Having worked in an office environment for 15 years the idea of learning a new skill that helped relieve stress and in its very essence was less stressful seemed like the perfect exit strategy from my boring existence in a world of deadlines, office politics and high stress levels. Thus I enrolled on an ITEC Holistic Massage course.

Armed with my books on massage and anatomy & physiology I spent one weekend every month for 6 months studying and practising massage. The massage was fine and of course the fact that I got a massage out of it myself was an added bonus. The anatomy and physiology, a much more slippery character and memories of how bad I really was at biology aged 13 came flooding back. At the end of my 6 month course, a whole host of case studies later and a nerve-wracking examination process I passed with flying colours and was ready to conquer the world. All I had to do was find some work and my exit out of the world of nagging bosses was finally over - hurrah!

Beauty Therapy

So....all I had to do was get work. Should be easy - everyone loves a massage......mmmmm and there my love affair with massage and my new found career came crashing down with one almighty thud.

Yes its seems that everyone does indeed love a massage, but for the most it is still as a birthday gift, treat to themselves and not the necessity for wellbeing I had hoped it was. And so my survival instinct of sink or swim kicked in ..... and through my 3 years of being a mobile therapist and meeting countless other therapists, it also became crystal clear that my experience was nothing new and most other therapists had also been in the same situation when starting out. With alarmingly high statistics of therapists who learn a skill and then are unable to pursue their dream career I felt the urge to put pen to paper and share ideas of what worked for me, just in the hope it may help someone out there: