Sports, Bodywork and Health Practitioner Courses
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Level 3 Sports Massage Therapy
A practical starting point for working with people through sports massage.
The VTCT Level 3 Diploma in Sports Massage Therapy combines online theory with hands-on training, tutor support and assessments. It gives you a foundation in anatomy, professional practice and the practical skills used to work with clients without acute injuries.
In our practical sessions, we’ll explore how to listen to the client, assess what they need and adapt a treatment to the person in front of you. There is space to ask questions, practise techniques and grow in confidence as you bring the theory and hands-on work together.
What you’ll explore
Anatomy, physiology, health and fitness as they relate to sports massage
Client consultation, assessment and treatment planning
Sports massage and deeper soft tissue techniques
Pre-event, post-event and maintenance massage
Adapting treatments, client care and appropriate aftercare
This course may suit you if you’re starting a new career, working in fitness, or looking to build on an existing massage qualification. It can also provide a route towards Level 4 Sports Massage Therapy.
Follow the link to view the full qualification details, dates and booking information
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Level 4 Sports Massage Therapy
Build on your Level 3 skills and explore a more thoughtful approach to working with injury.
The VTCT Level 4 Certificate in Sports Massage Therapy takes you further into assessment, treatment planning and working with clients who have injuries or soft tissue dysfunction. It is designed for qualified Level 3 sports massage therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and develop their practical skills.
We’ll explore how to make sense of what a client tells you, choose and adapt techniques, and review how they respond. The focus is on bringing anatomy, clinical reasoning and hands-on work together while recognising the limits of your role and when to refer on.
What you’ll explore
Applied anatomy and physiology
Assessing injuries and soft tissue dysfunction within your scope of practice
Clinical reasoning and flexible treatment planning
Neuromuscular and soft tissue mobilisation techniques
Reviewing treatment, appropriate aftercare and working alongside other professionals
This course may suit you if you’d like to work with a wider range of clients, including people returning to activity or managing longer-term issues. It offers space to build confidence through practice, questions and reflection.
Follow the link to view the full qualification details, dates and booking information
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coming in 2027
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Hot Stones for Sports & Deep Tissue Therapists
online learning plus one practical day to put heated stones to work in the treatments you already give.
You already know how to assess a client, choose a treatment direction and work with deeper tissues. This course adds another set of tools to that practice. We’ll explore how a stone’s warmth, shape and weight change the contact you offer—and when a broad surface, a rounded edge or a smaller stone serves your treatment aim.
We’ll work through stone selection, temperature control, skin response, equipment care and the situations where heat is unsuitable. Then we’ll apply stones to regional sports and deep tissue work, using gliding, compression, edging and movement-led techniques. We’ll also consider where cooler stones or contrast might be useful.
The practical focus is simple: assess, choose a technique, treat, reassess and adapt. You’ll explore how stones can complement your existing hands-on skills.
This CPD day is for qualified sports therapists and deep tissue practitioners who want to use stones with precision, sound judgement and confidence.
£225.00
For more information, email sammy@coastaltherapiesdevon.co.uk.
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Deep Tissue & Sports Massage Techniques with Hot Stones
A two-day practical and online learning CPD course for qualified massage therapists ready to expand their hands-on skills.
Hot stones can do more than add warmth to a familiar massage. Their shape and weight give us new ways to offer broad pressure, work with a muscular border or support movement. Combined with our hands, they can make focused treatment feel both precise and comfortable.
We’ll begin with safe stone selection, temperature control and handling. A short full-body routine will help you find your flow with the stones before we move into more focused work.
From there, we’ll explore deep tissue and sports massage techniques, including slow gliding, compression, soft tissue release and contact combined with movement. You’ll practise choosing between your hands and different stone surfaces, adapting pressure and positioning, and working with the client’s feedback throughout.
We’ll bring these skills into regional treatments shaped by consultation and relevant anatomy. What does the client want to do more comfortably? Which approach might be useful? What changes when we pause and reassess? The aim is to leave with techniques you can bring into your existing massage practice and the confidence to choose when to use them.
£395.00
For more information, email sammy@coastaltherapiesdevon.co.uk.description
Bodywork Courses
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Advanced Bodywork
For qualified massage therapists ready to explore what lies beyond a familiar treatment routine.
Bodywork still fascinates me after years in practice. A movement can change with a shift in pace, a gentler touch, a breath or an invitation to move differently. Sometimes it doesn’t change at all—and that gives us something to listen to as well. This course grew from that curiosity, and from my belief that the most interesting work happens when our knowledge meets the experience of the person in front of us.
This CPD course combines live online classes, recorded learning and three face-to-face practical days. We’ll explore ideas together online, with recorded material to work through in your own time. Then we’ll take those ideas into the practical room: finding anatomy, developing our touch, trying different approaches and reflecting on what we notice.
We’ll bring together gentle mobilisation and muscle energy techniques (MET) with breath-led bodywork, fascia and lymphatic principles. We’ll explore cranial nerves and movement, the jaw and TMJ in relation to the rest of the person, and how pain and the nervous system can shape someone’s experience.
Throughout, we’ll return to the client’s story, thoughtful assessment, reassessment and flexible treatment planning.
Come with your existing skills and your questions. This is a chance to deepen both your practical work and the thinking behind it, while finding more freedom to adapt each treatment to the individual.
Course fee: £495 (payment plans accepted)
I also teach this Advanced Bodywork material as part of the VTCT Level 4 diploma programmes at Holistic Therapies Academy in Bideford.
For more information, email sammy@coastaltherapiesdevon.co.uk.
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Lymphatic Bodywork & Cupping
Explore the science of lymphatic health through skilled, gentle and creative bodywork.
Lymphatic health and bodywork are two of my greatest passions. I’m fascinated by how the lymphatic system works alongside our circulation, immunity, nervous system, breath and movement—and by what we can learn when we bring that knowledge into the treatment room.
Across two practical days, we’ll explore the body systems behind the work and develop your hands-on technical skills. You’ll learn the full lymphatic bodywork routine in its taught order, then explore how, fascial work, gentle rhythmic mobilisations and movement can sit alongside it. We’ll pay attention to pressure, pace and positioning, and to how each person experiences and responds to our touch.
We’ll also explore light, superficial dry cupping as another way to work with the skin. You’ll practise using gentle suction and movement, observing the skin and adapting as you go. Consultation, consent, equipment care and knowing when cupping is unsuitable are part of the practical training.
Our conversations will reach beyond the treatment table, touching on nutrition, everyday movement and changes some people experience around menopause, including fluid retention and bloating. We’ll consider these within our bodywork scope and recognise when another practitioner’s support may be helpful.
Throughout the course, we’ll come back to the person in front of us. What are they hoping for? What do they notice during and after treatment? How can we use their feedback, our observations and our understanding of the body to shape what happens next?
This CPD course is for qualified massage or bodywork therapists.
£425.00 payment plan accepted.
For more information, please email: sammy@coastaltherapiesdevon.co.uk
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Health and Wellbeing for Clients
Explore the science of behaviour change and how to support clients, including those living with chronic pain or health conditions.
People often know what might support their health. Finding the energy, confidence and space to make a change can be much harder. This course explores how we can support self-management with curiosity, compassion and respect for each person’s circumstances.
We’ll draw on behaviour change theory and a person-centred, humanistic approach. You’ll practise listening for what matters to a client, exploring motivation and ambivalence, and deciding together whether a goal would be helpful. We’ll also consider what is realistic: does this person have the physical energy and mental space to take on something new, and how small might a useful first step need to be?
Sometimes support means finding a way to begin. Sometimes it means helping someone step back from an exhausting health routine and make room to rest. Throughout, we’ll explore how to suggest positive health behaviours without adding pressure, and how to adapt your support as a client’s needs change.
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Clinical Mat Pilates for Pain and Injuries
Learn to offer one-to-one Pilates support for people who aren’t ready to join a class.
Some clients are managing pain, recovering from injury or living with a health condition. Others have lost confidence in what their body can do. A group class may feel like too much, even when they want to begin moving again.
This course explores how to use mat Pilates in a one-to-one setting, starting with the person rather than a set routine. We’ll look at how to choose and adapt movements, work at a manageable pace and respond to what the client notices as they move. You’ll practise helping clients build familiarity, strength and confidence over time.
For some, individual sessions may be the support they need. For others, they can provide a bridge towards joining a class when they feel ready.
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Rehabilitation for Injuries
Help clients keep moving forward between appointments.
Recovery happens beyond the treatment room. In this course, we’ll explore exercise rehabilitation for common musculoskeletal injuries and how to offer support that fits the person, their stage of recovery and their goals.
Using clinical reasoning and contemporary research, you’ll practise choosing, adapting and progressing exercises. We’ll look at how to monitor a client’s response, build their confidence with movement and recognise when an approach needs to change or another professional’s input is needed. The aim is to help you support rehabilitation safely and thoughtfully within your scope of practice.
This course is taught in collaboration with Charlie Davey, a chartered physiotherapist who works in the NHS and part-time with Exeter Rugby. Charlie has a BSc in Sports Science and a particular passion for strength and conditioning and triathlons.
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Musculoskeletal Assessment for Massage Therapists
Develop the assessment skills to make more informed decisions when clients come to you with pain or injuries.
A good assessment starts with listening. What has happened, what has changed, and what does the client hope to be able to do? In this course, we’ll build from a thoughtful subjective assessment into practical objective skills, including range of movement, muscle testing and relevant special tests.
We’ll explore what these findings can tell us, where their limits lie, and how to bring them together through clinical reasoning. The focus is on helping you adapt your massage work, track change and recognise when a client needs assessment or support from another professional.
This course is taught in collaboration with Charlie Davey, a chartered physiotherapist who works in the NHS and part-time with Exeter Rugby. Charlie has a BSc in Sports Science and a particular passion for strength and conditioning and triathlons.
My teaching journey
Testimonials
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I am studying Sam's Level 3 Diploma in Bodywork and it is amazing. Sam has such a huge knowledge on the many subjects involved and imparts this knowledge in lessons that are tailor made to suit both the individuals and the class. I've found the course really inspirational! If you are thinking of studying massage I would wholeheartedly recommend learning with Sam.
—Katharine Shaw
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I have trained with Sam on several courses. Sam has a great relaxed and enjoyable way of teaching. Her knowledge of muscles and the body is vast. It is obvious that Sam has invested a lot of time into studying and she teaches to your individual needs”
—Nick Tettersall
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“The sports therapy course is so concise that it’s fool proof and although I assumed everyone was taught in the same way, you find yourself very quickly working towards your client’s needs rather than producing a standardized routine for the millionth time. Work doesn't get boring. Also, you still find yourself supported after training and wanting to do more courses..”
Sophie Bertolli
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“I felt Sam was the right person to teach me a massage, as she has a relaxed and professional approach. When I had questions or didn’t understand an area within the course or demonstration, Sam has the ability and deep knowledge to be able to reword and show in another way that could be understood. Sam’s approach feels as if she is listening to you and instills confidence. I would highly recommend Sam as a tutor and the courses that she offers..”
Luciana Corp
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“If you want to learn massage, I cannot recommend Sam enough. I have been lucky enough to have had Sam as my tutor on several courses and always come away learning much more than the course promised. She is passionate and relaxed and that comes across in her teaching. Cannot recommend it highly enough.”
Denise Paytner