MH Vicars Faculty

By joining MH Vicars School as an instructor, Renato was able to seamlessly combine his two careers.
When he graduated from MH Vicars School in 2010, Renato began to practice out of his home-based clinic. But he didn‘t give up his previous career as a high school teacher. He continued to both practice and teach for nearly a decade before he was ready to leave the public school system. But he wasn’t ready to leave teaching behind, so he now brings his many years of educational experience to Vicars.
Renato was first drawn to massage as a way to help his wife manage the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. In addition to working with clients with chronic conditions, his current practice specializes in treating stress and soft-tissue restrictions.

Tamara suffered from back pain and headaches all through her teens. Chiropractic treatments helped greatly and in her early 30s she started receiving massage as well. She was amazed at the results and started to wonder if this was something she could do as a career.

An advertisement in the local paper jumped out at her one day: Do you want to be a Massage Therapist? Tamara realized that for her, the answer was a resounding Yes! Going back to school at 32 was daunting but she says the investment she made in herself has paid dividends ever since.

Tamara quickly built a rewarding practice working in a naturopathic clinic. She says her massage career gives her so much: the ability to make a difference in the quality of life for her clients; the freedom to schedule her workdays around her life; and a deeper sense of purpose through connecting with like-minded people.

In 2014, she began the other but equally successful element of her career when, first as a clinic supervisor and then as a classroom teacher, she joined the faculty at Vicars and discovered that she loves to share her skills and knowledge of massage with others.

“I’m very passionate about seeing my students succeed. I know some of the rewards that wait for them down the road and that motivates me to continue growing as a therapist and an instructor.”

Danielle has cultivated an incredibly well-rounded massage therapy career since she graduated from Vicars in 2011. Though she started a successful personal practice right out of school, she has deliberately sought out new experiences and work settings so that she can continue to grow as a therapist. She’s worked in a spa, a multidisciplinary health clinic, a yoga studio, and even a backcountry ski lodge. After settling in Edmonton with her family, she returned to Vicars as an instructor and supervisor, where her students benefit both from her wide experience and passion for the profession.
In her role as Edmonton Clinic Coordinator, Danielle manages our students’ practicum experience.

Alyssa is an instructor who values collaboration, supportive learning, and helping her students achieve their goals. Since graduating from the MH Vicars Calgary campus, Alyssa has worked in spas and wellness clinics, and currently works in a physiotherapy and massage clinic in Banff, Alberta. She really enjoys working alongside other health-care professionals in a team to give patients well-rounded care. Leading an active lifestyle, as well as working as a mountain biking coach, she puts her own body through a lot, and knows how important massage is as a prevention and care strategy for injuries.
As an instructor, she loves watching students have “Aha” moments and to see them become enthralled with the body and the way RMTs can influence it with our practices.
In her role as Calgary Clinic Coordinator, Alyssa oversees the entire student clinical experience. She is passionate about helping students gain confidence for entry to practice through the clinic experience they receive at MH Vicars.

Becoming an instructor at MH Vicars was a natural progression for Corliss. She had loved the program when she was a student here and always knew she wanted to return someday to be able to teach and support new practitioners.

In the classroom, Corliss believes in creating a comfortable, low-stress environment to cultivate learning for her students. Returning to school as an adult learner can be challenging and evoke stress and anxiety. She believes that learning is directionally proportional to the amount of fun you’re having!

Corliss has based her entire professional career on helping others and has extensive hands-on experience with injury and disease processes. Before deciding to become a massage therapist, she held various positions in healthcare and was an Emergency Medical Technician. During this time, she learned valuable critical thinking and patient assessment skills.

Like so many of our students, she chose her new career because she had learned first-hand the value of massage therapy. After sustaining multiple injuries herself, she lived in chronic pain and had limited mobility and decreased strength. Receiving regular massage treatments allowed Corliss to return to all the activities that she loved.

Corliss loves the flexibility and variety that a career in massage therapy allows. She is particularly interested in the role that massage can play in rehabilitation after injury and is dedicated to helping her clients back to their old lives and ultimately to pain-free, healthy, active lifestyles.

Back in 2005, Marci cut an ad for MH Vicars School out of the paper. During the next five years, she and her family moved twice, but she held on to the clipping—and to the idea of a new career in massage.
Back in Edmonton in 2010, she drove past the school on a holiday. Seeing a car out front, she knocked, Maryhelen answered the door, and they talked for two hours. Marci started school that September and has been here ever since.
She began by helping to develop the public clinics when they first started, and continuing as a supervisor. In 2016, she moved into the classroom and online. As faculty, Marci says she loves the "ah-ha" moments, seeing students succeed and develop into excellent therapists.
Marci is also part of another very important group at Vicars. She is an employer of massage therapists! At her clinic in Beaumont, she employs up to 15 MTs, preferring to hire Vicars grads when she can.
In her own practice, she has worked with clients from two months old to 97, but mostly with sports teams and athletes, and is especially keen on helping them to stay competition-ready and return to the field as soon as possible after an injury. This is not a surprise: Marci has been a coach for 26 years in some form or another. For the past 10, it’s been girls’ and women’s competitive softball. She has taken her teams to international competitions, with a lot of successes along the way.