Pregnancy Massage Australia is proud to be delivering our 4th Biennial Pregnancy, Labour and Postnatal Virtual Summit on Sunday, 29 June 2025. The summit theme is “Elevating Client-Centred Care: Optimising Therapeutic Relationships for Improved Outcomes”.
As a pregnancy massage therapist, your ability to foster trust, open communication, and connection with your clients directly impacts their well-being. This virtual summit is designed to help you refine your approach to client-centred care, deepen your therapeutic relationships, and enhance treatment outcomes for your clients.
Countdown to the PMA Virtual Summit
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What to Expect from the Summit:
Expert-Led Education – Gain insights from leading industry professionals in the areas of pregnancy massage, perinatal health, and therapeutic communication.
Practical Strategies – Learn actionable techniques to create a safe, supportive, and personalised experience for every client.
Panel Discussions – Engage in meaningful conversations about client relationships, boundaries, and the evolving needs of expectant mothers.
Networking Opportunities – Connect with fellow therapists, ask questions, and share experiences in a supportive online space.
The Summit is open to all therapists wanting to further your knowledge and practical applications of client-centred care in your practice.
Summit Topics:
“Sharing difficult conversations”
A large part of establishing a positive therapeutic alliance depends on a client’s perception of whether they believe they can trust their therapist. Safety of clients/patients is key and when MTs are unaware or unable to communicate sensitively and carefully, patients may be at risk for too much sharing or not sharing important info. At the same time MTs need specific (and sometimes sensitive) information to treat their clients/patients safely. The onus rests on massage
therapists to communicate clearly and compassionately. Occasionally, therapists realise that they need to share difficult conversations.
This session introduces communication techniques and reflection that supports client-centred conversations. It explores the framework of therapeutic dialogue and the nature of the therapeutic alliance. It links active listening skills to trauma-informed care. It explores how to ask questions authentically, specifically, when to ask, when to listen, when to wait patiently while someone struggles to respond, and when to clarify reasons for asking.
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“Integration of touch: Mindful hands, healing presence”.
In this immersive practical session, your will explore the profound connection between touch, awareness, and healing. Your hands become your eyes as you learn to read non-verbal cues and recognise how trauma is held in the body. Through mindful massage techniques, you’ll develop sensitivity to depth of pressure, balancing the parasympathetic nervous system while honouring the body’s fight-or-flight response.
Discover how to cultivate authentic presence during treatment, creating a space of trust and safety. Guided breathwork will help you stay grounded, bringing both practitioner and client into a state of calm and presence. This session is ideal for bodyworkers, therapists, and anyone seeking to deepen their intuitive touch with a trauma-informed approach.
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“Finding your authentic voice: Engaging and empathic interview skills”.
In this transformative session, we’ll explore how therapists can improve empathic interview skills and how therapists can create a space where clients feel welcomed, nurtured, and heard.
From the client’s perspective, we’ll examine how to guide individuals to discover their own authentic voice—helping empower them in their health journey. You’ll learn practical techniques to engage with clients ensuring that individuals feel understood without preconceived assumptions shaping the conversation.
We will have groups to dive into meaningful discussions about wordsmithing around sometimes difficult but common areas of practice such as clients sharing traumatic events and clients sharing medical conditions and how to navigate them with deep empathy and sensitivity. Another group will discuss how to leave a lasting impression—ensuring that each session concludes with a sense of empowerment, clarity, and hope. By refining your closing techniques, you’ll reinforce the therapeutic alliance and provide clients with tools to continue their growth beyond the therapy room.
Our Guest Speakers
Pam Fitch
M. Ad. Ed, RMT
Pam Fitch, writer, researcher and practitioner, has helped countless massage therapists make sense of ethical and communicative issues challenging our profession. An experienced educator and author of the text, Talking Body Listening Hands, Pam brings humour, openness and acceptance to all of her presentations so that each participant’s questions may be addressed before the end of any event. With almost 40 years’ experience, Pam helps every group, virtual and in-person, feel cohesive and connected.
For more information: www.pamelafitch-rmt.com
Session Description:
Sharing difficult conversations
A large part of establishing a positive therapeutic alliance depends on a client’s perception of whether or not they believe they can trust their therapist. Safety of clients/patients is key and when MTs are unaware or unable to communicate sensitively and carefully, patients may be at risk for too much sharing or not sharing important info. At the same time MTs need specific (and sometimes sensitive) information to treat their clients/patients safely. The onus rests on massage therapists to communicate clearly and compassionately. Occasionally, therapists realize that they need to share difficult conversations.
This workshop introduces communication techniques and reflection that supports client-centred conversations. It explores the framework of therapeutic dialogue and the nature of the therapeutic alliance. It links active listening skills to trauma-informed care. It explores how to ask questions authentically, specifically, when to ask, when to listen, when to wait patiently while someone struggles to respond, and when to clarify reasons for asking.
Sarah Fogarty
Ad Dip Massage, PhD
Dr Sarah Fogarty has been in practice for over 19 years and works in a clinic with a pre and postnatal focus. She has published over 20 papers including papers on pregnancy massage and safety and fertility massage. Sarah is also the founder of Helping Hands, a program that provides free massage treatments for parents who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal loss.
Session Description:
The perinatal period and Trauma-Informed Care for Massage Therapists
Trauma-informed care continues to gain popularity as an approach to healthcare. The perinatal period is a time of immense physical, emotional, and psychological change. For many clients, it can also be a time marked by trauma, including pregnancy loss, birth trauma, or perinatal anxiety and depression. As massage therapists, understanding trauma-informed care is essential in providing safe, compassionate, and effective support during this vulnerable time.
In this webinar, we’ll explore the principles of trauma-informed care, how trauma can present in perinatal clients, and practical strategies to create a safe and supportive treatment environment. Whether you work with pregnant clients, new parents, or those navigating perinatal loss, this session will equip you with the tools to offer respectful and sensitive care.
Join us to deepen your understanding and enhance your practice with trauma-informed skills that truly make a difference.
Catherine McInerney
Dip Massage
Catherine McInerney is Australia’s leading educator on Pregnancy Massage, Massage for Labour & Partner Support and Postnatal Massage. Catherine’s education and training spans over 20 years, and her wealth of experience continues to grow as she develops her training platforms, offering a ‘woman-centered focus’ that enables therapists to obtain the best outcome of treatment for their pregnant clients.
Session Description:
Integration of Touch: Mindful Hands, Healing Presence
In this immersive practical class, explore the profound connection between touch, awareness, and healing. Your hands become your eyes as you learn to read non-verbal cues and recognize how trauma is held in the body. Through mindful massage techniques, you’ll develop sensitivity to depth of pressure, balancing the parasympathetic nervous system while honouring the body’s fight-or-flight response.
Discover how to cultivate authentic presence during treatment, creating a space of trust and safety. Guided breathwork will help you stay grounded, bringing both practitioner and client into a state of calm and presence. This session is ideal for bodyworkers, therapists, and anyone seeking to deepen their intuitive touch with a trauma-informed approach.
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See what past attendees are saying
Learning new information to continually aim to become a better therapist and updating/reminding myself of information and techniques that I may have forgotten was valuable to me.
The variety of topics presented was my favourite aspect of the conference. There was minimal double-ups and each topic deeply captured my attention and held it for the duration of the presentation.
The most valuable thing to me was connecting with a room full of like-minded therapists, as well as techniques covered were a good reminder and will be able to be applied in clinic. Anne’s presentation on mental health was fantastic – a great reminder that the work we’re doing helps mentally, as well as physically, and this can have long lasting impacts on Mum and baby!