Complementary Therapies Program

Complementary therapies add an extra dimension of care to hospice's commitment to nurturing the body, mind, and spirit. These non-invasive, holistic practices do not replace the medical, social, or spiritual care of the hospice team. Rather, they work with the total care of the interdisciplinary team to promote comfort and wholeness for both patients and their families.

Art and Music Therapies
There are times when words are simply not enough to communicate or to provide the support that we need. Creative Arts Therapies help both children and adults find a voice to express emotion, to communicate important messages, and to be supported in their unique, and often difficult, journeys.

Art Therapy is often integrated into the bereavement care of Grief Counseling Center clients. Through the use of art media, images, and the creative art process, a Board-Certified Art Therapist helps both children and adults explore and express emotion in safe, non-verbal, and symbolic ways. Hospice patients may also benefit from art therapy interventions designed to enhance communication, decrease depression, pain, and anxiety, and provide opportunities for reconciliation. The Art Therapist utilizes a wide range of media, including clay, collage, and painting, as well as the specialized use of sand tray, in art therapy sessions.

Music is a powerful element of life – it energizes, soothes, restores, and nurtures. When used within Music Therapy sessions, it becomes a powerful tool for physical, emotional, and spiritual care. Music Therapy sessions generally utilize live music as a medium for achieving patient goals that have little to do with musical outcomes. These include decreased anxiety and pain, improved shortness of breath, relaxation, improved communication, emotional exploration and expression, and life review. In addition, Music Therapy can be an important support to patients and families when death is imminent. A Board-Certified music therapist uses a wide range of music experiences to mold sessions to best meet individual patient and family needs.

journey, a bereavement support group for teens, is co-facilitated by Hospice & Palliative CareCenter's Art and Music Therapists. Participants gain education about the grief process, learn coping skills, and identify support systems through a wide variety of creative experiences. This program may be adapted for use in area schools on an as-needed basis. Click here for more information on grief counseling offerings.

Gentle Touch Therapies
Patients cope with illnesses that often increase pain and discomfort, that require additional procedures and equipment, and that can distance the connection they share with caregivers through touch. The gentle and individualized care of highly trained professionals can restore the experience of touch as a point of connection, comfort, and nurturing. Massage Therapy, Reflexology, Healing Touch, and Reiki are available to patients and their families. These modalities help address pain, anxiety, sleeplessness, and isolation by utilizing non-invasive interventions to meet each patient's unique needs. Healing Touch and Reiki have the flexibility of placing hands just above the patient's body to achieve the same goals, which can be a benefit if the patient is particularly sensitive to touch.

These four modalities are provided in part by Complementary Therapies Volunteers, who are highly trained or credentialed in their particular areas of service. Volunteers provide care to patients of the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home, as well as to homecare and residential facility patients served by hospice. Information on specific requirements for training, certification, and/or licensure can be provided by the Complementary Therapies Program. Twelve-hour training classes are held twice a year. Learn more about becoming a Hospice & Palliative CareCenter volunteer.

Internship Opportunities
Hospice & Palliative CareCenter is an approved national roster internship site with the American Music Therapy Association. Students gain clinical experience by serving patients, families, and counseling clients and by working with the interdisciplinary hospice team. Six-month placements are offered twice a year. Interested students may e-mail Katie Cyre at katie.cyre@hospicecarecenter.org for additional site information and an application.

The Complementary Therapies Program collaborates with students of Forsyth Technical Community College to provide cooperative education opportunities. Associate Degree students of the Therapeutic Massage Program may choose to complete their internships with Hospice & Palliative CareCenter, in which they will gain experience by caring for patients, families, and staff and by working with the interdisciplinary hospice team.

Links
Visit these sites for more information on some of the therapies listed above:

Art Therapy
American Art Therapy Association – www.arttherapy.org/aboutart.htm

Music Therapy
American Music Therapy Association – www.musictherapy.org

Massage Therapy
Article: "Massage in Hospices" – www.amtamassage.org/journal/sp02_journal/hospices.html

Healing Touch
Healing Touch International - www.healingtouchinternational.org
Healing Touch of the Carolinas – www.healingtouchofthecarolinas.com

Reiki
National Institutes of Health – nccam.nih.gov/health/reiki