Comfort Massage at End of Life ~ Webinar

Palliative touch

Comfort massage at end of life is slow, small, and soft. Cindy teaches that “we can give deep presence without deep pressure.” Comfort massage or palliative touch provide an opportunity for doulas to comfort and connect with their dying clients. This session is designed to build confidence to incorporate gentle techniques used by massage therapists into your end-of-life doula practice. Topics include the goals of comfort massage at end of life, positioning and propping of clients in the home environment, selection and use of lotion, guidelines for getting started, and where to go for more information and training.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this presentation! Before the session, I wasn’t sure how much one could learn from someone talking about massage without the hands-on component of practicing new skills. The answer is alot! Cindy was a great role model of the doula way of being with the dying. She emphasizes principles of “reading the room,” paying close attention to the client’s reactions to comfort touch, ensuring you have their consent, how to tell if you have consent if the person is unable to communicate.

Cindy shares that she typically doesn’t use the word “massage” when introducing the concept to patients at the in-patient hospice where she works. She prefers “gentle touch” as she says that “massage” can elicit strong reactions from folks, based on their experiences. If she senses someone might not be comfortable, she might start by asking whether they would like some lotion applied to their hands and feet. Typically the skin of the dying is very dry, due to dehydration and some disease processes. She reports that very few people refuse the application of lotion. Then she just reads their cues—their facial expression, their breathing—to determine whether her palliative touch is indeed comforting to the patient. There are many pearls of wisdom in this session!

The following resources were recommended:

  • Hands in Health Care: Massage for the Adult Hospital Patient by Gayle MacDonald and Carolyn Tague. Chapter 14, “Sacred Time: Gentle Touch at the End of Life.”
  • Massage in Hospice, iBook by Irene Smith; available from Apple.
  • From the Heart Through the Hand: The Power of Touch in Caregiving by Dawn Nelson.
  • Reiki Energy Medicine Bringing Healing Touch into Home, Hospital, and Hospice by Libby Barnett and Maggie Babb

Cindy Spence is the author of Palliative Touch: Massage for People at the End of Life. With her teaching partner, Susan Gee, Cindy teaches a three-day class for massage therapists and other professionals. She currently works at the T. Boone Pickens Hospice and Palliative Care Center in Dallas. Learn more about Cindy’s work at Final Touch Training.

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Patty Brennan

Patty is the owner and visionary force behind Lifespan Doulas. For 40+ years, she has been a doula, midwife, educator, author, nonprofit executive, and entrepreneur. Patty has personally trained over 3,000 people to become doulas. She is the author of The Doula Business Guide: How to Succeed as a Birth, Postpartum or End-of-Life Doula, 4th Edition, and accompanying Workbook.