Congratulations to Karen Hopes for winning our International Therapist summer competition. She won Sassy Scent’s ‘Sleep by Sassy’ bundle, including a pillow mist, a pot of whipped soap, and two XL wax melts, along with a clear tealight burner.
“I always look forward to receiving and reading my IT magazine, and I have entered (and won) a number of lovely prizes from the seasonal competitions over the years,” Karen says. “I particularly enjoy the spiral competitions as they focus the mind and encourage research and learning. To my joy, and having just returned from a lovely holiday in Italy, it was wonderful to be greeted by my parcel of Sassy Scents’ ‘Sleep by Sassy’ bundle of goodies – the FHT prize that I won in the IT Summer Competition 2025. As therapists, we often don’t prioritise our own wellbeing over that of our clients, and so, in receiving this gift, I say thank you to the FHT and Sassy Scents and see this as permission for me to further relax!”
Karen is an aromatherapist, who works and lives in the beautiful Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. Having recently decided to stop working from her cosy therapy room at home, she now works on a mobile basis, only taking TLC and relaxation to others in the privacy of their own homes. She feels very privileged to have been able to work and volunteer her services at her local hospice – Great Oaks Hospice (great-oaks.org.uk) since 2018. As a member of their Complementary Therapies team, she uses her skills in providing aromatherapy, massage, and more recently, the wonderful HEARTS Process, offering gentle touch to carers, staff, and patients. She does this both in the hospice and via the amazing ‘Hospice at Home’ service, visiting patients and their carers in their own homes to provide them with a brief, but well-needed, respite in the form of relaxation and symptom relief.
“An interesting fact”, Karen adds, “is that in the summer of this year, I was contacted by a lovely couple who were holidaying in a treehouse in the forest. They requested an ‘outdoor massage’ in the beautiful and secluded grounds of the holiday location. I confessed to being a little nervous, having never provided outdoor massages previously, however, on the day, the weather was just perfect (warm and sunny), and the natural surroundings (including a mother duck with her ducklings swimming on the nearby pond) provided the ‘sound’ element backdrop to a beautiful sensory experience. I must say that I also experienced a profound sense of relaxation myself from this experience as the ‘giver’, and I have since provided outdoor massages to other clients.”
You can contact Karen via Facebook at karenhopesaroma, phone 07854372177 or email karenhopesaroma@gmail.com
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We’re taking steps to celebrate our lucky winners each quarter. Have you won an International Therapist competition or spiral competition? Send across a photo of you and your prize along with a short biography about you to editor@fht.org.uk – we’d love to feature you on our blog!
Be sure to take part in our upcoming International Therapist competition and spiral competition in our autumn magazine, which is scheduled for publication on 9 October.
Keep an eye out for pages 61 and 67 for details!
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