My journey into massage therapy began in May of 2018 when I was searching for a way to better help my clients. As a current personal trainer and corrective exercise specialist at Functionally Integrated Training and Therapy (FITT) here in Baton Rouge, I am working with many clients daily and seeing most of them two to four times a week. As relationships with these clients develop, my desire to help them in their physical endeavors and pain management grows. However, I was left feeling incapable of helping them in the way I felt they needed it most, through manual therapy. Being in the industry I knew the importance of being licensed to do this. I also knew how many doors it would open in the world of continuing education with a massage license as a solid foundation. I decided the investment was worth it if it meant I could bridge the gap between what I knew they needed and what I was currently able to provide as a professional.
In another sense my journey to becoming a skilled massage therapist unknowingly began in 2008 when I was a junior in high school approaching my senior year. Graduation was in the near future, and I was being pressured from all directions to decide an area of study for an undergraduate degree. As I sat with the career form in hand, I dug deep to find something that I felt really sparked excitement and passion for learning. I excelled in all subjects throughout school but finding one that gave me a sense of purpose was crucial. I wasn’t going to be fulfilled working a 9-5 desk job with a decent paycheck. Even in high school I knew my work was going to have to be more satisfying than that. I grew up with a father who since the age of eight has been a double amputee below the knee. As a young girl, I watched him put himself through nursing school and excel at being a trauma nurse while teaching himself how to become a skilled carpenter on the weekends. I also knew none of that would have been possible without the successful rehabilitation and therapy he underwent as a child and into adulthood. I felt the same desire to help others in need just as my father did, but less in the ways of a hospital nurse, and more in the way of natural healing. I pursued a path to physical therapy. I completed the pre-physical therapy curriculum at Southeastern Louisiana University in 2013. Upon graduation I began applying to very competitive physical therapy programs in pursuit of my DPT. While waiting for interviews and acceptance calls, I completed an internship at FITT. After over five years of experience there and building client relations my path began to take a new direction. I realized how little healing I would personally be doing as a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and how much insurance would be able to dictate my treatment methods for any given patient, whether it was appropriate for them or not. This is when the need for the license for healing via physical touch and manual therapy became apparent to me. The license I’m seeking in massage therapy is where I will gain that freedom I needed. I will be able to use any tools or methods of soft tissue manipulation that I feel is appropriate for each individual I am treating. I will finally have the freedom and satisfaction I was seeking all in one career that fulfills my desire to help others through natural healing processes. I am over half way through the massage therapy program and I have already learned many techniques I am anxious to begin using on my existing clients. I feel this license in conjunction with my Bachelor’s degree in kinesiology will provide me with all the knowledge I need on the path towards becoming a skilled massage therapist. The teachers at Medical Training College are very passionate about what they teach and as I learn from them more specialized skills and techniques it is helping me discover areas of massage, I would like to become more specialized in via continuing education courses. I am also learning just how much of an effect massage has on the body, both physiologically and psychologically.
I look forward to completing my massage therapy program this June and passing the massage licensing exam. For future massage therapy students, I would tell them that time spent practicing massage therapy, whether with your friends, clients, or classmates, is the best education you can get. It is a chance to practically apply the knowledge gained while in school and learn from all different body types and conditions. But, above all it requires a commitment to wanting to help and serve others. Massage therapy is a very unselfish profession. It requires you to quite literally sacrifice some of yourself, your time, energy, and body. In exchange for that sacrifice it is extremely rewarding to see the results and impact you can have on clients who are trusting you with their health and well-being.
