We are a close-knit team of physiotherapists and exercise professionals who are passionate about helping older people to recover from illness and injury.
We visit people in their own homes or within the care home setting and offer 1:1 visits as well as some group sessions.
We also offer ongoing support to those with long term health issues.
The Good Therapy Group was founded in 2018 by Sophie Ruffer, a dedicated Worthing physiotherapist with 24 years of experience.
A year after its creation, The Good Therapy Group went on to win the 'Best Startup Company' at the Adur and Worthing Business Awards.
Inspired by 15 years in the NHS, Sophie gathered together a wonderfully caring team that feels deeply passionate about the work that they do.
We help our patients to make the best recovery possible after a hospital stay, a fall, an operation, or a period of illness or injury.
We also work with people who have long-term health conditions, helping them to stay fit, healthy, and independent for as long as possible.
Our interventions often empower people to remain at home for longer, delaying the need for admission to a residential setting or reducing their home care requirements.
Over the years, we've been asked to work with people deemed to have no potential for rehabilitation or recovery.
We've achieved some truly amazing results, including substantial improvements in people's quality of life, significant gains in mobility, and, in some instances, the successful transition of individuals back to their homes from residential settings.
We strongly believe that there is usually something we can do to help improve a person’s physical comfort, their mental well-being or their overall quality of life.
Our testimonial page illustrates the sort of work we do and may help you determine if we're the right fit for you or your loved one.
Please do get in touch if you think we may be able to help. We look forward to talking to you.
Services
Our physiotherapists will help you make the best recovery possible following a hospital stay, a fall, an operation, or a period of illness or injury. We will help you regain your confidence, improve your strength and work towards achieving your goals.
Our highly experienced therapists can help to alleviate those niggly aches and pains in the comfort of your own home, leaving you feeling supple and relaxed.
A gentle treatment that can improve the physical and emotional wellbeing of those who are bed or chair bound.
Why Choose Us?
We make it our priority to understand what is truly important to you, ensuring you get the very most out of your therapy sessions.
Some members of our team have more than 20 years experience.
We understand that ill health can often affect those around you, and we make every effort to offer support where we can.
All of our treatments take place within the comfort of your own home or care home.
We can work alongside NHS Physiotherapists and can offer ongoing treatment once NHS therapy has stopped.
We believe that there is always something we can do to make a difference. We genuinely care about your health, well-being and happiness and will do all we can to help improve things for you.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to provide testimony to the care, compassion and expertise of Sophie and Matt in the support of my father, and indeed our family over the past few months.
Following 2 hospital admissions impacted by the Covid restrictions my 88-year-old father was really struggling with his physical strength and mental health. We were desperate to find support to help him recover and from the moment I first reached out to Sophie I knew I had found the right person. My intuition was sound as Sophie, with Matt's support, has proven to be 'good therapy' not just for my father, but to my mother, me and our family too!
Sophie's positive energy, engaging personality and good humour has helped us all and particularly my mother, through the ongoing challenges we are facing.
Her pragmatic, open, honest and kind approach has instilled much needed trust and confidence in my father and we have seen enormous improvements in his strength and mobility as a result. He has also found a confidante and someone who will not judge him, but who will hold him gently to account.
As a family we are confident that by engaging Sophie and her team we are doing the absolute best we can to ensure my father regains his health to the extent that he can now be at home and enjoy his quality of life. We couldn't ask for more than that and look forward to the continued support of a wonderful team. 
Sophie and Matt at the Good Therapy Group have been providing physiotherapy for my father in his nursing home for more than a year now. Dad was in quite a poor way when he left hospital and has benefited tremendously from the help they have provided. Working with him twice a week, they have helped him to regain his strength and his confidence. Exercise sessions and therapy are varied each time to suit his immediate needs and energy levels. Dad really looks forward to his sessions.
Sophie really engages with her patients and their families. She is brilliant at communicating with us regularly using text, email and telephone calls as appropriate. When Dad had a minor stroke and ended up in hospital, she went in to see him in her own time. Back at the nursing home she is now helping him to recover, and his physical and mental health have improved enormously.
We have absolutely no reservation in recommending Sophie and Matt to anyone needing physiotherapy and we are so grateful for their support.
I live a two-hour drive from my parents in West Sussex. My father is 86 and has mobility issues. The NHS originally provided some physiotherapy for him, but this was a limited course and came to an end. I wanted to find him a private physio, who would undertake home visits and was lucky enough to find Sophie at the Good Therapy Group. I initially had a good chat with Sophie who then went to meet my parents. She has since worked with Dad and has really helped him. Not only has his mobility improved, but his confidence and general well-being has too. Both my parents enjoy Sophie’s visits and Dad is obviously benefiting. Sophie keeps in touch with me (with my parents’ permission) and was able to suggest a referral to the GP which I would never have spotted. In subsequent conversations with the GP, they suggested another thing that Sophie could do to help, which now means that we are all working together as a team in support of Dad. It is such a comfort to me that Sophie is there, twice a week helping Dad and monitoring his progress. She is a genuinely caring person and goes beyond her pure physio role to make other suggestions to him – even which novels to read!
I have had Sophie visiting me for nearly 2 years and I am always met with a lovely smile. My treatment has helped me tremendously and has really boosted my confidence as well as helping to improve my balance and strength. I felt that old age was catching up with me but feel so much better since the sessions started. Sophie is very kind and caring and is very devoted to her job. We always have a little chat and a laugh and I always feel much better after the session. I can definitely recommend her.
I have to say a big thank you to Sophie who has been giving my husband weekly physio for eighteen months. I can see a vast difference in him. He has gained a lot of confidence in his physical ability and also his mood. He so looks forward to Sophie's visits on a Thursday. She is just amazing and he is very much at ease with her. I would recommend her to anyone needing physiotherapy.
I first met Sophie when I enlisted her help for my client who I am Attorney for. My client had been living at home, with support, prior to her admission to hospital. The hospital soon advised that they could do no more to mobilise her and, despite her long-stated desire to remain living in her own home, they determined that she should be admitted to a nursing home.
I was concerned because she was worried and a little depressed at her situation and there were limited resources and opportunities available to her in the nursing home. I hoped that with the support and encouragement of personalised rehabilitation there could be the prospect of returning home.
I was delighted to be recommended Sophie at The Good Therapy Group. She worked intensively with my client and, within a couple of months of the personalised and consistent regular support, our client was able to walk independently with a frame and even managed to go back to living in her own home
Since then, my specialist Later Life Planning and Support Team at Bennett Griffin have continued to use The Good Therapy Group for a number of our clients, often around assessing care needs after a crisis of health. We and, most importantly, our Clients have always reported how much they value the personalised and expert advice and support that helps them feel empowered to progress and achieve all that they possibly could with their rehabilitation.
Sophie is currently supporting my father-in-law with his mobilisation after a tough time in hospital. Whilst, for him, it was in his best interests to move into a caring home, my family and I are so pleased to see the pride he has with the progress he has made with improving his mobility, even within that caring home environment. His sense of achievement and greater independence from when he was initially discharged is noticeable.
I am therefore delighted to endorse and recommend Sophie and her team at The Good Therapy Group.
Sophie and her team have been providing services to residents in our home for several years. We are delighted to have this opportunity to inform others of the excellent job they do, and our residents thoroughly enjoy the visits. The service is truly holistic and the whole team are caring and motivational in their approach. We have observed some exceptional progress following physiotherapy led by Sophie and cannot imagine a more professional and kinder team.
I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Sophie and her team to anyone needing a physiotherapy service. In short, I would say she is an absolute star!
Sophie has been totally fantastic in the way she has approached helping and treating my mother who is wheelchair bound since suffering a severe stroke. Over the past three years Sophie has provided an extremely reliable and comprehensive service to assist my mother in coping with her disability. Sophie always seems to go that extra mile and will go out of her way to investigate ways of making mum more comfortable, or to educate others involved in my mother’s care. She always arrives with a smile on her face and most importantly to me, manages to put a huge smile on my mum’s face, even on days when mum has been feeling a little down.
Sophie has managed to build a team of colleagues who also have a very pleasant manner about them. When mum has a physiotherapy session with them, it is done in a very thorough but relaxed and friendly way.
I know mum thinks of Sophie and her colleagues more as friends than just her “physiotherapy team”.
Sophie has worked at Westholme EMI Clinic for several years now in her capacity as a physiotherapist and is known throughout our service for her high standards of care and expertise.
Sophie has a qualification in massage for those with dementia and this is especially valued by our Home.
Nothing is ever too much trouble for Sophie and she is always demonstrating loving and compassionate care within her treatments. She brightens the day of all her patients. Her smile is infectious, and her kindness is never-ending. All her treatments are holistic, and individually tailored to specific needs. Anyone who receives her help automatically feels better emotionally even if their condition is chronic in nature. I have no hesitation in recommending Sophie and her services.
Sophie has been a very important addition to my mother’s care over the past three years. Sophie has lots of empathy and understanding working with cognitive impairment, alongside the mobility and positioning needs, and is happy to advise carers looking after mother on how to keep her comfortable and positioned between her weekly visits.
Although my mother can no longer communicate verbally, she really enjoys Sophie's visits and looks extremely relaxed after her therapy. As I am quite an anxious daughter, wanting the best for my mother, I know Sophie has been a wonderful positive influence on her week.
My uncle John, at the age of 83, suffered a severe stroke which left him paralysed down his left side complicated more by suffering vascular dementia. After initial hospital treatments he was discharged to a nursing home. John was very frustrated at his immobility as he had always been a very active man with employment until the time of his stroke. It was diagnosed that John would never regain full or even partial mobility in his legs. Despite hospital and private physiotherapy, with very minor improvements being made, it was obvious some 2 years later that very little progress was ever to be made. The psychological effect to John and the constant frustration left him in a very poor and deteriorating mental state.
It was at this point in time Sophie became his therapist. From the outset it was a boost for John’s mental well-being having a regular and consistent approach to his treatments. Sophie began with exercise and massage and although nobody was under any illusion that this would result in John being able to walk again, the physical improvement was obvious and the improvement to his mental well-being was enormous.
Over the following months he made great efforts in responding to his treatment and at one point was managing to walk about 30 metres with a gutter frame and assistance. This was a high point for him and mentally was more of a boost to his overall well-being than we could have expected. The entire approach from Sophie and her team gave my uncle a purpose and an aim in his years of suffering. Sophie's impact to John’s welfare was immeasurable and we as a family cannot thank her enough for the time and effort spent helping John. We are certain that her approach and treatments eased John’s suffering and gave him purpose in his final years.
I had my first experience of massage about 3 years ago when my wife bought me a voucher for my birthday. Although I was well into my 60’s, after the massage I felt like I was 16 again! I am now 70 and have a regular monthly session with Sophie. The relaxing massage takes away all life’s stresses and aches and I can honestly say I feel absolutely terrific after the massage. Sophie is particularly brilliant and skilled at finding those muscles that have tied up and really knows how to release the knots so that I feel so much better again.
Apart from the massage sessions, Sophie also designed a Cardio fitness training program for me that is suitable for older people.
Sophie is one of the most motivated and upbeat people that I have ever met and really gives me great support and encouragement to reach my goals. I would highly recommend Sophie to anyone at whatever level they are and to what goals they wish to achieve.
Having suffered for a long time with severe arthritis of my knees, I turned to The Good Therapy Group for some physiotherapy and advice. The treatment I received from Scott has been extremely beneficial.
I first met Sophie when she was giving a massage to a lady suffering from MS, the lady relaxed within minutes. I decided to ask Sophie if she would give me a massage which she did. It felt like heaven on earth.
As Sophie is a qualified physiotherapist, I asked her to design an exercise regime for me and with her expertise and knowledge I was able to participate in a 5k charity run with just two months of training. Before this I could not walk for a long distance without becoming breathless. She also taught me a balance routine and now at the age of 67 I can balance on one leg for one minute. I couldn't even balance for 5 seconds.
This lady is a true inspiration. Her ultimate aim is to provide care, help and guidance for people who need help to get back their strength.
My mother’s quality of life has certainly improved though the work Sophie has done with her, she really enjoys her therapy sessions and it has increased her core strength so she can move herself so she can sit and feel more comfortable. There is also a great psychological benefit for my mother in Sophie’s work in that my mother doesn’t feel as though she has been ‘given up on’, just because her improvement is too slow for the NHS criteria for ongoing treatment.
I can’t recommend Sophie and her team highly enough if you are looking for someone who can improve a family members physical and emotional wellbeing with an empathetic but determined approach.
Sophie has been helping our Mum for a few years now. After Mum broke her hip she was unable to walk again so having a couple of one on one massage and exercise sessions a week has been invaluable.
Mum benefits from the close contact of Sophie chatting to her whilst massaging to help her circulation and overall wellbeing. Although our Mum's Alzheimer's has deteriorated, Sophie still gets lots of smiles and also a form of chatter from her! This kind and sensitive holistic approach has definitely improved our Mum's overall wellbeing.
After all who doesn't love a massage so why should dementia patients be any different?
As we live a distance away from Mum, it has been a huge relief to know that she is getting some extra loving care from someone so sensitive and who genuinely cares for her patients. Remembering how our Mum was before Alzheimer's we know she would have loved Sophie's calm and gentle ways and would definitely have been friends if their paths had crossed.
Adele Webster
Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.
