Features Education Leadership
Biography: Fall 2006

Tell us a little about yourself:
I was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, the youngest of nine children. I am currently the mother of two teenage boys and I look forward to being the mother of adults.

Professional Profile:
I graduated from CCMH in Sutton in 1988. My most influential teacher there was Lynn Filkins Wind. My first employer was Trish Dryden at her clinic in Toronto. In NL, I started out at a Physio clinic and then built up a home practice.

Experiences leading you to this profession and career:
I had been doing pre-requisite courses for physiotherapy at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C., hoping to go on to UBC but I wasn’t sure if physiotherapy was for me. My first professional massage, by a therapist at The Esalen Institute in California, made me really look at Massage Therapy as a career. That experience 20 years ago, moved me to pursue massage therapy training.

Most cherished experience or accomplishment:
Being involved in the formation of the massage therapy association here, along with Pamela Hodgson and our other founding members. It was something that helped me understand the value of concept to fruition.

That concept gets actualized in most everything I set out to do. I have been a volunteer, both Provincially and Nationally since we formed the NMTA in 1990. The NMTA later became the NLMTA to recognize Labrador’s crucial role in our association. Nationally, I represented NL at the CMTA table and I have met some amazing people through this alliance and have witnessed its growth.

Hope for our profession in the near and distant future:
My hope is a national presence that represents us, as a profession, to all the stakeholders as a unified whole – with common goals, educational practices and similar competencies. I think we are on the right track. Research Development and initiatives like the National Case study competition will propel us in the right direction.

Words of wisdom:
Volunteer: give your provincial association some of your time and be a part of the big picture. It is its own reward.