IFA ACHIEVEMENTS
As the IFA is coming up to its 25th Anniversary in 2010 it is a time of reflection on all that the IFA has achieved. We are proud to announce The International Federation of Aromatherapists as the Oldest Aromatherapy organisation now has the Largest Membership. Reflecting how successful we have been maintaining the standards we laid down in 1985 and have built upon with great integrity. We are internationally recognised as the symbol of quality for aromatherapy. We are constantly improving and expanding on our principles with our revised Syllabus out now and our new Carer Course.
Over the past decade the IFA has come leaps and bounds in forging International links. For our 25th anniversary, we will be holding a conference in Japan, to reflect our large number of international members. In 2010 our Aromatherapy Times journal will be available in Japanese and we are looking at more languages in the near future. We welcome our overseas members to submit articles and case studies for our Aromatherapy Times and also information for us to expand your section on the website.
We have our new Chinese Facebook due to the success of our current Facebook as a means for our members to communicate effectively with each other and alos reflects the increase in members there. We are also looking forward to our enzyme which will help us communicate even more efficiently with our members and supporters. We have attended more exhibitions this year in more regions and in Europe which we hope to top next year. We have our new exhibition coming up at the end of this year in Birmingham which we are very excited about and will be going back to Singapore early next year to exhibit at the Intimate World Asia Exhibition.
Our increasing bond overseas was epitomised at our First Complementary Conference in South East Asia 2007, which was well attended by all surrounding countries and was a landmark in the IFA history when East met West in a successful two day event. It was great to see Eve Taylor who had travelled all the way from the UK to be part of it with our other VIP guest Jenny Wong (London Institute of Aromatherapy) Peter Sng (Cosmoprof and President of the Spa Association) Leila Nasron (Singapore General Hospital) and Louis Chai (Government Workforce Sector).
Our 25th Anniversary Conference looks to be even bigger and better treating every conference we do as a learning kerb. Topics covered in our first international therapy conference included a speech on the history of the IFA by founding member Valerie Worwood, a talk by Sylvia Galleguillos on Children with HIV. Sue Mousleys (IFA Chair) talked on Aromatherapy with pregnancy and Use of Aromatherapy in the NHS Joanna Hoare delivered a speech on Cancer care followed by a demonstration of La Stone Therapy by Masako Takami and “Why Herbs” by Martin Cheng. Tammy Liu discussed essential oils relieving depression with Daniel Tan and his colleagues demonstrating Tai Chi, and performing a spectacular “Swan Dance” finale. We were also fortunate to have the 3 following participatory workshops running through out the weekend: Practical Thai Massage by Napalai Hansunantanonth, Aroma with Children with Aids by Sylvia Galleguillos, Aesthetic Aroma for beauty therapists by Valerie Worwood. We are always trying to bring versatility of knowledge to our members in a practical approach.
To make it even more eventful other activities were arranged around the conference to ensure full enjoyment for the attendees. A book signing with Valerie Worwood in Borders Bookshop, Free Bus tours were operating in the evening for attendees to see the sights in Singapore, buses were fully booked visiting Little India, China town, the Mer lion and many more attractions. A regional meeting in Singapore before the conference with a talk on, taxonomy and an on seat massage demonstration. Lions Home for the elderly visit, meeting Lina Ma the Deputy Executive Director who was giving a tour of a 200 bed unit which caters for all areas of elderly care. The next day our first overseas Schools meeting was held at Singapore University (SMS) attendance was good with all Schools discussing standards and the way forward. The conference was a fantastic opportunity to network, gain knowledge, meet the IFA staff and Members and most importantly have fun and is a fond memory to the IFA.
We look forward to our 25th anniversary conference in Japan, Tokyo will be even better and we hope to see you there! We would like to thank all of our members for helping us achieve all that we have and our supporters lets hope the next 25 years will be as successful