Hi and welcome to my first blog! 

I’m Jo and prior to setting up Wandering Sole Therapies, I was a professional fundraiser in the charity sector. I worked for a number of different charities including some well-known national names like Sue Ryder, Parkinson’s UK and the RNIB.

After 20+ years though, I realised I wanted something a bit different, although initially I wasn’t sure what! In early 2020, the pandemic hit and like many community fundraisers, I immediately went on full-time furlough… I did the Zoom calls, numerous local walks, lots of baking, shaved my head and signed up for several different courses (including Vampirology and Cryptozoology lol!)

Having previous working for an Education and Wellness Centre, I’d seen first-hand how much their clients benefited from various therapies particularly Reiki and Reflexology. I’d obviously had treatments as well and loved Reiki although I wasn’t too sure about Reflexology at that time!

So, I started on my Reiki journey with Reiki First Degree Shoden before moving onto Reiki Second Degree Okuden… I found Reiki to be the most beautiful natural therapy and just loved giving treatments. Due to the pandemic, I was back at home at that time with my parents, so they got all the benefits of my training!

I wasn’t planning on training in Reflexology, but it kept ‘coming up’… in conversations, on Facebook, someone always seemed to be talking about Reflexology. So… I contacted Jubilee College and started their Level 5 Practitioners Diploma in Reflexology in Autumn 2020. I did have that moment of ‘what if I don’t like touching people’s feet’… but just loved the first two days training and then just fell in love with Reflexology.

When I qualified, I started Wandering Sole Therapies in September last year and decided to work as a mobile therapist covering Leicestershire and Warwickshire. My fiancé James and I had already moved into our converted van Dwayne in the summer, so it was much easier for me to be mobile!

And hence the name… Wandering Sole Therapies… James has converted our van into our dream home and part of our plan is to be able to travel around the UK offering treatments in the van both to regular clients and at wellness festivals and events. We definitely see ourselves as wandering souls but in this case soles, due to my love of reflexology and working on the feet.

As well as offering Reflexology and Reiki, I also offer Crystal Reflexology with Chakra Balancing – anyone that knows me knows I love my crystals and despite living in a van, I’ve got close to 200 (although I haven’t counted them recently!) I’m also trained in Indian Head Massage and most recently Aromaflexology… in fact, as I write this blog, I’m also typing up my case studies! I’m a big lover of essential oils and regularly use them myself so just made sense to incorporate them into my treatments.

I absolutely love working as a holistic therapist… it doesn’t feel like work at all in fact, even now it feels a bit strange to be paid for doing something I love! As well as my regular clients, I attend holistic fayres and events across Leicestershire and Warwickshire giving taster treatments. It’s a great way to meet new people, introduce them to different treatments but also spend time with like-minded therapists and practitioners.

So that’s me! I’ll be blogging regularly on all things holistic, therapies and no doubt behind the scenes of living in a van. If you don’t already follow me on social media, check on my Facebook and Instagram pages.

Jo xx