Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
Shiatsu Society of Ireland
Sunday 2nd February 2020 at 11:00am
Cork School of Shiatsu
Minutes taken by Maria Exposito
Present:
Joanne Faulkner, Chairperson – Maria Exposito, Secretary – Mary McHugh – Cindy Morrissey – Sheena Woods – Sarah Zugno – Diana Cassidy – Dorothee Clarke
Apologies:
Claire Haugh – Maria Butler – Lydia Skowronsky – Patricia O’Hanlon – Julien Jolyu – Margaret Link – Siobhan Kirk – Frances Hassett – Mirabel Kohler – Tricia Frost – Brian O’Leary
i. The chairperson welcomed attendees and gave a brief update on the progress of the current committee during 2019.
SSI is growing significantly; things are moving forward with greater interest and increased amount of emails from abroad. There is a sense that interest in Shiatsu is growing in momentum and going in the right direction.
ii. Minutes of the Previous AGM in January 2019 were reviewed seconded and approved.
iii. Reports of Officers:
● Chairperson reported on swaps organised during the year.
Dublin wasn’t quite as well attended as the one in Cork. However the Fascia Workshop in Dublin was very well attended, which brought up the issue of a suitable venue in Dublin that can accomodate bigger sized groups. The question was asked if Shiatsu College Dublin may be interested in hosting future workshops.
● The sense is that the swaps went well overall. The inclusion of skill shares is more appealing for members of the society as it brings learning that enriches their own practices. However Diana who regularly organises swaps in Cork, feels that the overall response to them is very poor and at a certain stage she even considered not doing them anymore. Cindy also organised one in Dublin which was attended by 3 local practioners. She reported the space used is not big enough to allow for more.
● It was also reported that the number of members of the SSI are increasing incrementally and if it keeps going that way things could move soon to the next level. Ideas for increased membership included: encourage Shiatsu students to become members, communicte the benefit of joining the Society overall.
Sarah pointed out that maybe more information to the benefits is required, to write about Shiatsu community, what the SSI can do for you as a member and what you can do as a member for the SSI.
● The Secretary report is that the total number of members of the Society in 2019 is 34 which is 7 more than the numbers reported for 2018 of this total 21 are RPSSI members 8 are graduates and 5 are students. The renewal status at the time of the AGM is of 21 renewals processed against 13 still pending.
● Treasurer due to personal circumstances couldn’t be present at the AGM this year so the Chairperson gave a brief report on her behalf based on the documentation provided and kept in the SSI files. During the last AGM, there was a discussion about getting a bank card for the SSI to facilitate payments. This hasn’t been done yet as we didn’t have the need for it during the year as the reality is that it would only be required to have one to buy/pay things online such as Google or Facebook adds that we didn’t actually do.
● There was also a remark regarding the payments via Cheque as they are being phased out so we need to promote bank transfer payments and maybe provide instructions on how to take a screenshot to send as proof of payment to facilitate the processing of the renewals as the Secretary doesn’t have access to the bank account and needs to request confirmation from the Treasurer for each payment done this way.
iv. Questions of Officers:
● Who is going to take care of the Social Media awareness work? The alternatives discussed is either to find someone within the society willing to do it or pay an outsider as there is a budget of €150 for the person taking care of it. It is roughly 15 hours a month. Diana suggested we could ask Jasmine’s daughter as she might be interested in such a thing as part of her college work. Ideally someone with knowledge about Shiatsu should do it.
Finally Cindy Morrissey is stepped up to take care of the social media aspect.
v. Election of Officers:
● Joanne Faulkner is happy to step down as Chairperson as realistically she has no time to continue on doing it. She sent out emails asking who would be interested in taking the position up but none has shown such interest so, unless someone happy to do it step in, she is happy to hold it as interim for 6 months after which she may have more time to dedicate to the SSI but she won’t be able to keep doing the Social Media – Seconded and Elected.
● Tricia Frost proposed as Treasurer – Seconded and Elected.
● Maria Exposito proposed as Secretary – Seconded and Elected.
vi. Substantive Motions
● Change to the constitution to clarify the registration process of practitioners trained overseas: Section 3, point F will read as follows: Practitioners applying for Shiatsu Society of Ireland from abroad must first present their college diploma for verification of this qualification by the committee. If qualifications to the standard of the Shiatsu Society of Ireland, being the same as the ESF requirements (at least 500 hours of training) and proof of practice cannot be verified the applicant must undergo assessment by the Panel. It is agreed that the school
of the country of origin needs to be contacted to verify qualifications.
● Constitution and renewal documents to be uploaded to the website: The current links are broken and not working. That needs to be fixed.
● Arrange Garda Vetting Through SSI: Treating anyone under the age of 18 requires to have a parent present during the session or have them provide a waiver. Cindy agrees to drive the project forward to arrange the Garda Vetting through the SSI.
vii. Any other Business
● Shiatsu awareness month: Joanne proposed to organise one as they do in the UK during the month of September as it feels like March, the other alternative, is already too close to have time to organise anything. However Cindy was more in favor of doing it in March as she doesn’t believe September is a good month for doing such thing, so eventually the agreement was to do one in October, learn from it and then do another one in March next year and reassess from there.
● Marketing awareness: Although we do not have budget for marketing we do have some money to do a 6 week campaign. Joanne has actually found a good marketing person she believes we could use as he has an idea of what shiatsu is so the proposal is to go to him and find out what he can do for us for 6 weeks. Also the idea is to create a focused group to work on the campaign and include more media such as the radio as well as direct and social media marketing.
● Trading online voucher: The LEO office offers this voucher of €2500 if you spend an amount of €5000 in creating your own website, to financially help with the expenses of the website. The thought was for the SSI to apply for the voucher but as a Society we cannot do so as it is only available for companies but this is an option open to any member of the Society operating as sole traders willing or in need of creating their own website.
● Vitality expo in Dublin: The possibility to participate was discussed as this is a big event. However due to the associated cost the Mind Body Experience may be a more reasonable option.
● Mind Body Experience: This is a less expensive event, for which there is the money,
taking place in both in Dublin and Cork. Because of these reasons it seems to be more feasible and worth our while to participate in it. Diana doesn’t mind doing it in Cork but wants support as last year there were too many things taking focus out of shiatsu going on this event so we are looking for a group of at least 6 people to participate and have that way at least 3 people each day. – Email to go out to members and particularly to students to get them involved as this is the time to start their practice.
Tricia suggested to buy a plinth for the SSI to be used in such events because last year the one provided in Dublin broke during a treatment. Discussion went around wether getting a chair would be a better investment and wether it would be a good idea to check with the community if someone has one to donate. In fact, Sheena may have one. This issue affects more Dublin area as in Cork, the school of Shiatsu is already facilitating the equipment in an informal way.
– Email to go out to members in case someone has a plinth or chair they are willing to sell/donate to the SSI.
● Shiatsu skills & practice swap: Joanne proposed to organize a skill share session in Cork and Dublin and take the opportunity to bring information regarding the trading online voucher for the members to get a better understanding on how to avail for it. 1st one to be take place in May, possibly at the end of it and considering October/ November for the one in Dublin. Sundays are considered to be the best day of the week to organise these meet ups and we also need to keep an eye in Dublin to host them as the current one may not be suitable anymore
– Dublin school to be approached to see if they have availability to do so.
– Members to be asked if they are willing to share their skills on these swaps.
● Shiatsu Training & Workshops: A maternity/pregnancy workshop with Finnoula in Dublin was asked for. Diana proposed to contact Andy Harp to have a workshop on how to use the tiger warmer in Cork.
● Teacher Training requirements with the Society: Discussed and agreed to refer back to the existing document explaining the process. No changes on that.
● ESF update: All the countries have a common meditation organised on the 1st Friday of each month at 9pm. They are working on regulating the education level standard all across Europe; In France they have an SPS (professional system) in place and while the current level in most countries is FETAC level 5, Austria wants to move it forward to level 6.
According to Edward Trip the difference between level 5 & 6 is not that big and if 3 countries concur on that, the EU will go with it.
● Diana proposed to have the students informed that being a shiatsu practitioner requires some level of professionalism.
● Cindy Asked if anyone has contacted the Health Insurance providers to include shiatsu in their coverage. Some people has but it happens that they don’t consider us big enough.
