Healing hands: Therapy 4 Healing’s Jayden gives Mandy a massage at St Peter’s Church, Brockley
(Picture: ES Composite)For those at the forefront of the cost-of-living crisis, Therapy 4 Healing’s services can offer a rare moment of comfort. The group provides health and wellbeing facilities from pop-up clinics at churches and community centres as well as its headquarters in Forest Hill, Lewisham.
Among its offerings are a massage service in partnership with St Peter’s Church in Brockley, where a social supermarket, a type of food bank where disadvantaged people get fresh food at highly subsidised prices, takes place on a Wednesday afternoon.
Mandy, in her forties, who had just enjoyed a massage at this pop-up when she spoke to us, said: “The cost of living has affected me a lot. I’ve had to make a lot of cutbacks. Gas and electric are sky-high now. Bread, milk, butter — they are going to be sky-high. How are elderly people to afford it?” Her massage was a moment of respite. “I loved it, I felt so relaxed,” she said.
Another service user, who has been coming to the food bank for a month and also had a massage, added: “I’ve had to cut back on my heating, what I’m eating, what I’m cooking and how long. I’m going through a divorce which in itself is really hard because it puts even more pressure on me.”
Therapy 4 Healing is one of the groups eligible to benefit from our On the Breadline Christmas Appeal in partnership with our sister title the Independent and Comic Relief.
Their chair, Naomi Louise, said people who use their services tend to be living precariously close to the breadline, often in poor quality housing. “Maybe they’re working really long shifts or three shifts,” she said. “If they get sick or break a leg, they’ll go to the doctor, but they won’t look after their secondary health. We see people exhausted by the time they come to our venues.”
Although service users come in for one treatment, they may be referred to other practitioners within the group’s network as part of a “holistic” treatment. This could be a referral to a physical therapist or a counselling service.
The soaring cost of everyday essentials has pushed even more people to turn to Therapy 4 Healing’s services, so demand is up. Naomi said: “Sometimes it’s people in the private rental sector who aren’t necessarily in poor quality employment, but who are having to decide, if I pay my rent, will I have money to feed myself?”
For those using Therapy 4 Healing, even something as simple as a massage or reflexology can offer them the mental space to tackle other difficult issues, such as the bureaucracy around claiming support.
Naomi said: “It means they get 15 minutes of ‘me time’ in which somebody is taking care of them. We can’t make demands for them, but we can encourage people to demand what they need. And then if they feel a bit better, and they feel a bit invested in and valued, they’re able to do that and be more assertive.”
She urged readers to donate, saying it would allow Therapy 4 Healing to offer wellbeing treatments to more people in need throughout London. “We’re here to provide a holistic support service,” she said. “If we treat the whole person, which is what we do, then we’re offering the prospect of hope rushing in.”
