By Lisa Bakewell
Jennifer Telford was one of the winners of ABMP’s Massage Is for EveryBody 2023 contest. We wanted to share more of Jennifer’s story, which exemplifies the inclusive values of this campaign. Please join us in celebrating Jennifer!
Nearly 24 years ago, an article in the June/July 2001 issue of ABMP’s Massage & Bodywork magazine helped validate for Jennifer Telford that the holistic breast health work she was doing to educate women was on point. Telford had been teaching self-massage and self-lymphatic drainage techniques as a newly certified massage therapist when she spotted the article titled “Breast Massage: Afloat in a New Era of Thinking,” which highlighted professionals advocating for massage therapy and lymphatic drainage as an effective tool to support breast health.
Telford knew she was on the right path. “Later, I would study breast massage indications and techniques, lymphatic breast care, and post-op care for breast surgeries or breast cancer recovery with some of the leading experts, including Debra Curties, Cheryl Chapman, and Bruno Chikly,” Telford says.
In 2018, Telford became a certified lymphedema therapist through the Vodder School in British Columbia, Canada. It was through teaching the theory and practice behind this modality, as well as the others, that Telford began attracting women who were recovering from breast cancer. “They were thrilled there was a service addressing their symptoms,” she says, “including pain, discomfort, and swelling as a result of breast cancer and other breast-related surgeries. This offered validation to these women, knowing they found a place to receive help.” And this also reaffirmed to Telford that she was doing her life’s work.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Telford was already teaching clients to listen to their bodies and to practice self-care. She had no idea the impact her teaching would have on them. “I knew I was ready to go deeper with my clients,” she says, “and help them in identifying and transforming life stressors, building healthy habits, upgrading limiting beliefs, releasing stuck emotions associated with physical symptoms, and finding tools and practices to create sustainable change.”
Telford teaches her clients that the ability to self-nurture helps heal the current habits, beliefs, and emotional states that may be contributing negatively to their current situation and state of being. By offering her clients the support and accountability needed to reach their new visions, Telford can help them build healthy routines that support their well-being.
Like so many other MTs, the pandemic created a massive shift in the services Telford could offer. Instead of letting the negativity physically manifest into poor health or depression, Telford spent the past few years “honing new skills to now integrate holistic life, health and wellness coaching, and reiki services” into her practice.
In her new endeavors, Telford calls upon past services, including holistic breast care education, women’s wellness massages, and post-op surgery care for women recovering from breast cancer and elective cosmetic surgeries as a way to combine the services she loves. “I coach from an embodied approach,” she says, “and feel that women embracing their body wisdom and building on healthy habits and self-love and care practices—that this is the magic ingredient in trusting their intuition and building their inner strengths, confidence, and resilience in stepping into the best version of themselves and their lives.”
Coming into her 50s, Telford is still learning and growing. Today, she supports women in “redefining their lives” as they navigate health changes and post-op recovery. “My vision is that massage therapy and various manual lymph drainage techniques therapies will continue to be seen as an effective modality in breast health wellness and may offer a preventive approach to breast diseases.”
Telford’s dream is to create a company where she and other wellness professionals, coaches, and healers with the same vision and mission can work together to serve women and girls. “The more we love and care for oneself, the greater the correlation to our optimal health, healthy relationships, and the manifestation of our dreams. I plan to continue on this path because it is at the core of my being. I want to find ways to build upon my one-on-one services; connect with more groups and give talks; do online and in-person workshops; offer master classes that lead into short- and long-term programs. I also envision working with the younger generations in a nonprofit or college setting and teaching younger women the skills to master their personal development and self-worth as they navigate caring for their health, career, and relationships. I also see myself doing women’s wellness retreats and more travel.”
In Telford’s eyes, “having meaningful conversations, listening, and offering resources and supportive healing through the body” is success. Learn more about Telford at jenniferandreacoaching.com.
Related Content:
• Massage Is for EveryBody is ABMP’s annual celebration of massage therapy and the philanthropic efforts of our members. Read more about the event and the guiding principles that drive it.
• Read the winning essays from 2023’s Massage Is for EveryBody celebration.