Massage courses at NorthTec helps Jayne become her own boss

Massage courses at NorthTec leads to Jayne becoming her own boss

First studying for her Certificate in Massage and then the Diploma at NorthTec has enabled Whangarei’s Jayne Higgins to realise a personal goal of being able to break away from working for others and instead become her own boss.

“I wanted to do something for myself that would be fulfilling and rewarding,” said Jayne.

Before attending NorthTec to study massage she used to work in a senior management role at Mitre 10 in Whangarei.

Jayne had been interested in alternative therapies for some time and even received therapeutic massages from time to time. In early 2010, Jayne decided it was time for a change in her life. “I thought it is now or never – I went online to NorthTec’s website and applied for the massage course and the rest is history,” she said.

Jayne pointed out that the thing that swayed her was that NorthTec’s massage programme offers two courses that are recognised by Massage New Zealand. Upon completion of the courses, graduates are able to join Massage New Zealand to become a registered therapist.

She also said that on the diploma NorthTec provides for in-depth practical application in sports massage that opens up a myriad of employment opportunities that she otherwise would not have known about had she not carried on to study for the diploma.

Now that Jayne has completed both the Certificate in Massage (Level 4) and the Diploma in Massage (Level 6), Jayne has been working towards making her personal goal of operating her own business.

Towards the end of February Jayne is intending to open her own massage business in the old Public Trust building where she will be offering a mixture of therapeutic, pregnancy, sport and relaxation massage services. After some further training she may also look at providing specialised services in lymphatic drainage and myofasial work that she had learnt while on the 18 month diploma.

Although her decision to study massage at NorthTec was to establish her own business, she noted that Mitre 10 had been very supportive of her decision to step down from senior management and continued to employ Jayne throughout her studies.

Jayne said the six month certificate offered by NorthTec gives an excellent grounding for the diploma, with the hands-on experience in the labs and community based experiences being of huge benefit for her development.

“The tutors, Tish and Lorraine, were very passionate about their chosen fields of practice which made learning in a small friendly environment a really great experience.”

Last year on the diploma, Jayne and her classmates were able to complete 150 hours of log book work that covered five different groups requiring a range of massage treatments from the elderly to pregnant women. As an added bonus, nine of the students, including Jayne, were able to practice their massage techniques on the Tongan rugby players during the Rugby World Cup pool matches in Whangarei.

ENDS

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