Therapeutic Reflexology is a healthcare modality and is regulated as such within the healthcare industry. Using sales antics to promote Therapeutic Reflexology is diluting the professionality of the profession. In today’s post, we’ll consider Therapeutic Reflexology as a healthcare modality instead of a modality to be used within the beauty industry.
Therapeutic Reflexology is formally regulated by a statutory council, namely the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) and it is illegal to practice the profession without AHPCSA registration. That also provides Therapeutic Reflexologists with the opportunity to obtain a professional practice number making medical aid reimbursements possible. That is a privilege only available to healthcare providers, just like it is possible for medical doctors, physiotherapists and podiatrists.
Being a healthcare profession, Therapeutic Reflexology is professionally regulated by the AHPCSA in accordance with The Allied Health Professions Act (Act 63 of 1982) and the accompanying statutory council restrictions and regulations to ensure the professionality of the profession.
A good rule of thumb to use to determine if a Therapeutic Reflexologist professional in conduct, is to ask whether a medical doctor or physiotherapist will be allowed to do something. In other words, if a Therapeutic Reflexologist offers a promotion like “pay for a session and get an add-on service or product for free”, you can ask, will a medical doctor offer such a promotion? If the answer is “no”, then in all probability the Therapeutic Reflexologist is not acting as a healthcare professional since the regulations and restrictions are very similar between healthcare professions. There are differences, as the medical doctor or physiotherapist is regulated by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and there are differences between the HPCSA and the AHPCSA, but in essence, the professionality between healthcare professions remain similar.
With this in mind, it is obvious that healthcare providers may not advertise their services, but may make their services known, they are not allowed to make unfounded claims, they have to practice from professional premises with separate entrances and they are not allowed to share office space inside other businesses like health spas while they are not allowed to offer any promotions to patients. These are the basics.
A patient asked me the other day, “Christo, why don’t you offer promotions like so and so, because they are Therapeutic Reflexologists, and they offer such promotions?” The answer is easy, as a professional healthcare provider, I shall not dilute my profession by breaking the basic rules just to attract a patient. I value the profession of Therapeutic Reflexology and uphold the integrity and value of the profession as far as possible and I also refuse to comment on another Therapeutic Reflexologist that decides not to adhere to the regulations and restrictions; that you will have to find out from that specific person. At the Therapeutic Reflexology practice of Christo Scheepers, I offer a professional healthcare service to patients that want good quality treatment at medical aid rates; I refuse to use unprofessional sales antics that are not to be used by healthcare providers. My motto has always been to comply with basic regulations, requirements, and restrictions because if I cannot even comply with the basics, what else am I not complying with? The patients choosing me as their Therapeutic Reflexologist of choice deserve to get the best possible treatment from a professional healthcare provider that is not cutting corners as I’m proud to be an AHPCSA registered healthcare provider with a valid practice number.
If I get a referral from another healthcare provider or a new patient visits my practice, it should be based on professionalism and quality treatment, not on cheap sales antics. That is the approach used at Christo Scheepers Therapeutic Reflexologist because my patients deserve the best I have to offer.
On what other Therapeutic Reflexologists do or do not do, I refuse to comment on that as it is a matter between that therapist’s conscience and the regulatory AHPCSA. All I am willing to answer is what I do within my Therapeutic Reflexology practice and what I base my decisions on.
The other question asked these days are, what is your opinion of the use of Ivermectin for COVID-19? Well, my answer to that question is irrelevant and as a Therapeutic Reflexologist, my scope of practice is that of a therapist and not a diagnostic practitioner and therefore I do not comment on the use of medication; that is the function of your diagnostic practitioners like a medical doctor or homeopath. Do not obtain information from healthcare providers that are not registered to do so.
Therapeutic Reflexology belongs within the healthcare industry and not in the beauty industry. I speak from experience as I have a private practice in the healthcare industry, but previously, I owned a beauty salon and tested out many sales antics in the beauty industry, from offering special prices, reduced prices, add-on treatments for less money, various promotional items, free gifts, free services and many more, I am of the opinion that none of these antics belong in a healthcare profession as it unnecessarily reduces the value of what a healthcare profession is supposed to be; a helping profession offering a specific treatment to a patient for a specific purpose without any guarantees.
Therapeutic Reflexology is a healthcare profession, and all Therapeutic Reflexologists should uphold the integrity and professionalism of this wonderful healthcare modality without diluting it by making use of cheap sales antics that gives the general public the impression that the profession should not be valued because the Therapeutic Reflexologists practicing the profession is not valuing it.
Having practicing Reflexology since 2003, I am always ready to promote and uphold the integrity of the profession as a professional healthcare modality belonging to the formally regulated healthcare industry.
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Christo A. Scheepers: Therapeutic Reflexologist
Dip.T.R.(Cum Laude) [IARAMT]
AHPCSA: A11945
Pr. No.: 1080000737453
Tel. 072-800 7243