Meet The Team

Whatever your requirements, together our team of qualified, professional practitioners can help you towards maintaining good health and managing a healthier lifestyle.

THE TEAM

Edith Maskell - Director and Practitioner

During a very successful secretarial and middle management career spanning 30 years, I suffered the physical and emotional effects of balancing a demanding career with a hectic family and social life. At a particularly "eventful" time in my life, I turned to complementary and alternative  medicine (CAM) to treat the resultant stress and quickly became aware of the advantages (and immense satisfaction) from taking back responsibility for my health and ultimately, my life.

I had an interest in CAM since my children were very young. It all started when I lived in Scotland and when registering with a GP and expressing concerns about my children constantly on antibiotics he sked me if I had ever thought about homeopathy.  It turned out he was a Homeopath.  I hadn't a clue what it was.  Anyway, I was prepared to try to get the boys off the antibiotics.  I was astounded by the results and from there on in, I was hooked.  Over the following years, I gradually began learning about other modalities and my curiosity eventually became a vocation.

After the difficult time in my life, I needed a complete change and so eventually took the risk of giving up the day job and started to put my dream into reality.  It was only 2 years later that I set up my private practice in Bromley.

As proprietor of the Clinic and as a practising therapist I have many aims and objectives. First and foremost, to tailor treatments to individual needs and to raise awareness of the advantages and importance of self help.

Though not qualified in all modalities, I am a multi disciplined practitioner and should I feel that a client needs professional support which is outside my own scope of practice I readily refer to a medical practitioner or another professional within CAM. Over the years, I have built up excellent working relationships with local chiropractors, osteopaths, counsellors, Bowen Technique practitioners and Manual Lymphatic Drainage (Vodder trained) practitioners to name a few.

Working with this team of specialists, we achieve our aims and objectives through lengthy consultative processes, a scientific screening service (B.E.S.T System), a range of CAM treatments, from Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Reiki, Allergy Testing, Bach Flower Remedies, NLP & Hypnosis, Acupressure and nutritional advice.

Another ambition at Bromley Health Management is to provide a setting where people walk through the door and immediately feel at ease and safe in a calm and comfortable environment. Safe in the sense of "safe in our hands", able to trust a caring, skilled specialist with confidence, who has the time to listen and is clearly interested in the long term well being of each client.

It can be seen from my training and others I work with that emphasis is on total healthcare - not just symptoms presenting.

My qualifications are in Anatomy & Physiology, Acupressure and Remedial Massage (incorporating CranioSacral Techniques), Aromatherapy, Bach Flower Remedies, Reflexology, Reiki, Allergy Testing, Health Screening, a B.E.S.T System Clinical Practitioner and a Master Practitioner in NLP & Hypnosis.

I am a full member of the International Federation of Reflexologists, the Clinical Association of Reflexologists, the Complementary Therapists Association, the Academy of On-Site Acupressure Massage, the British Institute of Environmental and Allergy Therapy, a registered Bach Flower Practitioner, full member of the British Complementary Medicine Association, the British Institute of Hypnotherapy and a professional member of BackCare UK.  I am a member of the United Kingdom Reiki Federation (UKRF) and am an Executive Council Member of the UKRF. 

I am registered with the General Regulatory Council for Comlementary Therapists (GRCCT) and the United Kingdom Council for Hypnotherapy Organisationsl (UKCHO).

I am constantly developing my qualifications and so my studies are ongoing.  I am also in the proces of writing material for my books.

These days my special interest is in Health Screening (both Sensitivity - health screening (Functional Medicine) and allergy/sensitivity testing.  Over the years I have become more and more convinced that all disease begins in the gut, as a result of poor nutrition (sometimes from birth), suppressed emotions, environmental factors and geopathic stress. We need to get back to basics by searching out the cause of dis-ease, by addressing how well (or otherwise) each organ in the body is functioning or has been compromised by all of the above, All that happens when we treat symptoms is we "lop off the tip of the iceberg" when the problem lies "deep under the ocean".

The method used for Screening is the B.E.S.T (BioEnergetic Stress Testing) System. I first learned about it in 1994. For a number of years, I followed the System with much curiosity and enthusiasm and observed its successful progress grow from strength to strength. In the process I became more and more convinced of its capabilities. The more I work with the System, the more that conviction and commitment grows.

The sustained interest culminated in my training as a B.E.S.T System Practitioner in January 2000 and did my advanced clinical training in Energetic Medicine with the UK Energetix College and also with the British Institute of Allergy and Environmental Therapy.

Other interests, on a part time basis, include lecturing at Conferences, Colleges and Universities around the UK and writing articles for professional journals.

For more than 10 years I have represented several professional associations on the voluntary self regulation bodies.  I am Treasurer on the Reflexology Forum and have been a member for more than 10 years.  Other organisations that I have served are the General Council for Massage Therapy, (GCMT) the Aromatherapy Consortium, (AC) the Shiatsu Regulatory Group (SRG) and the Reiki Regulatory Working Group (RRWG) an I represented the Reiki profession on the Federal Working Group (FWG) a body set up by the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health (PFIH) to develop a federal regulatory body for CAM.

I have been an active member on many of the sub committees of those organisations including PR, Funding and Education and Training.

After many years of hard work by a lot of individuals, the regulation of CAM has arrived. gets closer. The GRCCT was launched in Ocxtober 2007. 

The public can now be assured that GRCCT registered practitioners, within all the professions are working to common (national occupational standards), regardless of where they trained, with one Code of Ethics and one Disciplinary and Complaints Policy. 

Whilst the system is currently voluntary, it is expected that within 5 - 10 years, a legal system will be in place with a requirement that all CAM practitioners are registered, otherwise they will be denied the right to work.

The process began all those years ago with a dream that we would be integrated with orthodox medicine.  I still think we're a million miles away from that.  Whist it is something which we aspire to, what we don't want is for CAM to be medicalised.  And of that there is a serious danger.  However, the public have a right to be protected and whilst CAM only has a voluntary system in place, I believe practitioners must be accountable and hold their head up high by registering voluntarily.  That's the only way we will ever gain public and medical confidence.  

Once we establish ourselves once and for all, the medical professions will eventually have no choice but to enlighten itself about the benefits of CAM and finally recognise the good work that CAM practitioners can bring to their practices.  All in the name of improving the health of the nation.  Credible CAM professionals who can be trusted. As a result, the public will be safe in "our hands" whilst having the blessing of their GP.

Other European Countries have already gone down this route and in Denmark for instance, large companies, including Lego, the Post Office, at least one Super League Football Club and the Fisheries Industry, employ CAM practitioners on their payroll; for example, one eminent Ears, Nose and Throat specialist works alongside a Reflexologist and happily refers his clients BEFORE considering surgery as an option, particularly with children suffering Glue Ear.

Whilst things are progressing SLOWLY in this Country, reports from clients are that in the UK, we are still at a very different stage. Some GP reactions reported on a regular basis to me are. (1) when they mention to their Doctor the good progress they are experiencing as a result of receiving complementary medicine, (whereas they were previously making NO progress on medication) either the Doctor laughs out loud, or (2) makes derogatory comments such as "well, if you think having your feet rubbed is going to making you better, that’s fine ".

Interestingly, there are now conclusions being drawn from studies carried out within the NHS that complementary health actually saves NHS precious funding; gives GP’s more time to deal with acutely /terminally ill patients and addresses chronic conditions which the medical profession admit they have "nothing in their tool box" with which to help. Chronic is deemed to be any symptom a patient has had for more than 12 months.

One GP I spoke to reports that 10% of his clients use up 90% of NHS funding in his practice.

Whilst there is a shortage of research to evidence the benefits, there is a conundrum; interestingly enough, it appears that nurses and doctors are actively being encouraged to train in complementary therapies and CAM is appearing on the agenda in the early days of medical training; which, even if it only brings about an awareness of the benefits, is a step in the right direction.  The only problem is because they are nurses and doctors they don't always to do the same extensive training as CAM practitioners nor do they go through the same scrutiny ..... they are medically qualified does not give them the appropriate expertise or skill in the therapies.  

The day when the public will be able to demand GP referral for Reflexology or any other treatments in the field of complementary and alternative medicine or for it to be freely available on the NHS, giving clients a choice, may still be a fantasy for the CAM professional like me but we can dream and hopefully it won't be too far away.

What a day of celebration that will be and what an achievement for us all.  Hopefully, I'll still be around !!

Welcome to my world.