Successfully Practice Abroad

Making Waves… For Adventurous Therapists Take Your Therapy Practice Abroad And Work As A Consultant In The Sun! by Deborah Marshall-Warren

Aloneness is no longer the province of the monk, the nun or the hermit, the writer or the artist.  Aloneness is a desire of many modern human beings, which they call retreat.  To retreat and refuel and redress the balance in our caffeine-fuelled lives.  Aloneness in the midst of other loners is an acceptable place. Bliss beckons.  And there are more and more disciples of bliss.

These heaven-sent, heaven-scented havens are beginning to seek highly qualified, professional therapists, coaches and specialists in a wide variety of disciplines for guest consultancies.

Almost every large hotel group and chain is moving towards creating outlandishly luxurious spa environments across the world.  Asia is of particular note, but opportunities are to be found far and wide — as hotel operations venture forth to be pioneers in ever more out-of-the-way locations.

You may be surprised to discover that your consultancy could be as short as fourteen days.  This allows you to prepare to be away more easily, and to schedule these ‘away-days’ in the sun into your overall professional and personal life.   A spa consultancy can offer the gateway to living the dream in short bursts. And for those who are considering a more permanent move, perhaps seeking to purchase a home in the sun, a spa working experience can afford you the security of test-driving the dream location.

During my second Consultancy in the Sun, I was offered the opportunity by a leading resort spa to work for two months at a time in each of several locations.  These included Thailand, Vietnam, Maldives, Greece, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Portugal, and in the future Qatar, Jordan, and Oman, offering my therapy specialism, hypnotherapy, to the same standard, and in pretty much the same set-up in each country, allowing for cultural shifts.
 
As a single specialist wishing to see the world and to be paid to do so, you may well find this kind of opportunity inviting for a year or two.  Also it is a wonderful opportunity for someone who, after a lifetime in a significant relationship is moving on solo, and is searching for a different path - one that offers a different perspective to view life from - and one that is care-free, spontaneous, confidence-building, and adventurous.  And if you suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) then what’s in your way?  You can take a maverick step!

As a happily married Consultant I did not fit either scenario, but the thought immediately occurred, ‘Hey, not me! but another therapist or life coach could!’

And so was born the idea that you could embrace an opportunity to work abroad for either a longer period of time, or a shorter, more manageable period of time such as a fortnight, which is what I do - and potentially expand your practice and your horizons.

Consider how special and unusual this situation is?

When you are working in a destination spa, your potential client is neither coming from the office, nor is he going to the office.  He is not squeezing you in between high-pressure activities.   Spa resorts may allow children.  Destination spas are child-free.  A mother is neither rushing from the school run, nor is she rushing to collect her kids for the journey home or to take them to post-school activities.  She is coming from a tai chi class to see you.  Following your session, she is going to an abdominal exercise class, and then on for a massage. He is coming from a yoga class.  After you he is going to the steam room, en route to a massage.

All roads lead to a state called R-e-l-a-x.

Relaxation and a balanced state of mind enhance everything.  It is much easier to work therapeutically in all kinds of change work with guests who are relaxed throughout their entire being.

Guests are being conditioned to relax and to cleanse in so many different ways.    They are being ‘relaxed’ as they progress from treatment to massage, and from massage to treatment, so that when a guest arrives for your session he is generally in a state of deep contentment and bliss.  From my own perspective, I believe that between sessions guests maintain a state of relaxed receptivity, and are therefore more open to receiving, appreciating and valuing what you do.  The ease with which guests glide into the state of hypnosis is comfortingly apparent to me, and I would anticipate equally as apparent to you and as conducive to the therapy you offer too.   You are likely to find that against this background of ease and receptivity the effectiveness of your therapeutic discipline increases.

Guests too are guided by their inner sense of self and truth.  Often the soul-sense finds expression.  Stillness is a therapy all of its own.

The odds on your therapy and coaching bringing speedily tangible and superlatively positive results are stacked high.  Potentially, you can achieve results in fewer sessions than would be needed ordinarily in a client’s everyday environment. As many of you know, the ‘clarity’ and the ‘insight’ continue to inform and to enfold at a subconscious level when the client leaves your consulting room, depending of course on the therapy involved.

Take a look in any spa journal and you’ll be convinced. They are packed full with column-inches of celebrating words and phrases, together with glorious photographs describing, and unwrapping the spa interiors for you to see.  How evocative can they be!  They seem to conspire together to shout, Hello!, OK!, and Now!  Wake up and smell the frangipani!  Hear the cicadas!

• Hello!, to an opening opportunity to broaden your perspective, and gain a different perspective from which to view your work and your destiny.

•  OK!, for there are many emerging enterprises in which you can gain experience of setting up a periodic practice in the sun.

• Now!, is the time to launch upon a new lifestyle for your practice!  And to include yourself as ripe for renewal!  As you go about your spa work you have the opportunity to recharge, to revive, to detox, to tune-in, and to create!      

Copyright 2006 Deborah Marshall-Warren is Consultant Hypnotherapist to Chiva-Som. She is also the author of A Consultancy in the Sun!, available as a book and PDF download.  Please note, that a special opportunity is offered together with the book right now!  Seek out that opportunity now!