Massage Therapy
My first professional title was Massage Therapist (MT). I was 18 years old when I took a Reiki class at the suggestion of my friend. That class introduced me to the "healing arts" and helped me to get in touch with my sensitivity and empathy. From there, it was another 2 years before I enrolled in a massage therapy program and that was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. Not only did I learn about muscle function and ways to address common injuries, I also learned a lot about the mind body connection and how our emotions influence our physical body and health. For 9 years, I worked as an MT, and in addition to the hard skills I developed as an MT I also developed important and transferrable soft skills such as time management, flexibility, self-motivation and responsibility.
During my time working as an MT, I embarked on the journey to completing my bachelor's degree in social work. Through massage therapy I felt it important to develop my communication skills with the intention to become a counselor. While I did not fulfill the original intention, my educational experience and subsequent professional experience has been invaluable. I was able to land a full time job with the agency where I completed my field study while a student at Temple University. Through the agency I had the opportunity to participate in many of the programs available at the agency such as refugee resettlement, the veterans program, the welfare to work program and disaster relief. I further honed my soft skills and developed more hard skills such as program management, organization and technical skills.