A Letter from Stephanie (Stevie) McDowell
My name is Stevie McDowell and I have practiced as an RMT since 2012.
I may not have taken the quickest route to starting my career as an RMT, but I am so happy I finally took the steps to making it a reality.
Starting the Registered Massage Therapy diploma course at WCCMT in 2010 was the realization of a lifelong dream of mine. It was hard to believe it was actually happening and I still recall, very clearly, how terrified I was! It was a huge moment for me on many levels, personally, professionally, financially, and academically.
I was a performance folk dancer from the age of 17, a pastime involving startling quantity of significant injuries. It was always Massage Therapy that seemed to have the most effect in resolving those injuries for me and I was constantly amazed by the depth of knowledge of the therapists who treated me. I would pepper them with questions about their careers and their education, and it was remarkable to me that they were absolutely unanimous in their satisfaction in their jobs. This helped to reinforce my own desire to work in the same field someday. My only regret is that due to life obstacles, it took a long time for me to finally sign up for the program.
Thinking of those lost years can make me a little blue, but in reality I was lucky with timing. I ended up with an incredibly gifted team of teachers, and I honestly don’t know how they managed to teach us so much information. I also was fortunate to be a member of a truly extraordinary class of supportive and entertaining fellow students who made the hours fly by and unfailingly took good care of one another. Having been in the field for a few years, I still consider myself lucky. I sincerely look forward to going to work every day.
Today I work in a small, multidisciplinary clinic in James Bay. I am fortunate enough to be able to pick and choose the days and times I work and I have a broad spectrum of patients with varying and complex issues. It’s hard to put into words, but the faith my clients put in me is a very wonderful and humbling thing. It is an incredible gift to play a part in helping to diminish people’s pain and to watch their enjoyment of life increase. It’s especially the little things (which are actually often the enormous things) that really make the days special. I will never get tired of hearing someone say “I was just able to put on my own shoes and socks for the first time in months!!”
Stephanie (Stevie) McDowell, RMT
Thank you Stevie for sharing your experiences with us in your own words! Want to see your story captured on the College of Massage website? We’d love to work with you.
