Helping Students Feel Ready for their Careers
At the College of Massage, we strive to ensure that every student is set up for success, whatever that success may look like to the individual. We understand that once graduated, some students will be happy finding their niche and working in an established clinic, whereas others see themselves one day venturing out and starting their own businesses. That’s why, as part of the RMT program, a Business Management/ Professional Practice course is offered. This course not only enables students to learn of the health legislations related to business practice, but also provides them with fundamental business knowledge they will require if they wish to successfully operate a massage therapy practice.
In this exceptional course, students develop a business plan for a clinic or spa,including the marketing and accounting components. They also learn how to prepare patient reports and keep clinical records. At the New West Campus specifically, students are also introduced to the basic principles of book keeping as well as Health Insurance Billing (WCB, MSP and ICBC).
Recent WCCMT grad Rosie Forst just completed the business management course and has such positive feedback regarding the topics covered “it’s such a good course,” she explains, “and it’s important as most RMTs are self-employed”, she says “If i ever wanted to open my own business, I definitely feel ready”
As part of the course, students are required to complete a comprehensive project which covers many aspects related to running a clinic “In this huge project,” explains Rosie “we pretend to open our own clinic and we have to do everything, including determining our prices, learning about taxes, thinking about target demographics, how to communicate, how to write a resume, how to write a receipt and how to work with those who have insurance. It is intimidating but amazing.”
Now that Rosie has graduated, she will be working as a non-registered Massage Therapist at Sweet Water Wellness. Once she has passed her board exams, she plans on continuing her journey at the Wellness Center as a RMT. While Rosie does not plan on opening her own clinic any time soon, we have had many grads who have gone on to do so. In fact, when you visit a Massage Therapy clinic in Canada, there’s a very good chance that the owner came from the College of Massage. We’ve featured a couple of these grads in blog posts, like Jazzy Iverson owner of Sweet Water Wellness, Lisa Fershau owner of New Leaf Wellness & Massage and Josie Ward owner of Riverside Massage Therapy Clinic.
To learn more about the business management course, visit collegeofmassage.com and refer to the course descriptions under programs. You can also learn about our other dynamic courses offered at each of our five locations.
