Even in her youth, Serena was an unofficial ‘massage therapist’ to friends and family. Now, as a student at Mohawk College, she’s taking the steps to become a real massage therapist.
With her gift as a natural healer, Serena grew up soothing sore muscles for friends and teachers alike. Now, as she immerses herself in the Massage Therapy program at Mohawk College, Serena is learning to take her gift and passion and create a blossoming career as a massage therapist.
“I grew up as an athlete, and I would always be the person that people would come to when they’re sore, because I'm going massage it out,” said Serena. “I'd have a lineup of girls just waiting for me. I would also give my teachers massages just knowing that they’re under so much stress, and then I just kind of found a passion for it.”
As she delves into the program and starts building her foundation in how massage therapy works, Serena is excited to watch her future coalesce before her. “Now that I'm in the program, I see so many opportunities that it's creating for me. It's awesome,” she said. “I’ve loved learning new massage techniques and then being able to go home and practice them. That is super cool, I have a massage table at home for practice.”
“Even just learning the parts of the body is great,” she continued. “We just finished learning all the muscles for the second half of the semester. Now, when I'm moving or if something hurts, I'll be using the technical term for it.”
While Serena has been enjoying her time in class, she’s also enjoyed the experiences that the program offers outside of the classroom. “We've been able to go to a field trip and that was amazing, we planned a class dinner after and our class became much closer,” she said. “We went to a spa in Mississauga where we got to experience what a sauna is, a cold plunge, and much more. There was a salt cave, that was probably my favorite part. It was just cool experiencing what an actual spa is like.”
Serena’s class spa visit showed her how her new skills as a massage therapist can be used in practice.
As she approaches her second semester, Serena is preparing to practice what she has learned so far and put her hands to work. “In the second semester we start to go into our outreach programs. We actually have a student clinic that's in St. Elizabeth's Village. It's a retirement home, and we offer our services to the residents that are there as well as to all Mohawk College students,” said Serena. “That’s one of our outreaches. We also go to the police station and the hospital. There are some outreaches that work with sports teams at the college. So, there's lots of different opportunities”
With her history as an athlete and massaging her former teammates, Serena is most excited to perform outreach that reconnects her to the roots of her passion. “I can’t wait to work with the athletes. I'm pretty sure I get to do all the outreach placements, though I think I’m most excited for the athlete one though,” she said. “Being an athlete myself, I’m hopeful to one day find a professional team and become the official massage person for them.”
Serena’s journey of following her passion.
As she looks towards the future, Serena knows she’s in the right place in the present. She encourages others with an interest in massage therapy to follow their passion.
“I feel this is a great program for people to try something new, you know, connect with people in a different way that you meet people, and they are learning with you, and they want to be your teammate. They don't want to be the opposing team. They want to help you, and everybody wants to grow together.”
Interested in becoming a massage therapist? Explore the Massage Therapy program at Mohawk College today!
