How to Find a Reflexologist - By:

It is difficult to find a good reflexologist. There are many therapists available, but a majority of them are neither suitably trained nor adequately experienced to give you proper reflexology treatment. Before hiring a reflexology practitioner, there are a few checks you can do to make sure that your time, money and treatment are in the best hands.

Your intending therapist should be a member of a reputed reflexologist association. There are several professional organizations for reflexology therapists and two of the best are the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT) or the Association of Reflexologists (AoR). The primary objective of these organizations is to provide exhaustive training, guidance and advice to the practitioners, establish standards for the therapists to follow, and safeguard their interests.

A well-trained reflexology practitioner will have the capability to provide you with top-class treatment. She should have more than 200 hours of hands on experience. Superlative reflexology courses provide at least 100 hours of hands-on experience. After completing the program, the therapist should be a regular attendee at different kinds of workshops and short-term courses to brush up her skills, not to mention experience with patients. The proficiency of the practitioner largely depends upon the amount of work she has done. A therapist with lots of practical experience will definitely be able to provide you better treatment.

Your prospective therapist should have a transparent fee structure. Reflexology treatments are typically not covered by medical insurance. You would have to pay for each session. Hence, the fee structure is an important aspect that shouldn't be ignored. If reflexology is being performed in the hospital then the cost the session will be included in the overall hospital bill. However, in the case of private reflexology session, you should freely discuss the payment options with the therapist.

Now, its time to look at the ways to find a truly competent therapist. Apart from the search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo, you can take the help of database of reflexologist associations like AoR to search for skillful reflexologists. You can also ask your friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors to provide you references. Your doctor, spa manager and maybe even your hair dresser can provide you with contact information.

Another resource of information on expert reflexologists are advertisements in local newspapers and magazines.

To recap, the key questions to ask your potential therapist are:

* From which institution did you obtain your training certificate?
* For how many years have you been practising reflexology?
* Are you a member of a reflexologist association?
* Are you a full-time or part-time practitioner?
* Have attended a workshop in the recent past?
* Can you provide contact details for some recent patients or testimonials?

A good reflexologist will be able to provide a feasible answer to all these questions.

Reflexology, a treatment that works by treatment of the foot, can be very effective at relieving many symptoms. It is not a mainstream treatment and potential beneficiaries need guidance to find a qualified reflexologist to help them. In this article Chris, whose daughter is a qualified reflexologist, shows how to select the right practitioner for you.

Chris Morton is the father of Ceri, a trained reflexologist, specialising in relieving the discomfort caused by many ailments including migraine, back aches and stress. Stress is also a major cause of infertility. Chris has used his daughter's experiences to write the above article. You can find out more about the services Ceri offers at http://www.reflexologychester.net