Community Outreach Programs
The Twin Lakes College of the Healing Arts community outreach programs provide opportunities for our students to share the benefits of healthy touch with various groups in our community. We are proud to support our community by providing information about massage and by providing massage to seniors, students, farm workers, and other health care practitioners.
We have worked to develop outreach programs with under served groups in our community including people living with mental illness, women in prison, women living with domestic violence, nursing home residents, people living with HIV/AIDs.
Vets Outreach
Twin Lakes College provides chair massage for war veterans at the Veterans Clinic in Santa Cruz on a quarterly basis. The healthy touch Twin Lakes College provides benefits not only for veterans, but also for the staff that provide Health Services to all the returning soldiers who are in need.
High School Outreach:
Massage and Healthy Touch
Incorporating healthy touch into high school health education is a step towards fostering self–assurance, positive self–image, and self-acceptance. Twin Lakes College of the Healing Arts intermediate and advanced students, under faculty supervision, participate in health fairs and career fairs at high schools in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. We share information about healthy touch and the healing arts profession, and provide seated massage for students attending the fairs.
Senior Citizens Outreach Massage:
Massage and Healthy Touch
Senior Citizens Massage Outreach has been part of our Level I Massage Practitioner 200 Hr Certificate program since 1982. One afternoon a week, beginning students, under faculty supervision, share massage with seniors in our community. Students have the opportunity to practice their newly learned skills and the seniors receive the benefits of healthy touch at several local Senior Centers.
Hospital Outreach:
Massage and Healthy Touch For Care Givers
Our Hospital Outreach program gives intermediate and advanced students at Twin Lakes College an opportunity to experience a clinical setting (under supervision) where the healing arts are incorporated in a medical setting. Our internship program at a local hospital provides the nursing staff at the Intensive Care Unit with 15–minute seated massage sessions.
UCSC University Outreach:
Massage and Healthy Touch For Educators
Intermediate and advanced students share massage with all the employees of the University of California system at their annual retreat. We provide seated massage and provide information about the healing arts as preventative care.
Farm Worker’s Outreach
Massage and Healthy Touch Education
Our Farm Worker’s Outreach provides education about stress release and basic seated massage strokes that this population can use for each other and their families.
Gemma House: Women in Jail Outreach
We, at Twin Lakes College, serve this population via the Gemma House Program: gemmasantacruz.org We have offered a weekly class on Trauma Healing and self-care during the eight week program. We also offer chair massage in this transitional program for women who have been incarcerated with non–violent crimes.
