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massage therapy career FAQs

Vicars School of Massage therapy was founded in 2001, which means we’ve been talking about massage for over 20 years. On the phone, in person, over Zoom, at Christmas parties, and in line at the farmer’s market…we never get tired of chatting about this incredible career or about what it takes to become a successful registered massage therapist (RMT).

Over the years, we’ve been asked—and have answered—pretty much every conceivable question about massage therapy, and massage therapy education. And are some questions that we hear over and over again.

We’ve collected a few of the most popular questions that our students have at the beginning of their career change journey and answered them here for you.

What does a massage therapist do?

Okay, I admit it: this isn’t actually one of the most frequently-asked questions that future students ask our admissions advisors. I think that’s because by the time someone gets to an open house, or is talking to one of us on the phone, they’re either too afraid to ask or they think they already know the answer. But here’s the thing: we talk about it anyway, and they’re all still fascinated and sometimes even surprised by the answer.

That’s because massage therapy is a more exciting—and challenging—career than most people realize. If you’ve only experienced massage treatments as a client, you may have no idea of the depth of knowledge and technical skill that goes into treating your pain.

As a massage therapist, you will be a frontline health care professional and play an important role in maintaining and improving your clients’ well-being. You will have the training to reduce their stress, decrease their pain, and treat or alleviate the symptoms of a wide range of injuries and physical conditions.

Every treatment that you do will be unique to your client and their needs. You’re not simply performing a pre-set sequence of strokes and techniques—which means no day at work is ever the same. At each appointment, you will begin by talking to your client and doing an assessment. This will allow you to create a treatment plan. The massage itself will be customized for your client. That’s why we teach you so much anatomy, physiology, and pathology along with hands-on skills.

How long does it take to become a massage therapist?

Massage therapy training in Canada takes about two years to complete. Different schools have slightly different schedules, but if you want to become a professional massage therapist you should be prepared to be in school for between 20 and 24 months.

At Vicars, our diploma program is divided into year one and year two material. Each “year” is actually 10 months of full-time learning. Students who start with us in the fall follow the traditional school year (September–June) each year, with a two-month break over the summer. This is particularly popular for parents, because it lines up with the K-12 school year. The spring classes run from March until December, and take their break over the winter holidays—even more appealing for many students than having the summer off!

That said, the time in between school years isn’t only for building sandcastles (or snow forts). While it’s a break from the full-time workload, you will have some work to do during this time to keep your mind and body in practice, and prepare for the year ahead. Many students also use this time to get a jump-start on some of their second-year practicum clinic shifts.

What kind of training do I need to be a registered massage therapist in Canada?

In order to be a professional massage therapist in Canada, you need to get an education that is recognized by the regulatory body or registering organization in the province you want to practice in. Which leads us to a related question with a much more complicated answer:

How do I choose a massage therapy school?

In order to be a successful massage therapist who is able to make a real difference for your clients’ health, you need to choose your massage therapy college very carefully.

That’s especially true in non-regulated jurisdictions like Alberta (and Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Territories), because there are multiple registering organizations and no central regulatory body. Alberta’s massage therapy professional associations each have different entrance standards—some higher than others. Some of the professional associations are even run by individual massage schools, which raises big questions about the objectivity of their membership standards!

That’s why national accreditation exists. The Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation (CMTCA) is a national, independent organization that evaluates massage therapy colleges to make sure that they’re providing the best possible education and educational experience. They assess schools based on the curriculum and delivery standards set by the Federation of Massage Therapy Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FOMTRAC).

In regulated provinces like BC, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador, all massage schools must be accredited (i.e., they have to meet the FOMTRAC standards). This protects massage clients and massage students.

Unfortunately, Alberta isn’t there yet. Meeting the FOMTRAC standards is optional. As a result, the type and quality of massage education available in Alberta programs is uneven. But things are starting to change—CMTCA recently opened up its accreditation process to Alberta massage colleges.

Vicars has is fully accredited by the CMTCA, proving we’re one of Alberta’s best massage therapy schools.

 

If this blog post answered your questions about starting a career in massage therapy, you should give us a call. And if this blog post answered some of your questions about becoming an RMT but left you craving even more information, then you should definitely give us a call! Contact our friendly admissions team by calling us toll-free at 1-866-491-0574, or sign up for a virtual open house!

happy new year 2022 from MH Vicars School of Massage Therapy

Here’s to a brand new year full of health and happiness!

We considered opening this year-end message by acknowledging that 2021 has been another complicated and stressful year for our students and staff. But then we thought—focusing on the negative is hardly in the holiday spirit, is it?

And it’s a bit passé, anyway. Reminiscing about the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic and saying “good riddance” to the old year is sooo 2020.

So instead of listing the challenges that we’ve all faced in 2021, I’m going to use my final blog post of the year to celebrate the things that brought us joy in the last 12 months.

MH Vicars School Celebrates 20 Years by Earning CMTCA Accreditation

At the beginning of the year, we thought that the biggest news of 2021 was going to be our 20th Anniversary celebrations. We were looking forward to the opportunity to reminisce about the past and catch up with 20 years’ worth of successful massage therapists. After all, two decades (and counting) of providing exceptional massage therapy education to adult learners in Western Canada is worth making a fuss about!

But—alas—the pandemic marched on and bumped “party planning” off the top of our to-do list. And instead of spending the year thinking about the past, we got to do something even better: dream about the future.

Because the biggest news of 2021 is that we earned preliminary accreditation status from the Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation.

This is a huge accomplishment, and many years in the making. It’s a big deal for us as a school, and for our current and future students. It’s also a new high water mark for massage therapy education in this province; MH Vicars School is one of only two private massage therapy colleges in Alberta to have made it onto this prestigious list.

To learn more about accreditation and what it means, read this blog post from July!

Public Clinic Returns!

We had to adapt our program in a lot of big and little ways to keep our community as safe as possible during the pandemic, especially before life-saving vaccines became widely available. These changes were essential, but we really missed the way things used to be. The hardest change to get used to was the temporary closure of our public clinics.

We continued to offer hands-on practical experience for our students, and our faculty and supervisors did an incredible job of turning the student-only practicum shifts into dynamic learning opportunities.

But we missed the real thing: the excitement of running a massage therapy clinic and the satisfaction of treating our clients’ pain and stress.

So we were beyond thrilled to reopen our doors to the public this fall, with appropriate health precautions in place for both clients and therapists.

You can click here to book a massage from one of our talented student therapists.

New and Improved Online Booking for Clinic Clients

Were you wondering why you heard shouts of joy and relief coming from the vicinity of our Calgary and Edmonton campuses in mid-November? We can answer in one word: Jane.

That’s the name of the online booking and scheduling software that we began using for or student clinics this fall. It has already made life easier for our clients, students, and staff.

We’re getting great feedback on the new system, especially from some our long-time regular clients who have been with us through all the ups and downs of our previous booking systems.

Haven’t used Jane to book an appointment yet? You can watch a quick video tutorial here.

New Weekly Class Schedule Provides Flexibility for January Students

Our goal has always been to make massage therapy education accessible to as many people as possible. One of the ways we do that is through our innovative blended-learning program delivery with the choice of either weekly or monthly schedule options. Another is to offer both September and January start dates.

But until this year, January students didn’t have as much choice as students who began in September. The weekly schedule wasn’t available for them.

Starting in January 2020, though, we now offer weekly and monthly classes in both September and January. (Of course, the options may still vary between campuses, based on student interest).

More variety means more flexibility, and for some people can even make the difference between starting their dream career and putting school on hold for another year.

We’re looking forward to greeting a new crew of both weekly and monthly students in a few weeks!

This year wasn’t easy, but you made it great!

Thank you to all of our students, clients, and incredible faculty and staff for all that you did in 2021. The compassion, patience, hard work, and positivity that we’ve seen around us this year has been incredibly inspiring. It’s a joy to be a part of your lives.

 

From all of us at MH Vicars School,

Happy New Year.

Massage therapist Sheena Taggart is based in Bragg Creek Alberta, outside of Calgary

Please join us in congratulating MH Vicars School graduate Sheena Taggart, winner of the 2020 Peter Martin Award of Excellence from the Massage Therapists Association of Alberta.Massage therapist Sheena Taggart is based in Bragg Creek Alberta, outside of Calgary

The Peter Martin Award is an annual prize that honours recent graduates who have shown exceptional contributions to massage therapy as a student or new therapist. Sheena impressed the award judges this year with her commitment to educating her clients and community about the benefits of massage therapy.

At MH Vicars School, we have always believed that our graduates are the best therapists around. We’re never surprised when they get recognized and celebrated by other massage professionals – but we’re always delighted!

From new graduate to business owner overnight

Sheena graduated from our Calgary campus in June 2020, and immediately launched her own clinic, Connective Wellness. To get things started, she used the business plan that she’d created for her second-year business course at Vicars.

“I took that assignment very seriously, and it really helped me start my business,” says Sheena. “It meant I wasn’t completely lost when I started setting everything up, because I already had my ducks in a row.”

The clinic is based in her home in Bragg Creek, Alberta. Sheena knew that as a new business owner in a small town, she was going to have to get creative in order to get her name out there.

Having lived and worked in Bragg Creek for many years, Sheena has deep roots in the community. So she was able to begin building her client base through traditional word-of-mouth promotion, as well as the 21st-century version – social media.

“I have found that if I want to be busy, or if I have a last-minute cancellation, I just put a post up on the Facebook ‘Buy and Sell’ page for our little area,” she explained. “And any time I post on Facebook, I also have friends and clients who like or share it, so there’s a community feel to it.”

For Sheena, simply getting her name out there didn’t feel like enough. She wanted to make sure that her marketing reflected that she is an RMT who provides effective, therapeutic massage treatments. And she wanted to help the general public understand the health benefits of massage. After all, discovering those benefits is why she became a massage therapist in the first place.

Spreading the word about massage therapy

Before discovering massage therapy, Sheena worked as a Canada Post mail carrier for many years. This meant she was no stranger to muscle and joint pains and overuse injuries.

“Until my first therapeutic massage, I honestly did not know what therapeutic massage was like,” Sheena explains. “I did years and years of physio, and my fair share of chiropractic, I took anti-inflammatories and did stretches. And then I found massage therapy and it encompassed almost everything that I’d been doing, but it worked better.

“So now I’m trying to let people know what massage therapists can do. If you’re suffering, you can get better.”

So how could she spread the word about the health benefits of massage therapy, and connect with new clients at the same time? The answer was waiting for her in her Canada Post mailbag.

“Because I worked for Canada Post, I know that there are these community newsletters and newspapers that go to everyone,” she explains. “I asked my own physiotherapist, and he said ‘well, when we run a regular ad we don’t really get anything from it. But when we put an article with it, we get results.’

“So that got me thinking: I can do some actual education!”

Soon after opening her clinic in summer 2020, Sheena began submitting articles in the High Country News alongside a small ad for her business. The free monthly newspaper is delivered to thousands of households and businesses southwest of Calgary.

The results of her writing are clear. The articles attract new clients to her practice – clients who are coming specifically for her therapeutic expertise.

“I have had clients book in with me because my articles really connected with them,” she says. “And the people that were calling me from the articles tended to be older people that had never had massage therapy before.”

The topics Sheena has covered so far include hyperkyphosis, fascia, and TMJD.

Here’s an example of the kind of short and informative article that Sheena Taggart writes for in the High Country News. This piece was published there in November 2020. It can also be found on Sheena’s website.

Does Your Massage Therapist Treat Antagonist Muscles?

Have you ever had a treatment that fixes your pain but comes back within days? Most people have chronically sore shoulders and mid back. A common cause is due to your pectoral muscles being too tight and pulling you forward. The pectoral muscles can get so tight that it rolls your shoulders forward. As a result the back muscles become stretched and overworked.  This also happens with the neck muscles. The front neck muscles become tight causing a head forward posture and pain in the back of the neck and shoulders.  

To treat these issues properly the antagonist pectoral muscles need to be treated.  Many clients tell me that they have never had a massage therapist treat their pectoral muscles. Often the result of treating these muscles patients immediately comment how open their chest is. They then report later that their back pain has changed dramatically with just one treatment.

My goal as a therapeutic massage therapist is to leave my clients with lasting results. I also wish to empower them to further their health. I do this by providing a plan of stretches and strengthening exercises to re-educate and maintain the muscles. If you feel an initial trial treatment may address your health issues, please reach out to me by contacting me at info@connectivewellness.ca or go to my website www.connectivewellness.ca to book online. Direct billing is available.

About the Award

The Peter Martin Award of Excellence is an annual prize given to a recent graduate who has shown exceptional contributions to massage therapy as a student or new therapist. The winner is determined based on a letter of recommendation from an instructor or fellow therapist, and a personal essay in which they describe their career goals and accomplishments and why they chose to become a massage therapist.

It was launched in 2019 as a way for the MTAA to recognize and support outstanding RMTs as they begin their career. The award is named in memory of Peter Martin, a long-time MTAA member, and is open to therapists who have recently upgraded from student to full association membership. In addition to the professional recognition, the award comes with a $750 cash prize. To learn more about the award, including past winners and full eligibility criteria, visit the MTAA’s website.

“Looking back now, I’m definitely glad I went the Newfoundland route. It’s been a long process, but I’m finally there!”

That’s Jenna Kluthe, who graduated from MH Vicars School’s Edmonton campus in 2017. She was one of nearly a dozen Vicars grads who travelled to Newfoundland to write that province’s entry-to-practice exam with the final goal of becoming RMTs in BC. Jenna now practices in Nanaimo.

Tyler Shortridge, Karen Goforth, Jenna Kluthe, and their classmates celebrate together after writing the CMTNL exams. Photo courtesy Karen Goforth.

Jenna and her classmates chose Newfoundland because the process to apply for the exam was simpler, faster, and less expensive than going directly to BC. The College of Massage Therapists of Newfoundland and Labrador officially recognizes the Vicars program, while the BC College requires applicants to pay for a “prior learning assessment” before they can take their test. (Read more about why Vicars grads are choosing Newfoundland and New Brunswick here).

The journey to become RMTs in BC began in the spring of 2017.

“I was going to go the BC route, because I didn’t know anything about Newfoundland, but about a month before we graduated someone mentioned it and we were all curious,” said Tyler Shortridge, who lives in Cranbrook and attended the Calgary campus. “[CMTNL] were really good. They answered emails fast, they answered phone calls. It was easy to get the answers I needed, and the paperwork was simple. I think I waited two weeks to hear whether we were accepted to write the exam. They had no issues with our program.”

The Newfoundland entry-to-practice exam has two parts. The multiple-choice exam covers massage theory, ethics, and law, including regulations specific to Newfoundland. The practical exam, which consists of seven separate stations, evaluates the therapist’s academic knowledge, hands-on techniques, and problem-solving skills.

“It was a little bit intimidating,” said Jenna. “You walk into the room and there were two examiners, just sitting off to the side, and there’s the body. The examiners don’t say anything, they don’t acknowledge you, they don’t smile, they don’t do anything. You just walk in and do your thing.”

The College publishes a detailed outline of the exam structure and contents to help therapists prepare, and the Vicars grad felt that the exams were well-organized and fair.

“It was fairly straightforward. You just have to make sure that you’re confident in your answers,” said Karen Goforth, who lives and works in Creston, BC.

Nonetheless, they all felt very prepared.

“The hardest part was waiting for the results,” said Tyler. “I took the exam in August, and by the end of October I was registered in Newfoundland. The end of January is when I was able to work in BC as an RMT.”

All the time and effort was worth it.

“Being a massage therapist is awesome, I love it. I have the freedom to do whatever I want with my schedule, and I like helping people,” said Tyler. “You see a lot of different people, and it’s really nice to connect with them.”

If you’re a Vicars student or grad interested in more information about moving to a regulated province, please contact the school and we’d be happy to help.

An image of someone working on their laptop and visiting Facebook

This morning when I sat down at my desk, coffee in hand, the first thing that I did was open up Facebook. It’s the first thing I do every morning.

This isn’t a confession that I’m slacking off on the job—quite the opposite, in fact!

As Communications Coordinator, it’s my job to promote the School, share what’s happening on campus, and answer questions from clients and prospective (and current) students. And one of the ways I do this is by using social media.

Hence the morning Facebook-and-coffee ritual each morning. I log in to Facebook and navigate to the MH Vicars School business page (resisting the temptation to check my own notifications…usually!) and see how the online community has been interacting with the School.

An image of someone working on their laptop and visiting Facebook

I check the messaging inbox—recent messages have included questions about class schedules, job postings, and continuing education – and reply to comments. I also go behind the scenes to check out the analytic data on recent posts—information that’s available on business pages but not personal profiles. This allows me to learn about what our Facebook community likes, so I can create even more relevant and enjoyable content for them in the future.

I check back in with Facebook—and our Instagram account—once or twice during the day. I’ll write new posts and either publish them immediately or schedule them for later. I try to post at least once a day for the school, being careful not to spam peoples’ timelines or neglect my other responsibilities.

Relatively speaking, it’s a small part of my job. But it’s an incredibly important one. These days, it’s vital for businesses to have a social media presence. And though massage therapy is an offline profession, it’s no exception.

As an RMT, you are your own business, and your own brand. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an employee of another clinic, or run your own practice, or even if you’re a student just starting to build a network of potential clients. No matter your practice, your customers are online. They expect you to have a responsive web presence, and social media is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective ways to meet that need.

Your daily social media doesn’t need to look like mine, but if you want to grow your client base, manage your personal brand, and communicate with your clients, you should really be on social media.

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer a wide range of tools specifically for businesses. They allow you to separate your personal and professional identities online, communicate with your clients, and build your ideal audience. But these tools can be complex, they aren’t always intuitive, and they’re regularly being updated. I’ve been using Facebook for business for years, and every few months I make a point to check out what new features are available.

If you don’t already have a Facebook business page, now’s the time. But you don’t have to learn how to do it alone. To learn how to set up your page, or make sure that you’re using it to the best potential, I recommend you attend the one-day social media marketing course we’re holding at the end of the month:


Building Your Massage Business
(Level I): Using Social Media to Build Your Brand

When: November 25, 2017
Where: Edmonton Campus

Sign Up


On the surface, leaving a career as an intensive-care technician to study massage seems like a

 

complete left turn. But for Suzanne Belanger, who began studying at MH Vicars School after more than two decades working in hospitals, it felt like a natural step. She’s still working in a healing profession; only now, as an RMT, she is in the position of helping to prevent injuries and pain, as well as treating them. “I saw that the allopathic or Western model was lacking in empowering care and preventive care. It’s always treating symptoms, not causes,” Suzanne says. “But there are more and more people who are looking to take charge of their own health. I’m one of those people. My passion is treating people preventively and one-on-one.”

Katie Rees

A successful personal trainer and Pilates instructor, Katie worked closely with the human body

Katie Rees

Katie Rees

every day, but still wanted to know more. She chose MH Vicars School because of the strong anatomy portion of the curriculum. She hadn’t expected to change careers, though—until she got to class. “I wanted more in-depth knowledge to help me work with my clients and to be a better personal trainer,” she says. “I hadn’t planned on practicing massage, but I really fell in love with it.” Since graduating in 2006, Katie has worked as an RMT in a physiotherapy clinic and a doctor’s office. She now owns True2Form Therapeutic Massage & Wellness Clinic in Edmonton. As a student, Katie says she liked that MH Vicars School held its students to a high standard because it drove her to excel. Now that she’s an employer, she appreciates those standards even more because she can be confident that when she employs MH Vicars grads, she’s getting the best.

In 2011, Bree Skiba had been out of school for four years and was already head of a mini massage empire: her company Balance Massage had two Edmonton locations and had just opened a third in Kelowna. I interviewed her then about her experiences as a student, and her career so far.

Watch that video here:

It’s now six years later, and both Balance Massage and the school have grown and changed. After reconnecting at our recent Edmonton Networking Night, I took the opportunity to catch up with Bree.

“I’m still doing well!” she says. “We’re almost 10 years at our original location at Moksha Yoga West, so that’s super exciting. I have a lot of regular clients who have stuck with me through the years, even through when I had a baby and came back.

The two original Edmonton locations are still going strong, and a third clinic is opening this month within TNP Fitness Studio. Bree sold the Kelowna location a few years ago.

“I have 8 therapists now, and I’ll be looking to hire more in the next couple of months. I’ve had a couple therapists now who’ve been with me for quite a while, and I’ve had lots of Vicars grads come through my door,” she says. “I also have one Vicars student on staff right now.”

Her journey has not been without challenges, however. The industry has changed over the last decade, and she and her therapists have had to work hard to keep up.

“What I’ve noticed is the saturation of massage therapy companies in the Edmonton area,” Bree says. “There are a few very large big box companies coming out of the States that have made it harder for small business owners. Those big places, they underpay their therapists, and as a business owner who pays out a good percentage to my therapists, it’s really frustrating to see.”

To thrive with this increasing competition, Bree and her colleagues have had to get back to basics: providing consistent, high-quality treatments that her clients can count on.

“I think if you’re a good therapist, and you know what your clients want, they will always, always, always come back to you,” she says. “My bread and butter is my regular clientele. As long as they’re happy, I’m happy, because they stick around.”

And a decade in, Bree has no plans to slow down.

“I wouldn’t trade my job for the world. Being a massage therapist—I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I’m a single mum of a four-year-old, and I can still spend a ton of time with him and take clients in the evenings. It’s just so versatile.”

To learn more about Bree, read her bio on Balance Massage here.

To learn more about Balance Massage, visit their website.

From new graduate to award-nominated small business owner in less than six months: it’s fair to say that Brenda Roy had a very good 2016. Brenda graduated from the MH Vicars Calgary campus last June, and opened her home-based clinic, Angelic Healing Hot Stone Massage in Brooks, Alberta. She specializes in therapeutic massage, hot stone, and lymphatic techniques. In October, she placed in the top 5 in three separate categories at the Brooks and District Chamber of Commerce Awards: Business of the Year (under 20 people), New Business of the Year, and the Business Professional Award.

Keep reading to learn what sets Brenda apart.

Why do you love what you do?Brenda Roy

I love working with people and I feel that I have given myself gift by going back to school to get the training that I needed.

What sets you apart as a therapist?

I have been told that my approach to my practice is quite unique, in the fact that the client’s don’t feel rushed during the treatment.  I feel that the because I am able to work an intuitive nature that the massage does not feel like routine for the client and targets their needs.

What challenges have you overcome in your career?

The biggest obstacle that I had to overcome is the fact that I had been battling depression for a number of years, as well as the fact that I entered the program at the age of 54. I went back to school knowing full well that if it I didn’t take the ‘bull by the horns’ so to speak, and push my way through, that my future would lie in the hands of someone else, doing a job I did not like and could not feel productive at.  The course at MH Vicars was one of the highlights of my life and it forced me back to the person that I remembered when I was younger.

What advice do you have for someone considering a career in massage?

Find your heart in your business, and enjoy what you learn in school as well as in your business, as you will learn way more from your clients than will every learn in school.  Take the time to enjoy life as you are trying to find your footing in the massage therapy world and don’t be afraid to learn something new.

To learn more about Brenda and to book an appointment, check out her business Facebook page.

The Vicars Grads at Work blog series shines the spotlight on MH Vicars School alumni through short profiles and extended features. If you or someone you know would like to be featured on our blog, please contact Robin Collum.