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NHPC conference focuses on wellness for aging communities

May 16, 2014 – Red Deer, Alta., plays host to this year’s Natural Health Practitioners of Canada’s (NHPC) 25th Annual Conference, welcoming around 350 attendees from the natural health community to educate, network and raise awareness on the benefits of natural health for the aging community.

May 16, 2014  By Jessica Beaulieu


Held at the Sheraton Red Deer Hotel, from May 23-25, this year’s
conference marks the association’s 25th year and is celebrating with the
theme, “Roots: Longevity Through Natural Health,” paying particular
attention to natural health and wellness in aging communities.

Jana
Niven, NHPC education and events manager says, “it’s a big year for us
so we decided on this theme because it has a strong focus on the options
we have to stay healthy as we mature and age. So it represents
longevity for the organization and for all our members and the clients
they treat as well.”

The conference will host 20 presenters,
eight of which with backgrounds in massage therapy who will be teaching
seminars and workshops on the practice.

“Colleen Fraser, an RMT
is expanding her practice and looking into Ayurveda practices so we like
to not only build on the tools that our massage therapists already have
but also start to help them investigate and provide for them
opportunities to look at other therapies that can expand their base,”
Niven said.

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Topics of discussion include reflexology and massage
therapy, organic massage creams, Ayurvedic techniques, lymphatic
drainage and massage therapy for the elderly.

“It’s really about
building their full scope as a practitioner. We’ll be showing a lot of
new trends that are coming into natural health practices as well as some
tried and true favourites. So they can take away some new tools to
build on their existing skillset and there will be plenty of activities
where they can network and share each other’s learning,” Niven said.

This
year’s conference is expecting over 325 attendees, with that number
expected to go up to 350 with tradeshow exhibitors and participants.

Niven
explains that this year’s tradeshow, which opens its doors to the
public on the Saturday of the conference and includes close to 50
exhibitors, is especially exciting as they have made efforts to push it
further into the public domain.

“We’re really trying to move into
the public domain and raise public awareness of natural health and its
benefits. We want to teach the public some things they might not have
been aware of or connect them with practicing members,” she said.

In
addition to this year’s conference the NHCP annual general meeting will
take place on Thursday, May 22, from 8:30 a.m. – noon. The meeting,
which is free and open to all NHCP members, will review the
association’s yearly activities, include voting on association bylaws
and will welcome new volunteer members to the board of directors.

The
NHPC is a non-profit association with nearly 7,000 members from across
the country. Their membership includes practitioners from various
holistic medical communities, ranging from acupuncture and aromatherapy
to yoga and massage therapy.

To learn more about the NHPC, the
conference or a specific speaker, visit the conference website.


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