommodate this demographic of students?
I not realize PTSD was a diagnosis beyond the military. It is good to know that it is also something that the average person can have and go thru.
PTSD is very real and exhibits itself in a variety of ways. Remember you can't assume someone needs an accommodation. They must request it and provide supporting documentation. In my experience with our PTSD students. Their counselors be they from the VA or private sector provided us with a list of items required for the student's success. We also had a VA support group on campus. This allowed our veterans with PTSD to experience there were other students on campus with similar experiences, how they felt, and what they found was helpful.
In your description, some ex-soldiers are having a harder time with these subjects than other students studying massage therapy. So far, there is no clear connection with PTSD or other disabilities that might require accommodation.
Not all students, with or without acknowledged disabilities, find it easy to escape "the box" and relate to meditation, yoga or qigong.
Elizabeth,
It's always a great idea to have an arsenal of community resources for students. Many times students don't know how to talk to or where to go to get the help that they need.
Sarah Smoger
Jamie,
Let's leave it up to the professionals. If a student has a disability which requires accommodation, the student should provide documentation and perhaps can discuss with their medical provider some options for accommodation. However, based on the information you provided, are we talking about ways that the massage therapist can calm-is this then something that they in turn teach their clients? It might simply be a matter of the student needing to practice the techniques more frequently, or seek out someone for counseling who can better assist with mindfulness and strategies to calm oneself.
Sarah Smoger
I think there are always guest speakers that can be included in these courses to give the students allies out there in the community to rely on and to contact if needed. It is important to equip each and every student to the best of our ability as instructors because they come to us as experts in our fields.
For our students, if I have military (former or active) I make sure to show him / her where they can get assistance with learning how to battle the effects of PTSD and how receiving massage as well as performing can benefit both that person as well as the client.
There are many techniques that can be taught and CEUs (Continuing Education Units).
