Massage and the Mind-Body Connection

Massage and the Mind-Body Connection

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This September 2017, Toronto will host the Invictus Games – a celebration of the strength of injured service members and veterans from over 17 allied nations.The event was established by Prince Harry in 2014 and is the only international adaptive sport event for injured active duty and veteran service members. In honour of the Invictus Games, CCMH/WCCMT will share interviews and stories of veterans who have graduated from our College and students with military backgrounds

Today we spoke with Amanda Kihn, a current student of WCCMT Victoria. She enrolled at WCCMT after serving for nearly 10 years in the Navy. We spoke with her about her transition to civilian life, her studies and challenges, why she loves Massage Therapy, and her aspirations for the future.

Hi Amanda. Can you tell us a bit about your experiences in the military?

I have sailed virtually every sea port on the Pacific from Alaska to Chile! One of my most memorable port visits was to Pearl Harbour, where I ate a mango that fell out of a tree on the base at Hickam. My favourite port to frequent was San Diego, the only place I have ever watched a professional baseball game. Go Giants!

Sounds like you got a lot of travel experience through your service! What led you to pursue a career in Massage Therapy?

I needed a drastic career change. When I left the Navy, I felt like a shadow of my former self. Massage Therapy seemed like a profession where I could continue to take care of people. When I was offered a vocational rehabilitation opportunity by SISIP/Manulife, I started looking for ways to serve humanity. This program was my answer.

We’re so glad you feel that way! Are there knowledge or skills from your past work and life experiences that carry over into Massage Therapy?

My skills are always a work in progress. Continuing education and professional development come naturally to me. I’m always ready to drink from the next fire hose. The military prepared me for studying long hours, dedication to the profession, and above all else, teamwork. This program can be stressful, but it’s only a fraction of the stress that I was used to when it came to my military experience. It’s still challenging, but I have faith in my own resilience. 

Sounds like you were well prepared for your studies here! Why did you choose to study at WCCMT in Victoria?

The budget and timeline were perfect for the Vocational Rehabilitation Program. I was honest with them about my concerns transitioning back to civilian life, and the administration has always been on my side as I navigated some challenges. 

It would be quite a transition! What are your aspirations for your career as a Massage Therapist? 

I am open to all possibilities. Working with veterans with PTSD on releasing trauma registers pretty high on my radar these days. Exploring the mind-body connection and reintroducing therapeutic touch as a means of supplementing deep psychological healing is where my passion lives. I don’t know what my answer to this question will be a year from now when I graduate, but I know my work will be as unique as I am. 

We can’t wait to see where your career takes you! What excites you about working in Massage Therapy?

I love how magical it feels to treat someone, even just once, and have them leave feeling better than when they arrived. I get even more excited when they come back the next week so I can pick up where we left off. The real magic is that I know this profession is my vocation and I am elated every time I am able to help decrease someone’s pain or increase their physical or mental well-being. 

How fulfilling! Is there anything else about you that you think our readers may be interested to learn?

I’m a mom. I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old. My husband is in the Navy. Studying in such an intense program isn’t easy, but when my husband sails, sometimes it feels impossible. Teamwork is the answer. My support team in the class and my extended family have helped me be all that I can be… and more!

We wish you all the best in your studies and career, Amanda! Thank you for speaking with us.

Want to share your story? Contact [email protected] to be featured in our blog. WCCMT would love to see you on LinkedIn, our New Westminster Facebook Page or our WCCMT/CCMH Facebook Page so you can stay connected with our community.

The Survey Results are In! A Pulse on WCCMT Victoria

To commemorate our 70th Anniversary, we invited past and current CCMH/WCCMT students to participate in a survey designed to find out about their learning experience and what they’ve been up to since or plan to do after graduation.

WCCMT - The Survey Results are In! A Pulse on WCCMT Victoria

There’s never been a better time to study Massage Therapy. CCMH/WCCMT has offered outstanding Massage Therapy education since 1946 to students of all ages, skills and educational backgrounds.

If you are interested in a career path as a Massage Therapist or learning more about WCCMT, follow us on Facebook. If you’d like an opportunity to visit our campus, email us at [email protected].


 

The Survey Results are In! A Pulse on WCCMT Victoria

To commemorate our 70th Anniversary, we invited past and current CCMH/WCCMT students to participate in a survey designed to find out about their learning experience and what they’ve been up to since or plan to do after graduation.

WCCMT - The Survey Results are In! A Pulse on WCCMT Victoria

There’s never been a better time to study Massage Therapy. CCMH/WCCMT has offered outstanding Massage Therapy education since 1946 to students of all ages, skills and educational backgrounds.

If you are interested in a career path as a Massage Therapist or learning more about WCCMT, follow us on Facebook. If you’d like an opportunity to visit our campus, email us at [email protected].


 

Adapting to the student way of life

Jason Gordon is a Victoria Campus student who has just successfully completed term 1. We asked him if term 1 met his expectations and what Jason is anticipating term 2 will bring.

What made you decide to become an RMT?

Jason and his Medical Service Dog, Cheeko Boy, who accompanies him to classes and clinic.
Jason and his Medical Service Dog, Cheeko Boy, who accompanies him to classes and clinic.

I spent a full, rewarding, and active career of close to 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. I worked in some very challenging positions. My last 10 years were as a Firefighter and Emergency Medical Responder. In my mid-forties, I retired from the forces for medical reasons. I had to find a new career path to follow. I wanted a profession that offered none of the trauma and drama that I dealt with in my previous professions, but I wanted to keep working with the public and helping others. When I learnt about RMT, it seemed like a natural fit to my personality and goals in life.

Why did you choose WCCMT?

After doing some tests with a career counsellor, I decided the RMT was the profession that I wanted to pursue. I did some research, and spoke with several qualified RMT’s about the program. I also considered which schools offered the best training. CCMH, and specifically WCCMT came up numerous times. Already living in Victoria, WCCMT became my first choice.

What expectations did you have for Term 1? How was what you experienced different?

Even though I audited some of the courses before registering for the RMT program at WCCMT, and I had a background in Emergency Medical Response. I expected to learn about different systems of the body, muscles, and how massage helped and affected people. I thought that it would be something like the intro to massage training.

What I didn’t expect once we started was, the course load, the intensity and pace of learning, and how profound the RMT program goes into Anatomy, Physiology, and Muscular Skeletal Structure of the body. My first week of Term 1 was a big eye opener.

What was your favourite part of Term 1?

My favourite parts of Term 1 was learning the body more in depth, the hands-on training, and learning more about myself both anatomically and academically.

What was the most difficult part of Term 1 for you?

I found that my transition from the military to civilian life was quite challenging. I also found that although there was constant training within the Canadian Forces, adjusting to the intensity and the delivery methods that I was used to, compared to those of learning at a post-secondary level offered me new challenges. In essence, I had to re-learn how to learn, and at the pace and depth that is required to be successful in the RMT program.

What are you looking forward to in Term 2?

In Term 2, I am looking forward to participating in the Public Clinic. I am looking forward to working with the various clientele. I can’t wait to apply what we have learned in class and see how it applies to actual cases.

 Advice to future students to WCCMT?

The first thing I would advise to anyone considering the RMT program at WCCMT. Do your best to make sure to make sure your personal life is in order. The course if face paced, intense, and will ask many hours of your personal time. There is not a lot of down time during your course and falling behind because of absences makes it that much harder to stay on top of your courses. I would also recommend doing a refresher of a Grade 12 Biology & Chemistry courses. As well getting familiar with proper medical terminology. Last thing I recommend is not being intimidated by the course load or pace… It’s a very rewarding feeling that first time you treat someone you don’t know and as they leave you can see a difference you make to their physical and emotional well being.

Thanks to Jason for sharing his experiences with us! Want to share your story? Contact [email protected] to be featured in our blog.

As always, WCCMT would love to see you on LinkedIn, our New Westminster Facebook Page or our WCCMT/CCMH Facebook Page so you can stay connected with our community.

 

 

 

 

Spreading First Aid Knowledge to Fellow RMT’s

The West Coast College of Massage Therapy alumni are always out making a difference in their communities. We spoke with James Johnston; a Victoria Campus graduate from 2010. He currently works for the City of Langford Fire and Rescue and writes for and runs theMTDC, a blog for massage therapist. All this while working as an RMT.

headshotWhat pushed you to become an RMT? 

I was an industrial first aid attendant in a sawmill. When the mill shut down I decided it was time to go back to school, so I did some aptitude testing to see what would come up. I knew I wanted to be in healthcare as I enjoyed working on people and was good at the first aid end of things. When I did the testing, massage therapy was one of the things that came up as an option. I would have never thought of being a RMT if I hadn’t done that aptitude test, but when I found out you could work in sports that clinched it for me and I registered for school that fall.

While you were at WCCMT, what was your favourite course?

It’s hard to narrow it down to one course but I would say therapeutic exercise and sport massage.

What do you like most about being an RMT?

Again hard to narrow it down to one thing. Definitely working in sport and being part of a team, being able to help athletes and being part of helping them perform better is really rewarding. Also when I look at my schedule for the day and think, “cool I get to hang out with these people today”. The relationships you build with your patients is a pretty cool thing, they’re always happy to come in and see you and you get to make a big difference in their day/week.

What is it like working for the City of Langford Fire Rescue, what is your role and what does it entail?

I work as a dispatcher/communications operator with Langford and volunteer as a firefighter in Metchosin. Working as a communications operator you are taking 911 calls and dispatching several different fire departments when there is an emergency. It can get pretty hectic sometimes when there are emergencies going on in different communities and you’re trying to manage communications between them all. As a volunteer with the fire department, I’m a lieutenant which means responding to various emergencies ranging from a medical call to a structure fire to an MVI and also being involved in the training aspects with new recruits and firefighters in the department.

Do the skills you need for one ever serve you when doing the other?

Everyday. Having experience responding to medical calls and doing first aid makes me prepared should I ever have to deal with a medical emergency in a clinical setting. As healthcare professionals, I believe it’s our responsibility to be able to deal with anything like this should it happen to one of our patients in our clinic.

It has also given me the opportunity to use my experience to teach first aid to other RMT’s and this year have had the opportunity to travel to some different communities to connect with and teach more of my fellow RMT’s. This year I will also be able to help therapists involved in our Sport PPG by teaching and certifying them as Sport First Responders.

Can you tell us a bit about theMTDC and its background?

theMTDC is a blog about massage therapy and improving the perception of what we do. Its intent is to be a collaborative blog to share knowledge and ideas among therapists. We’ve had articles from physical therapists, rolfers, RMT’s, CMT’s, AT’s and even clinical counsellors. As we build it up, we want it to be a way for us all to not only gain knowledge, but also highlight the great things massage therapy does and the great things massage therapists are doing.

What is your role?

I created it, manage it and contribute on it.

What inspired you to start this blog?

It all started with a conversation with Jon Goodman who started thePTDC which is a site for personal trainers. As we talked we realized there is a lot of similarities in both industries. Different levels of certification, the need for regulation and quite frankly neither industry gets the respect it deserves. So with his encouragement, I started theMTDC to be a gathering place for everyone in the industry to come together.

What is your ebook about and what inspired you to write it?

The ebook on the site is about first aid and some advanced first aid techniques. Since we are now required to know first aid to help our patients, I thought it would be a good thing to develop so RMT’s would also have an idea of what First Responders are going to do if they have to come to your clinic and also just to have some more information on the topic.

I have another one that I wrote all about how massage therapists can use social media to help market their practice. It should be up on the site soon.

Do you have any RMT anecdotes or stories you would like to share?

I’m not sure if it would be an anecdote or story but one thing is, if there is something about our industry you’re passionate about, work your ass and chase after it. When I started, I knew I wanted to work in sport. I spent tons of time volunteering and it led into some great opportunities. I’ve been able to work with the men’s rugby 7’s national team and this past August was hired by Hockey Canada to work with the women’s development program. Whatever it is you want to do, you can make it happen it will just take some hard work and time.

What advice would you give to people who are thinking of becoming an RMT?

Be sure that you’re comfortable being in business for yourself. Chances are you’re going to get a start working in someone else’s clinic, but you’re still a contractor and an entrepreneur. You have to be a self-starter, market yourself, manage finances and be a business person.

What advice would you give to someone who is currently in the program?

Right now, school is hard and you’re probably getting frustrated, wondering if it’s worth it. IT IS.

Try as many outreaches as you can while you’re there. Work in sport, work with the elderly, work with people who have Parkinson’s, arthritis, brain injuries, get your hands on as many different people and as many different pathologies as possible. Don’t pigeon hole yourself into one thing, you may find something to be passionate about that you didn’t even know you’d like or was possible. Plus seeing as many different patients and pathologies as possible will make you a better practitioner.

Finally, what advice would you give someone who has recently graduated?

Chase your passion. If you’re showing up every day and you get to do work you’re truly interested in and passionate about, it won’t feel like work… and NEVER stop learning. Just because you’re only required to do a certain amount of CEC’s, do more, be the practitioner who constantly improves and gets better.

 

Thanks to James for sharing his experiences with us! Want to share your story? Contact [email protected] to be featured in our blog. As always, WCCMT would love to see you on LinkedIn, our New Westminster Facebook Page or our WCCMT/CCMH Facebook Page so you can stay connected with our community.