Therapies in East Dulwich
Dulwich Therapy Rooms offer specialist clinics and services. You can benefit from our teamwork and experience in treating certain conditions, and as such, you will receive a much a higher level of care. By combining our knowledge and treatment methods more successful results may be obtained.
The principles of acupuncture were originally developed to ensure the longevity of the Chinese emperors.
Eventually, the practice of health preservation and medicine became available to all Chinese people. Its success led to it being used throughout the East and more recently in the Western world.
Health is normally maintained by the body’s ability to correct imbalances, combat disease and repair damage. Ill-health can be caused by poor diet, life style, climate, disease and trauma overburdening the body’s defences. Modern medicine and Chinese medicine vary in how health and disease are studied, and consequently, treated but are similar in the way symptoms are grouped in patterns to reach a diagnosis.
By assessing the symptoms of your disease or disorder, as well as all other signs and symptoms, your acupuncturist can determine what is going wrong and why it is happening.
By diagnosing in this holistic way, a treatment plan can be made that is tailored to your individual needs.
Aromatherapy massage involves a blend of highly aromatic essential oils, specifically tailored for the patient, being applied to the body by using a variety of massage techniques.
Aromatherapy massage can be a deeply relaxing treatment combining the powerful effects of massage and plant extracts.
A great variety of conditions can benefit from aromatherapy owing to the medicinal properties of the powerful plant essences. Each oil has properties that are unique to the plant source from which it was extracted and when inhaled or absorbed through the skin the oil is transported throughout the body via the blood.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave.
It’s most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems.
How CBT works
CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a negative cycle.
CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts.
You’re shown how to change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel.
Unlike some other talking treatments, CBT deals with your current problems, rather than focusing on issues from your past.
It looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis.
Uses for CBT
CBT has been shown to be an effective way of treating a number of different mental health conditions.
In addition to depression or anxiety disorders, CBT can also help people with:
- bipolar disorder
- borderline personality disorder
- eating disorders – such as anorexia and bulimia
- obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- panic disorder
- phobias
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- psychosis
- schizophrenia
- sleep problems – such as insomnia
- problems related to alcohol misuse
CBT is also sometimes used to treat people with long-term health conditions, such as:
Although CBT cannot cure the physical symptoms of these conditions, it can help people cope better with their symptoms.
(source of CBT information NHS)
Please Note. Our CBT practitioners are fully accredited Psychologists with extensive NHS experience
To check the availability of our CBT practitioners, click here.
To book a session please contact reception
You or someone you know may be seeking counselling or psychotherapy for a wide variety of reasons. This section offers some background information designed to help make choices or to simply give you more information.
The reasons people come to counselling or psychotherapy are as varied as people themselves. Often, clients have encountered distressing or stressful experiences or situations which they’d like to talk about in a safe setting. These might include present circumstances of bereavement, separation, or other major life transitions, or experiences from the past, such as in childhood. Others seek help in dealing with specific psychological or behavioural traits which they’d like to alter, such as compulsive thoughts or difficulties relating to people. Some people seek counselling to help them explore a general feeling that their lives are not quite right, or to cope with feelings of depression or anxiety. Still others look to counselling as part of their effort to discover or create meaning in their lives. Many people are attracted to counselling as an opportunity to undertake personal development in a safe and supportive environment. It is not at all necessary to have a ‘problem’ to find counselling useful.
People seeking general development as well as difficulties ranging from ‘minor niggles’ to profound distress impacting all areas of life have benefited from counselling and psychotherapy.
To check the availability of our accredited counselling / psychological therapy team, click here.
To book a session please contact reception
In the course of our lives we experience stress, illness and injury – as well as joy and happiness! While we recover from these it is also the case that we may hold the effects of them in our fluids and tissues. This is often experienced as congestion or stagnation. An effect of this is diminished ability for fuller health and vitality and the recurrence of symptoms. The functioning of the body may become compromised where the natural rhythmical motions of the fluids and tissues are inhibited.
The craniosacral therapist uses a light touch of the hands to palpate or ‘listen’ to the body’s tissues and fluids. Differences in their motion and quality can show where there are areas of stagnation and restriction.
The intention of the craniosacral therapist is to listen to the information conveyed by the client through their body to support the body’s own ability to self-heal.
Homeopathy is a system of medicine that was first developed and practised by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (in Germany) in 1790 and has been continuously developed since.
Homeopathy is gentle. The remedies used are completely non-toxic and can be used alongside conventional medicines.
Homeopathy can help people with all kinds of illnesses and complaints, either on its own or in complement to conventional medicine. It uses a holistic approach in the sense that it treats the whole person rather than only the symptoms. This means that very often there are improvements in areas other than those for which help was originally sought.
By treating the whole person homeopathy can be particularly helpful in dealing with vague symptoms or chronic conditions, or simply as a preventative measure. It is safe for babies, children, pregnant and lactating women and adults of any age.
Experience a transformative journey that quiets the mind, soothes tension, and restores a sense of inner calm. The Thermal Stone Fusion massage is a customised treatment that blends the warmth of smooth basalt stones with holistic massage techniques to cater to your individual needs and preferences.
The therapeutic heat from the stones penetrates deep into muscle layers, allowing for effective relief with minimal pressure and discomfort. The massage alternates between warm stone and hands-on techniques to release tension, ease muscle and joint pain, and provide deep relaxation. At specific points on the body, warm stones are placed to calm the nervous system, encouraging a profound sense of balance and harmony.
Specially selected basalt stones, known for their heat-retaining properties, deliver sustained warmth, while cool marble stones may be introduced to relieve inflammation and stimulate lymphatic drainage, working as a natural decongestant. This harmonious fusion of warmth and cooling leaves you feeling revitalised, grounded and fully recharged.
Indian Head Massage is a fast and effective technique for de-stressing and calming. It involves massage to the shoulders, arms, neck and head. The recipient receives the treatment sitting in a chair and remains fully clothed.
Benefits can include:
- easing of tight shoulder muscles
- aiding lymphatic drainage from the face
- encourasing a good blood supply to the face
- encouraging a good blood supply to the scalp, nourishing hair roots
Main use
treatment of musculoskeletal problems, sports injuries, work-related muscle tightness & tension
Massage Therapy treats soft tissue by hands-on-massage to improve muscle tone and improve blood flow
Technique
a range of techniques, including deep tissue massage and stretching
Benefits
can help to break down the build up of tension in the body, improve the suppleness & flexibility of muscles and joints, leading to enhanced sports performance and promote relaxation.
Collaborative Conversations for Change
Coaching is a collaborative process that supports change. The client brings something they want to shift in their life and works through it in conversation with a coach.
Through listening, reflecting and challenging, the coach helps the client explore their thoughts and feelings. This builds insight and supports action. Over time, the client takes steps toward meaningful goals. The process encourages deep learning and personal growth.
Some clients arrive with a clear focus – like improving a relationship, boosting confidence or moving forward on a project. Others just know they want change. In both cases, coaching helps clarify what matters.
How is coaching different from counselling, mentoring or training?
Coaching is forward-focused and action-oriented. It explores thoughts and feelings, but unlike therapy or counselling, it doesn’t aim to process the past.
It’s client-led – the client sets the agenda. This differs from training, where goals are set by others.
Unlike mentoring, coaching doesn’t involve advice or guidance from an expert. Instead, the coach offers reflections, helping the client find their own answers.
Any stress, mental or physical, causes areas in the body of restricted lymphatic flow. Lymphatic fluid is vital to the life process, bathing all the cells, it acts as a medium of exchange; trading food for the cells for the waste products. This waste contains microorganisms, damaged cells, and protein molecules that are too large or too toxic to go directly into the blood stream through the capillary walls. When the lymphatic system slows down, these waste products accumulate and stagnate which causes the heavy feeling in your limbs and the overall fatigue experienced in a sedentary life style.
How does it work?
The predominant fluid in your body is lymphatic fluid. This fluid carries nutrients from the food you eat and oxygen from the air you breathe. It also carries toxic poisons, bacteria, cholesterol and viruses away from the cells in your body. Since there is no pump (like the heart for blood) to push this fluid through the body, it is only moved by deep breathing, stretching, vigorous exercise, gravitational force and massage. Manual lymphatic drainage improves the flow of lymphatic fluid.
The pulsating massage action causes the millions of one-way valves that regulate the flow of fluid to open and close, thus allowing a healthy surge of lymphatic fluid throughout the entire body.
Nutritional therapy is the use of diet to help you to help you manage a particular condition or to help you reach your optimum health. What you eat can have a dramatic effect on your health and well-being. Nutritional therapy recognizes that everyone has unique body chemistry and so recommendations are specific to your needs.
How does nutritional therapy work?
There are countless ways in which changing your diet boosts your health, increases your vitality and even improves your mood. The aim is to encourage your body to work more efficiently and to support your own healing processes through:
1. Improving detoxification.
2. Correcting any vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
3. Ensuring healthy digestion.
Oncology massage is a specialised therapy to help with physical and emotional wellbeing and give a sense of relaxation for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. This can be a very supportive treatment which may help alleviate some of the symptoms of the oncology treatment, and it can reduce some discomfort. Your therapist will get in touch with you before your treatment if it is your first oncology massage with our therapist.
A soothing treatment for body and mind, Organic Facial Therapy gently targets fascia in the head, neck, and shoulders with specialised massage techniques, releasing stored tension and helping to relieve headaches, eye strain, and tight muscles.
A Gua Sha stone is additionally used for facial sculpting and lymphatic drainage, lifting and toning the skin.
During the treatment, the skin is cleansed, exfoliated and moisturised with organic skincare products made with the highest-grade ingredients. Delicately fragranced and suitable for sensitive skin, these products prompt a healing aromatherapeutic experience.
The relaxation benefits of organic facial therapy can hardly be overstated; it is often beneficial for clients struggling with insomnia and anxiety. Radiant skin and a feeling of deep, sustained relaxation follow for days after treatment.
Restore balance & promote wellbeing through the feet.
Reflexology is a gentle, non-invasive therapy based on the idea that specific points on the feet (and sometimes hands or ears) correspond to different parts of the body. By applying pressure to these reflex points, a reflexologist aims to support the body’s natural healing processes, reduce tension and improve overall wellbeing.
Many people find reflexology deeply relaxing and beneficial for stress, anxiety, poor sleep, hormonal imbalances and digestive issues. It can also support people managing chronic conditions or recovering from illness by encouraging balance and restoring energy.
Our qualified reflexologists tailor each session to your individual needs, creating a calm, supportive space to relax and reset.
Maternity reflexology to support mums-to-be during pregnancy and helping prepare for labour is also available with us.
Clinical massage is a targeted, outcome-based therapy that focuses on treating specific areas of pain, injury or dysfunction in the body. Unlike a general relaxation massage, clinical massage aims to resolve muscular issues through tailored techniques such as deep tissue work, trigger point therapy, myofascial release and advanced soft tissue methods.
At Dulwich Therapy Rooms, our experienced massage therapists assess each client’s needs and create personalised treatment plans. It is suitable for chronic tension, a sports injury, postural imbalances or while recovering from surgery. Clinical massage can help ease discomfort, improve mobility and support your body’s natural healing process.
Many clients also come to us with back, neck or shoulder pain, or repetitive strain issues such as carpal tunnel or sciatica. Others simply want to maintain physical wellbeing and prevent problems before they start.
Clinical massage also works well alongside other therapies, such as physiotherapy or osteopathy, as part of an integrated approach to health.
Sessions are tailored, and your therapist will work with you to track progress and adjust treatment as needed.
For those who experience chronic muscle tension or deep-seated knots, a deep tissue massage provides lasting relief. This powerful therapy targets deeper layers of muscle and fascia to break down tension, improve flexibility and ease discomfort.
What Deep Tissue Massage Helps With:
• Chronic back, neck & shoulder pain
• Stiffness from long hours at a desk
• Recovery from workouts or injuries
• Postural issues and mobility restrictions
Our skilled therapists use a combination of slow, firm pressure and advanced techniques to ensure you leave feeling lighter, more flexible, and pain-free.
Experience the benefits and book your deep tissue massage here.
Lymphoedema is a condition that affects at least a quarter of a million people in the UK alone. It is a chronic condition in which the lymphatic system doesn’t work effectively. Lymphatic fluid builds up in the tissues causing swelling that can be distressing and disfiguring.
Our Lymphoedema specialist offers bespoke treatments for the effective management of lymphoedema, providing specialist support, compression therapy, scar therapy, lifestyle advice and of course treatments to reduce swelling, ease discomfort, and help you live your best life.
Osteopathy is a safe, gentle and effective approach using hands-on techniques to diagnose and treat a wide range of health problems, aiming to relieve pain, discomfort and immobility.
The osteopathic philosophy is to treat the person as a whole, not just the specific symptoms. By improving the function of the whole body, osteopathy helps to stimulate the body’s own self-healing / self-regulating processes, aiding a return to health.
Its emphasis is on the interrelationship of the body’s structure – such as muscles, bones, joints, nerves etc – and its function – such as breathing, circulation, digestion, metabolism etc. It is widely used throughout the world and recognised as one of the most effective complementary therapies with an expanding base of scientifically validated research.
During a consultation the osteopath will take a thorough case history and carry out physical examinations, test results and scans will also be taken into account. An osteopath may use orthopaedic, neurological and other system examinations to help assess and diagnose each patient, and if necessary, refer to other health care providers as required. They will observe your posture and ask you to perform some simple movements to help assess how your body is functioning and why you are experiencing your symptoms. Your past medical history, occupation, exercise regime, and any other factors which may be affecting your overall wellbeing, are also taken into consideration.
Physiotherapists help people affected by injury, illness or disability through movement and exercise, manual therapy, education and advice.
They maintain health for people of all ages, helping patients to manage pain and prevent disease.
The profession helps to encourage development and facilitate recovery, enabling people to stay in work while helping them remain independent for as long as possible.
Physiotherapy is a science-based profession and takes a ‘whole person’ approach to health and wellbeing, which includes the patient’s general lifestyle.
At the core is the patient’s involvement in their own care, through education, awareness, empowerment and participation in their treatment.
Treatments may include:
- – Manual Therapy (soft tissue and joint mobilisation)
- – Trigger Point Release
- – Postural Advice
- – Exercise Therapy (exercises to mobilise joints and strengthen weak muscles)
- – Acupuncture/Dry Needling
- – Advice regarding ergonomics/work station
- – Advice on sports training programmes
(from 12 weeks to birth)
Pregnancy massage is a wonderful treatment to support the mother-to-be during changes that occur throughout the various stages of the incredible process of pregnancy.
Techniques are adapted to accommodate the physical changes that occur during pregnancy and to make the treatment as comfortable and relaxing as possible.
Particular attention is focused on the back (especially areas of muscular tension and pain in the lower back) and legs (helping to relieve cramps and reduce fluid retention).
The treatment is valuable and enjoyable at any stage during pregnancy but is particularly beneficial during the third trimester when many issues such as heavy limbs, oedema (fluid retention), leg cramps, lower back pain, and anxiety about the birth can arise.
Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) is a Japanese healing system. Translated from Japanese it means ‘Universal Life Energy’.
It is a gentle, non-invasive therapy, through which universal energy or ‘Ki’ is channelled to where it is most needed via a series of hand positions resting gently on or above the clothed body.
Reiki can be used to help all manner of conditions, including stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleeping problems, fertility, hormonal imbalances, pain reduction or elimination, making or coping with changes in your life, trauma, grief, living with chronic conditions. Reiki can be used safely alongside other therapies and conventional medicine.
Aches and pains are an inevitable part of modern life, whatever our age and lifestyle. The human body is a wonderful self-repairing organism, but it isn’t perfect and can’t always fix all the accidents and injuries we get. The older we are, the less well it can repair, so the cumulative effect of postural and occupational stresses, as well as the legacy of past injuries eventually shows. Although that backache, stiff shoulder or painful knee isn’t going to kill us, it does affect our enjoyment of life on many levels.
Soft Tissue Therapy is not a miracle cure, but it can often come pretty close to that. It involves a range of advanced hands-on techniques, including massage, which have been developed to improve the body’s healing potential and reduce many painful symptoms in our muscular system. Beyond this, a soft tissue therapist assesses posture, movement, tries to identify the underlying causes of these problems and gives advice on remedial exercise and lifestyle which can overcome the difficulties and achieve more profound improvements in your quality of life.
Whether you’re a regular at the gym, a runner or someone who enjoys an active lifestyle, sports massage keeps your body in peak condition. Designed to prevent injuries, improve recovery and enhance performance, this treatment is tailored to your needs.
Benefits of Sports Massage:
• Reduces muscle soreness and stiffness
• Speeds up recovery after workouts
• Improves flexibility and mobility
• Helps prevent injuries and overuse strain
Even if you don’t compete, this massage is perfect for maintaining an active, pain-free lifestyle. Tailored techniques help release tight muscles, improve circulation and keep you moving comfortably.
We pride ourselves in that all of our sports massage therapists are qualified to a Level 5 in Sports Massage as standard with us.
Support your active lifestyle and simply book your sports massage here, or book directly with one of our team.
Therapeutic Massage, also known as Swedish massage or hlistic massage, works on the muscles to release muscular tension, ease pain, and improve movement in the body. It encourages blood and lymph flow thus increasing oxygen and nutrients delivered to the tissues of the body and encouraging toxins and waste products to be removed.
Whilst the physical manipulation of the muscles helps improve muscle condition and reduce muscular tension, many of the techniques also calm the autonomic nervous system, switching it from its sympathetic mode (adrenaline-driven, fast-paced, stressed) to the parasympathetic mode (concerned with relaxation, healing and cell renewal). This provides an invaluable opportunity for the body to rest on a deep level and repair itself.
Massage therapy is useful in treating deep-seated muscular tension, which can occur due to postural problems from a sedentary lifestyle, hard physical work and prolonged stress. It can be extremely useful in the management of stress when received regularly as part of an ongoing regime.