Child2Child Peer Massage

Child2Child Peer Massage

Having spent the last three years delivering the Peer Massage in Schools Programme,(MISP), I have recently been introduced to and become a trainer for the new and dynamic Child2Child Peer Massage.

Child2Child Peer Massage has been developed by Jean Barlow, Teacher Consultant for Rochdale’s Behaviour Management and Development Team. She has developed a sustainable model of peer massage that fits with the school routines and transitions, and is embedded in the school ethos.

It is a very short and simple initiative that can be used by children in school, in clubs or at home to support their self management.

It is an easy combination of classic massage strokes that are put together to make a short routine, which if done daily, has many benefits, such as the capacity to reduce anxiety and stress. This daily practice builds up emotional awareness and social cohesion.

Children are asked to choose whether they wish to take part in the session on a daily basis and their choice is acknowledged and respected.The peer massage is a process of teaching children those skills and competences needed in life.

Child2Child Peer Massage has been specially designed to bring nurturing touch and experiential learning into the classroom. It uses the body’s own resources to help to promote the improvements in concentration, attention and communication. It seeks to teach cognitively, self-respect and control. We know that touch is the first of the sense to develop in the womb and the last to leave us when we die.

This work is used with all children from the ages of 4-11years in the primary schools and 12-16years in the high schools. It is an inclusive programme

It provides teachers with a tool to empower, inform and develop assertiveness in children. It introduces empowering assertive language. This enables children to practice asking for and giving permission to touch. Thus it explains the individual’s right to choose for him / her self.

It embraces the language of choice, self-knowledge and control.

The work allows the classroom to become a calm, safe, nurturing place. Children enter into a dialogue that is interactive, responsive and respectful. There are considered exchanges of information from peer giver to peer receiver. It is structured disciplined, short and practical. Children learn by being involved or watching their friend. The peer massage stimulates the imagination, concentration and tolerance levels as they become sensitive to one another. They learn by practice. They internalize the information because they use all their senses during the session.

The teacher is the practitioner who can work alongside the school Peer Massage Co-coordinator using the ‘Coaching’; model and having had one day’s training in the use of the strokes, work with the class to facilitate the work.

The Practitioner oversees the stroke review and encourages the children to follow the guidance of the partner.

No adult is involved in giving the massage except in cases where children have a statement for a Special Educational Need, who would be unable to access the programme without his / her support worker. Every child has the option to choose whether or not to take part in all or part of the session. Some children may wish to have certain strokes omitted. In such a case the giver would have still hands for the duration of that stroke.

Child2Child massage can be used as part of the PSHCE syllabus, SEALS work or Healthy Schools curriculum. It has a part to play in the development of an emotional literacy curriculum and gas potential to reduce stress, anxiety and mental health tendencies. It provides positive social acceptance and so reduce the potential for bullying

The provision of a daily routine may encourage children to challenge aggressive attitudes and provide alternative strategies for enabling children to stop unwelcome touch

Practicing positive, respectful touch, where children seek and are given permission to touch, is the first step in teaching assertiveness around self-protection.

There are four new routines KS1& 2 Animal Hand and Back Routines and KS3&4 Solar System Hand and Back Routines

We are holding our first

Celebration Conference on Tuesday 29^th June 2010

08.45-12.00

at Buile Hill Park Hall

Eccles Old road

Salford

M6 8GL

Book online or RSVP email: hello@jeanbarlowtrainingsolutions.co.uk Tel:01204300516

For more informationon training or the conference contact me at lynn@absoluteenergy.co.uk Mob: 07801710963