CULTURAL/FOLK STEAM PRACTITIONERS
The first type of practitioners are cultural or folk steam practitioners such as birthworkers, herbalists, bush doctors or medicine women. Most commonly, cultural or folk practitioners are found in rural areas where western medicine is not prevalent. In addition to healers, there are many fold practitioners who inherited the practice of steaming from members of their family or community as a self-care ritual. Cultural or folk practitioners are incredibly valuable as they are the guardians holding ancestral knowledge of steaming. They make the reclamation of the ancient practices possible.

EXPERIENTIAL PRACTITIONERS
There are also experiential practitioners. Experiential practitioners gain their knowledge and experience by completing a formal course of study or learning from their own experience putting steam into practice. This type of practitioner is useful because they spread the validity of using steam as a therapeutic and reintroduce it into their families and communities that have long forgotten the practice. Sometimes cultural or folk practitioners, though already trained through indigenous or family educational structures, may also seek out this type of certification as a secondary form of authentication.

LEVELS OF TRAINING
When it comes to experiential practitioners, there are different levels of training and titles. For example, the practitioners trained through the Peristeam Hydrotherapy Institute by Steamy Chick include Peristeam Facilitators (PFc) and Peristeam Hydrotherapists (PHc). Other certification program exist that train steam practitioners with their own designated titles and curriculums.

PERISTEAM FACILITATORS
Peristeam Facilitators (also known as Vaginal Steam Facilitators) are trained in an intake process that allows them to create tailored steam sessions for different steam user types. This includes screening for contraindications and steam sensitive users such as people with medical, uterine bleeding, excess heat or age factors in order to determine a steam setup, duration, schedule and herbs that are safe and effective. Peristeam Facilitators also educate clients on womb cleanse care and basic education on how to get started steaming. Additionally, they often make steam supplies or offer steam services or workshops for their community.

PERISTEAM HYDROTHERAPISTS
Peristeam Hydrotherapists pursue advanced training where they learn how to create custom steam plans for various situations. As part of the process practitioners do a consultation with their clients to uncover if there are any underlying menstrual and reproductive cycle imbalances that could be causing issues such as stagnation, blood deficiency, uterine fatigue, dampness, dryness, excess heat, weak digestion. Identifying the underlying imbalance is important in order to prevent situation from re-occurring. Once consultation is complete, Peristeam Hydrotherapists take the situation and imbalances into consideration to create a custom steam plan targeting the problem and the root cause.

PERISTEAM HYDROTHERAPISTS AREAS OF TRAINING
abnormal uterine bleeding
infections
endometriosis
period pain
absent periods
long cycles
short cycles
irregular cycles
surgery recovery
surgery alternatives
fibroids
cysts
polyps
adhesions
menarche (early, late)
labial adhesion
labor preparation
overdue labor
postpartum recovery
pelvic organ prolapse
fistulas
hemorrhoids
rectum issues
fertility
pregnancy loss
pain during sex
rape response
sexual trauma recovery
menopause
postmenopause