About Me

RachelHello, I'm Rachel Surtees, the owner/therapist of Apple Tree Holistic Therapies. The following is just to give you an insight into who I am, an idea of why I am a holistic therapist, and what I aim to achieve through my work.

I decided to become a holistic therapist as, being a working mum, I had become acutely aware of the need for balance in life. I understand what it feels like to end up collapsed in a heap on the sofa, with a cup of tea, half an hour before bed time wondering where on earth the day, (more often week or month) has disappeared to, and I still regularly find myself taking part in the above scenario, the difference is that I have learnt how to balance the hectic part of my life with a more healthy approach at other times.

I have used holistic therapies for many years and strongly believe that they provide us with an essential tool to use in creating a harmony in our lives. I wanted to learn how to use the therapies to a professional standard and to be able to share the benefits with others. This prompted me to take a career break following the birth of my second child in order to retrain.

Holistic therapies are such an effective tool because they are flexible and adaptable according to each individuals requirements; they can be performed in varying amounts of time to fit in with your lifestyle; most can be used for self treatment; and the different therapies can be combined to produce varying outcomes according to your needs.

On a very basic level, all holistic therapy treatments give us an opportunity to take time out and relax to a deeper level than is usually experienced, this time allows your body to start to counter-balance the negative effects of our hectic modern-day lives. If you want to find out more about how the different therapies work and what effects that they can have please look at the pages for each therapy.

I am aware that the needs of my clients are constantly changing and try to keep my services in line with the demand. I offer a range of therapies which can be carried out as stand-alone treatments or used in combination with each other in order to provide a unique approach to addressing your health care needs.

In order to maintain a high quality service I have set myself an in-depth personal and professional development programme which includes courses, workshops, taking case studies, and volunteer work. I have worked for nearly two years on a voluntary basis giving therapies to cancer patients and their carers at the Robert Ogden and Macmillan Centre at St James' University Hospital, unfortunately due to the increase in business in my private practice I have had to give this up for the time being.

To date my qualifications include the following:

I have also completed several workshops including IPM massage, Integrated MFR therapy, and sports and remedial massage in order to enhance my existing skills.