For Brittany Follett, it’s on to the next adventure.
Follett has been an emergency flight paramedic serving patients in remote parts of Ontario and Manitoba for the past seven years. But she’s now celebrating the beginning of her second career — as a Registered Massage Therapist serving customers in the North Bay area.
Follett recently celebrated passing all of her provincial exams and becoming licensed through the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO), making her the first graduate from CTS Canadian Career College’s Massage Therapy Program in North Bay to reach this mark.
Joining the ranks of RMTs wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, either.
Follett said she knew the rigours of being a paramedic would weigh on her over time, and helping people through massage therapy offered the perfect contrast to her work in the high-adrenaline emergency medical field.
“It’s a good balance,” Follett said. “As a paramedic, it’s intense and fast-paced. But with massage therapy, I’m still helping people, only in a much slower, more relaxed way.”
“And people are definitely happier to see me as a massage therapist.”
Follett first became interested in enrolling in CTS’ massage program during some of the most stressful times over her nearly decade-long paramedic career. She began regularly visiting a massage therapist for both physical relief – strain and injuries are common as a paramedic – and to help manage the day-to-day stress of working on the front lines.
Those treatments gave her a deeper appreciation for the therapeutic benefits of the profession – massage sessions left her feeling like “a whole new person” – and it also piqued her interest in learning the trade.
“I knew that being a paramedic couldn’t be my full career, especially with starting a family in mind,” Follett said. “I wanted to find something where I could still help people, but at a pace that worked better for me.”
An Intense, Rewarding Program
CTS Canadian Career College’s Massage Therapy Program is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to work in the profession. The two-year program balances theoretical learning with hands-on experience, ensuring students develop the fundamentals of massage therapy, as well as learning about ethics, laws and regulations, managing a massage therapy business, and advanced clinical assessments.
All three campus locations are accredited by the Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation (CMTCA), which is a national organization and is viewed as the gold standard for Massage Therapy education in Canada.
Throughout the program, students will gain hands-on experience in both in-house clinics and community outreach opportunities. First-year students will begin to develop their skills in a supervised clinical setting, while second-year students build a robust foundation through advanced techniques and approaches to therapy and treatment.
These practical experiences ensure that students are well-prepared for the demands of a career in massage therapy.
And Follett, for one, didn’t initially realize just how in-depth the CTS massage therapy program would be.
CTS’s courses combine hands-on learning with a rigorous theoretical component – Follett said it was fast-paced and challenging — offered in an 18-month condensed format.
“You can learn about the brain one week, and the cardiac system the next,” Follett said.
“It’s intense, especially the theory part. You really need to commit time to study. But the hands-on portion was amazing, with so many different experiences.”
Despite the amount of learning and work required, these practical opportunities allowed Follett and her classmates to explore different areas of massage therapy.
From working with older clients at Marina Point to providing therapy to players with the North Bay Battalion, the students experienced a wide range of patient needs and treatment styles.
“We also had community outreach with organizations like PADDLE, where we worked with individuals with learning disabilities. Every experience showed us how much massage therapy can help different groups of people.”
Building Strength for the Profession
In its own way, being a massage therapist can also be physically demanding.
The CTS program helped Follett develop the physical strength required to work in the profession. Through the CTS clinics – the school offers sessions several times a week – Follett built endurance and hand strength needed for long massage sessions.
“The program really prepares you for the physical demands of the job,” Follett said. “Proper technique is key, so you don’t injure yourself.”
“And working those extra clinic hours gave me the opportunity to apply everything we’d learned in class to real-world scenarios.”
A Second Career for Healthcare Professionals
For Follett, and many of her classmates who had previously worked in healthcare, the transition to massage therapy was a good and natural fit.
Having a medical background made it easier for Follett to understand the anatomy and physiology coursework, and she said that massage therapy offers an excellent second career option for healthcare workers looking for a change.
“A lot of people in my class were nurses, paramedics, or lab techs looking for something different,” she said. “If you have that medical knowledge, the program is a great fit.”
A Bright Future for Massage Therapists in North Bay
As one of the first graduates of the CTS Massage Therapy Program in North Bay, Follett said she is excited to start this new chapter of her life.
The courses are well-positioned to train the next generation of massage therapists in Ontario, and Follett credits the instructors for helping her succeed.
“The instructors were amazing — they really want you to succeed and are always there to listen,” she said.
“And the clinic environment at North Bay is fantastic. It’s set up just like a real massage therapy office, with private rooms and everything you’d find in a private business.”
“From day one, it really felt like we were working in the field.”
To learn more about Follett’s North Bay services, visit her website by clicking here.
For more information about CTS’ Massage Therapy Program, visit their website by clicking here.