Frequently Asked Questions

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of integrative therapies, including oncology massage and touch therapy, as supportive care during cancer treatment. We recommend the following articles as a starting point for your research:

• Integrative Oncology in Australia 2016: Mapping Service Provision and Exploring Unmet Needs
• Clinical practice guidelines on the evidence-based use of integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment
• The effect of massage on immune function and stress in women with breast cancer--a randomized controlled trial
• Natural killer cells and lymphocytes increase in women with breast cancer following massage therapy
• Massage therapy for symptom control: outcome study at a major cancer center
• Breast cancer patients have improved immune and neuroendocrine functions following massage therapy

Read Full Article: Evidence for Oncology Massage

Please feel free to contact us with any questions - we’re passionate about sharing the benefits of our work!

OMT is a not-for-profit organisation, and we’ve kept our course fees as affordable as possible while still covering our operational costs. 

We have early bird discounts available and welcome interest free instalment payments. 

View OM1 Module Fees

View OM2 Module Fees

When you register for a course, we’ll email you and confirm the course costs with our bank account details and payment instructions. 

If you are making a full payment, you will be emailed a receipt when you make that payment. If you are paying by instalment, you will be emailed a receipt once payment has been made in full.

Yes, you can pay by instalment. We require a non-refundable registration fee of $75 to hold your place on the course, and payment must be made in full at least 2 weeks before the course commencement. If your course is filling rapidly, we may request that payment be finalised earlier.

If you are taking advantage of the early bird discount, your instalments must be paid in full one month before the course commencement.

Yes - we offer an early bird discount for our OM1 and OM2 courses. You can save $200 by paying in full, one month in advance of the course date.

Due to the specialised nature of oncology massage, students are unable to claim recognition for prior learning (for example, you cannot start your training at OM2 because you are a qualified Remedial Massage Therapist or Bowen Therapist). Every student begins their Oncology Massage Training with our OM1 Foundation Module, regardless of existing qualifications. 

Having every student start their Oncology Massage training at OM1 means that you will enjoy an increasingly supportive and collegial relationship that moves forward into OM2 and beyond. OMT is like no other training organisation, and Oncology Massage is like no other therapy - so the relationships you will build over time are invaluable.

Yes, the following professional organisations award CPE points on presentation of your Certificate of Attendance:

• Association of Massage Therapists (AMT): please see page 3:  https://www.amt.org.au/downloads/PD/AMT-Professional-Development-Standards.pdf
• Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA): will award CPE points at their discretion (approx. 1 point/hour)
• Australian Traditional Medicine Society (ATMS):  will award 1 point per hour upon presentation of the OML Certificate and the student's short 100-word summary of what they learnt about and how it applies to their modality.
• Bowen Therapists Federation of Australia (BTFA): please contact the association to enquire.
• Massage & Myotherapy Australia (MMA, formerly AAMT): will award 30 CPE points for each module.
• Massage Association of Australia (MAA): please contact the association to enquire.
• Massage New Zealand (MNZ): new website: https://www.massagenewzealand.org.nz/ will award 30 CPE points each for OM1 and OM2. OM1 = open entry. OM2 = Minimum Level 5 qualification to continue to OM2.

To ensure that OM2 students have had the opportunity to adequately practice the core skills and techniques learnt in OM1, we require all students to have a short break between completing OM1 and attending OM2. 

Although many of our students are extremely well qualified, in the past, when we have run consecutive OM1 and OM2 courses, students have almost invariably struggled to successfully complete OM2. We would rather support you to succeed by having a short break between courses.

Our goal is to train as many therapists as possible to improve access to this essential therapy. All courses are delivered in person to ensure each student receives the full benefit of our training. We routinely run courses in South East Queensland, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Auckland - but we appreciate that if you live outside these areas, it can be difficult to access the training. 

Many of our students in regional, remote and rural areas have travelled to attend an OMT course, and we have options available to make studying with us more accessible.

For all students, we’re happy to provide AUD$200 off your course fees if you pay more than a month out.

If travel isn’t the right option for you, we can work with you to bring an OMT course to your community. 

You are able to advertise as an Oncology Massage Therapist after you successfully graduate from the OM2 course. 

Note that OM1 Graduates must not advertise themselves as Oncology Massage Therapists or as Qualified Oncology Massage Therapists; they are massage therapists with some training in oncology massage.

Qualified Oncology Massage therapists are highly specialised massage professionals. We believe that qualified Oncology Massage Therapists should be remunerated for providing this specialised therapy, in the same way as they are for any other massage services. 

Some therapists offer volunteer hours to cancer support groups to improve and broaden their experience with cancer clients, and some are in a position to be able to finance volunteer hours on a more regular basis. We support volunteering but equally we believe that everyone has a right to earn a living. For more information, please refer to this document.

Yes.  Any therapist who has remedial massage qualifications and oncology massage qualifications can write Remedial Massage on the invoice/receipt, thus allowing their clients to claim a rebate from most private health funds.

As an Oncology Massage Therapist, you are performing a Remedial Massage adapted to the needs of the client. There are at least 4 core units of competency in the current Diploma of Remedial Massage Qualification (HLT52015) listed below that develop your ability to adapt your massage techniques so that they are suitable to the client's needs:

HLTAAP003 - Analyse and respond to client health information

HLTMSG010 - Assess client massage needs

HLTMSG015 - Adapt remedial massage treatments to meet specific needs

HLTAAP002 - Confirm physical health status

The needs of a client with a diagnosis or history of cancer falls into this category.  

Here are some general tips on finding the recommended/required pre-course reading:

• Visit the National Library of Australia Trove Website - it provides both borrow and purchase options. 
• Ask your local library if they are able to organise a loan for you.
• Check with other Colleagues/Therapists/Clinics as they may have a copy.
• Check the various online book stores for pricing and shipping fees - some have reduced purchase prices and free shipping. 

Oncology Massage - An Integrative Approach to Cancer Care, by Janet Penny and Rebecca Sturgeon

(ISBN 9781912085750, 2021)

• Recommended pre-reading for OM1, required pre-reading for OM2 and above.
• Purchase a copy from www.woodslanehealth.com.au. OMT students receive a discount code when they register! 

Medicine Hands by Gayle MacDonald 2014 (9781844096398)

• Recommended pre-reading for OM1, required pre-reading for OM2 and above.
• Purchase a copy from www.thenile.com.au.

Quest for Life: A Handbook for People with Cancer and Life-threatening Illnesses by Petrea King (1992)

(ISBN 1-74051-339-8)

• Recommended pre-reading for OM1.
• Find a copy on Trove.
• Purchase a copy from the Quest for Life Foundation.

As a not-for-profit charity, donations are vital to the future of OMT and Oncology Massage in Australia.  Donations of any size are greatly appreciated. All donations can be claimed as a tax deduction. 

Here are some common ways that your donations are used:

• Raise awareness of the benefits of Oncology Massage within communities.
• Subsidise courses in regional areas that would otherwise run at a loss.
• Support prospective students in regional areas who would otherwise be unable to enrol.

Ways to donate

Bank transfer:

Oncology Massage Training Limited

BSB 013017

Account Number 660234734

Cheque:

Made out to Oncology Massage Limited. 

Please contact us for our postal address. 

Please advise your surname and postal address or email address so we can post and/or email a receipt to you.

Bequests

You can choose to support our ongoing work by leaving a bequest in your Will, which will be invested wisely and applied strategically to support Oncology Massage for many years to come.

There are several types of bequests you can choose from, and it’s important that you use the correct information and appropriate wording in your Will. We recommend discussing this with your lawyer to make sure your wishes are captured accurately. 

Reference materials

We always appreciate first, second, or third-hand copies of the following references for our students:

• Medicine Hands: Massage Therapy for People with Cancer by Gayle MacDonald; (ISBN 978-1-84409-639-8, Third Edition, 2014)
• Quest for Life: A Handbook for People with Cancer and Life-threatening Illnesses by Petrea King (1992)
• The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
• Oncology Aesthetics: A Practitioners Guide by Morag Currin & Brian W Budzynski (2014)
• Massage for the Hospital Patient and Medically Frail Client by Gayle Macdonald; (ISBN 0-7817-4705-8)

Other ways to support

Are you a Database Developer who would like to support us? With over 2,000 students on our database, it’s time to migrate from MS Excel and Google Sheets. We need something quite a bit smarter to allow us to better focus our communications. If you have the right skills and are willing to volunteer your time, this would make a huge difference to us. 

Are you a Commercial Printer who would like to support us? We periodically need commercial colour printing for our training manuals and brochures. We’re not asking for free printing, but we would love to work with a generous long-term partner on the Sunshine Coast in QLD. 

Can you provide or suggest a course venue? We are always looking for new venues that meet our requirements; the cost of hiring space has skyrocketed and, as a not-for-profit charity, we try to keep the costs to students down as much as we can.

This is what we are looking for:

• Partnerships with organisations that will benefit our stakeholders - cancer centres, hospitals, aged care facilities, massage associations, community centres, etc.
• Off-street parking - most participants will be bringing massage tables and massage paraphernalia with them.
• Close to public transport - some participants will be local.
• Close to accommodation - some participants will be travelling to attend.
• Clean training space - from 100 sqm for 6 students to 200 sqm for 12 students.
• Audiovisual assets - electronic whiteboard, internet connection, viewing screen.
• Access to clean toilets.
• Adequate lighting, heating and cooling.
• Access to a clean kitchen to prepare morning & afternoon teas.
• Reasonably priced (<=$250/day).

We’re committed to ensuring that all complaints are treated with sensitivity and confidentiality, and resolved effectively, efficiently, objectively and in a timely manner. Please read through our Complaints Policy for information on the process.

Why do we use Melrose Sweet Almond Oil?

We have a general rule of thumb with Oncology Massage body work - "if you can’t eat it or drink it then don’t put it on your skin!"

You may remember from your studies that our skin is our largest organ which absorbs as well as excretes, doing a magnificent job of protecting our inner body from the pollutants that circulate freely now on the planet. When we work with clients who have bodies and immune systems already compromised from the treatment of cancer then we like to do our best for them by not exposing them to more biological strain. H2 Superfine oils are keenly promoted in the massage industry and once on the skin are absorbed, processed in the liver, and excreted via the kidneys.

Sweet Almond Oil has the following benefits:

• It is rapidly absorbed into the skin
• It is low in odour
• It is an excellent carrier for essential oil blends
• It is safe for those with nut allergies as it is a drupe, and not a nut. However, it is recommended that a skin test is undertaken prior to massaging those living with nut allergies
• It has a pH of between 4 and 5 and is therefore close to the skin's ideal pH of 5 to 5.5 - this aids in protection from skin bacteria and fungus
• It is ingestible (you can eat/drink it).

Did you know?

The H2 Superfine oil has Laureth-3 (surfactant/emulsifier) in it which is a synthetic compound obtained by extensive chemical modification of lauric acid, a natural fatty acid, and oxirane (ethylene oxide). This compound is also included in Dishwashing Powder, and Fabric Softener.

Where can I buy Melrose Almond Oil?

Australia

You can purchase this product at most good health-food stores and pharmacies.

You can order this product online at Melrose Health. 

New Zealand 

The New Zealand distributor is Crombie and Price.

Sweet Almond Oil is available in some health-food stores and pharmacies.

You can order this product online at Melrose Health.