Topic Expert: Beret Kirkeby of Body Mechanics Orthopedic Massage

Beret Kirkeby, runs a company called Body Mechanics Orthopedic Massage at Grand Central in NYC. Her original training was from Ontario, Canada where the massage therapy program is orthopedic/medical in nature. Because of Canada's integrated health care system, the process of becoming a licenced massage therapist is quite difficult, as the government is highly involved in all aspects of medical care.

After she moved back to NYC, she realized a huge opportunity existed in the US to open a massage center that did things a little bit differently. Her program runs therapists through on-going training in client management and career skills, much like the one she had gone participated in Canada. In her program, each therapist is encouraged to not only excel in the standard massage therapy skill set, but excel in one area in which they are responsible for educatig other massage therapists. It is her ongoing goal to raise the bar on quality care by setting an example. she is also an advocate for worker rights in the Massage therapy industry aND she beleives in paying massage therapists what they are worth, not what the employer can get away with. Her goal is to ensure Massage Therapy is a career, not a job people get burned out on.

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