The Oncology Scar Specialist course is a blended online and in-person course providing hands-on skills and theory to support oncology clients with scar tissue, fibrosis, adhesions and cording after cancer surgery and radiotherapy.
By the end of this five day course, you will be able to:
- Describe the benefits of scar treatment after cancer surgery and radiotherapy
- List common complications and considerations for treating oncology clients
- Give a holistic scar massage treatment to an oncology client
- Use active and passive techniques for cording (axillary web syndrome)
- Check your clients breathing and apply techniques to promote healthy diaphragm function
- Deliver techniques to mobilise the ribs, shoulders and diaphragm
- Help a client with self-scar care to promote scar healing and reduce common symptoms associated with cancer surgery and radiotherapy
With our flexible learning pathway you can join any course to commence learning, and enrol on another course to refresh the core materials and expand with new materials.
Become an Oncology Scar Specialist
Restore Therapy know that cancer surgery and treatment can leave clients with serious ongoing complications and fragile skin. Our in-depth scar therapy training leaves you confident to develop and deliver holistic, effective scar treatment programs. Previous scar therapy training is not required.
The course will take around five days:
- 3 to 4 hours (self-paced) online pre-course materials. Learn the basic theory on wound healing, scar classifications, complications after cancer surgery such as lymphoedema and and much more
- 3 days in-person. Master scar massage, active and passive techniques for cording and shoulder mobility, rib mobilisations and diaphragm release.
- 1.5 days post-course video demonstrations. Examples of adapting treatment for immature and mature scars, and different cancer surgeries.
Certification of completion is provided at your in-person training so you can commence client treatment. Plus, a second certificate is issued as a pdf for the additional hours learning when all post-course materials are completed.
Scroll down for dates, locations and booking
What is included in the online course:
- Considerations for clients after cancer surgery
- Supporting early scar healing (approx. 2-8 weeks post surgery)
- Working with maturing scars (within 2 years) and scars after maturation (any time after 2 years)
- Contra-indications for scar therapy
- Client self-care including scar creams, gels, silicone and oils, for common symptoms and self-scar massage
- Video demonstrations of techniques
- Video demonstrations of clients after bowel, lung, malignant melanoma and flap surgery, nephrectomy, radical neck dissection, leiomyosarcoma and flap surgery, various breast cancer surgeries including DIEP flap, simple mastectomy and implants with capsular contracture.
- Treatment demonstration videos using medical devices – LymphaTouch and Deep Oscillation
- Downloadable PDFs including: PowerPoint, pre-course reading, course manual and an example of a consultant letter
- Marketing materials: Social media images, ‘What is Scar Therapy’ and ‘After your Scar Therapy’ PDF leaflets, pin badge, logo for your website
- 12 months enrolment online learning (with options to extend)
Become a RESTORE Oncology Scar Specialist from £699
Easy to fit this into your schedule
- Self-paced online learning two weeks before your in-person training delivered in short easy to follow bite-size lessons (around 10 minutes each)
- We maximise your time, using the online training portal to teach theory in advance of your in-person learning
- In-person training time is focused on practical skills and interactive discussions
- Supervised class clinic sessions enable you to treat members of the public under expert guidance
- Blended learning avoids lecture style delivery
- Re-visit the online portal as your ongoing resource, providing technique and treatment video demonstrations
- Review or revise important theory online if needed
Our courses can be taken in any order, designed to layer knowledge and skills. On each course you will learn new practical techniques. You do not need to have completed any other scar therapy course before booking your Oncology Scar Specialist training.
Scroll down for dates and locations
Click on the course title below to read more and book your training
Displays show the first in-person classroom date for the course, click on a course title to open the full information.
Limited places available, contact us at admin@restoretherapy.co.uk if your preferred dates are fully booked and you wish to be added to the waiting list and bring the benefits of these skills to your clients.
Previous attendees comments on the course…
“Excellent course! Outstanding in every way, I have been teaching for more 3 decades, and experienced new innovative and engaging strategies that enabled group adherence and share clinical excellence. Emma Holly is superb, she has a natural gentle manner that reassures and provides the highest standard professional approach. Highly Recommended”
“I have just completed the 3 day Oncology Scar Specialist course and found Emma’s teaching to be engaging, clear and informative. The hands on teaching was demonstrated beautifully and we were soon practising under her supervision. I am a holistic aromatherapist working for Cancer Care in Morecambe, and know that this specialism will help me to support many people in their healing. What really blew me away was how holistic and ‘joined’ up Emma’s approach is, completely in alignment with how I work.”
“Thank you so much for a most enjoyable course. Your teaching skills are excellent and l learnt so much over the time l spent with you and have put it into practice on my clients this week.”
“Thank you so much for the course it was amazing, I got so much out of it. I have had a referral already which is great. I don’t think there is anything I would suggest that needs improving on, you are so knowledgeable, easy to listen to. I love the fact the course is very practical and hands on. I struggle as I’m dyslexic, but your teaching techniques made it easy for me and I think three days is the right length of time.”
This course is perfect for all oncology therapists including oncology massage therapists, oncology physiotherapists, lymphoedema therapists, reflexologists, osteopaths and chiropractors working with oncology clients.
If you have not completed any oncology training relevant to your therapy background, you can still attend this course, however an oncology massage certification course (or similar suitable for your background) is useful as we do not have time to include the basics of cancer treatment and considerations for every physical therapy. The oncology information provided is related to delivering scar therapy.
On this course there is a focus on protocols for cancer in the torso, including breast cancer, lung cancer, bowel cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer. The techniques shown are useful for all kinds of cancer (and other) scars. During the supervised class clinics we invite in anyone who has had a cancer surgery, so you may end up practicing on any kind of cancer surgery during your course, dependant on the clinic bookings we receive.
While we are learning about breast cancer, among other common cancer surgeries, therapists do not need to practice on each others breasts. We will work over diaphragm and across the sternum, showing how to drape a client for modesty. We will also show techniques for axilla and shoulder mobilisation.
Cording is a common post-surgery complication after breast cancer. We will learn protocols for treatment on the course.
Restore Therapy courses teach people from different professional therapy backgrounds. These includes massage, physiotherapy, lymphoedema, osteopathy and so on. Each professional therapy has different bodies offering accreditation for courses, so we have not chosen to affiliate with one singular body and exclude other professional forms from attending and completing training. This should not mean you are not eligible to gain CPD points for learning with Restore Therapy on this course. Simply submit your certification, if required, to provide proof of the learning hours.
You can attend this course with no previous knowledge of scar therapy. You can also attend this course if you have completed any of the other RESTORE Scar therapy courses or completed previous training in other scar therapy techniques to discover new material unique to this course.
You have 12 months access to the online portal, which will start two weeks before your in-person class regardless of how far in advance you booked your course. This is because we want everyone to have recently looked at the information before attending.
This is a CPD course and should be easy to add to your therapy insurance, usually without increasing the premium.
Emma Holly has developed the RESTORE scar therapy courses with a unique and holistic approach to supporting recovery. Based in the foundations of her background in massage therapy, combined with the knowledge and skills she has gained from attending training with a variety of scar therapy experts from around the world and five years as a teacher of Sharon Wheeler's ScarWork. The RESTORE techniques and approach seamlessly blends scar treatment into a holistic bodywork session, whether you use a medium - such as oil or wax - or you deliver your therapy dry.
The online learning in this course can be completed on a smart phone, laptop, desktop or tablet. We understand not everyone is set up or happy to complete online learning. It is possible to attend the course without subscribing to the online portal, but this creates significant additional administration for Restore Therapy.
The additional cost for anyone not wishing to use the online portal for the course is £40 per learner. This will include being sent personal copies of the pre-course reading, course manual and post course certification in email or hard copy by post within UK.
The Online material is divided into pre- and post- classroom training segments. You are given access to the online portal around 2 weeks before your in-person class. The pre-course online learning includes pre-course reading, provided in document form and also in video formats to suit your preferred learning style (the same information is provided in a video recording with tutor Emma Holly and in a downloadable PDF written format). There is also a short pre-course activity where you are asked to find a friend or family member with a scar and complete a short questionnaire in advance of the training. Around 1.5 hours should be enough to complete the learning and scar assessment activity. (not sure if this is what is meant by this statement) After your in-person course there are further materials available to support your learning. These include demonstrations of the techniques, demonstrations of treatment on clients after cancer surgery, demonstrations of the medical devices (LymphaTouch and Deep Oscillation) on oncology clients and a multiple-choice quiz. There is around 4 hours of additional learning and resources available after your course. It is not compulsory to watch all the online video demonstrations, but they are there if you need a reference.
During your course there will be two 'supervised clinic' sessions. These are student clinics where members of the public with scars (we will try our best to fill the clinics with scars as a result of cancer surgery or prophylactic surgery related to cancer). The supervised clinics enable you to have hands-on experience delivering scar techniques on people who require help after surgery. They are a way to provide specific coaching, 1:1 advice and skill development. These sessions enable you to feel much more confident in what to expect when a client books in for a treatment after the course.
Basic Booking Terms and Conditions
1. Non-refundable deposits of £100 are applied to all bookings.
2. Payment Terms: All courses must be paid in full 15 days before the online start date. If the course is not paid by this time, your enrolment will be withdrawn and the non-refundable £100 deposit will be withheld.
3. Cancellation:
If you cancel your booking prior to the online course, any payments made will be refunded as follows:
3.1 More than 30 days: Courses cancelled more than 30 days from the start of the online course, will receive a full refund excluding the non-refundable £100 deposit.
3.2 More than 7 days: Courses cancelled between 7 and 30 days from the start of the online course are eligible for ONE of the following:
• 50% refund less the £100 non-refundable deposit
• select an alternative therapist to take your place (additional administration cost of £50)
• consider a transfer as per 3.7.1
3.3 Less than 7 days: Courses cancelled less than 7 days from the start of the online course will not receive a refund. However, you can select an alternative therapist to take your place which will incur an additional administration cost of £50.
Refunds may take up to 30 days to process
Coronavirus and other personal circumstances: If you can not commence your course due to coronavirus or other personal circumstances, see above for the cancellation terms.
If you commence the in-person course and are then unable to complete all the in person training days due to illness or other personal circumstances, you may re-book to attend at a 50% reduction in the advertised course fee, the new booking must be made within 12 months of your original course dates.
Transfers: In the event that you wish to transfer to an alternative event or date, we will process your request, only when more than 21 days before the event is given in writing. Rescheduling to alternative course dates is permitted when more than one months notice is given, and will incur an administration fee of £50 for the administration.
Within one month of your in-person course commencing, rescheduling is not permitted for any reason, but you are welcome to send another therapist to take your place as an alternative. This incurs an additional cost of £50 for the administration of the name changes and changes to the online portal access.