Hospice massage and inappropriate behavior

My first couple of massage therapy jobs were in spas and health clubs. Although it did not happen often, I would sometimes encounter a client who crossed a line into inappropriate sexual behavior. Little did I expect to encounter that kind of situation in hospice work. It was my second session with this patient, a [...]

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Maintaining boundaries in hospice work

Watching people die, day after day, makes for a challenging job. When patients die of age-related conditions and I am able to use massage therapy to help make them comfortable, the job does not seem as hard. But working with young patients who have devastating illnesses can be overwhelming. Most people who work in this [...]

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Sometimes when we touch

A geriatric care manager once referred a 90-year-old man to me for massage. He was a retired surgeon, recently widowed, who was experiencing age-related physical problems but whose mind was still perfectly sharp. His care manager told me that he was rather depressed, and she thought that massage might help with his psychological issues. She [...]

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Massage and psychiatric disorders

Just before my first session with Liz, Teresa, her home health aide, warned me that she could be a bit “moody.” I wasn’t sure what that meant exactly but I had known my share of moody patients. One day they might swear at me, another day tell me that they loved me. I was trying [...]

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