Vicars School Staff

Leadership team

Maryhelen Vicars

PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER

Maryhelen trained as a massage therapist after 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, including experience developing educational materials for adults. But rather than opening her own clinic, she was inspired instead to found a new type of massage therapy college in Alberta: one that put students first while also meeting the highest academic standards.
Maryhelen researched and developed the program with the expert help of our experienced teaching staff and outside consultants. She is now semi-retired and living on Vancouver Island, but she is still actively involved in the school. She is responsible for ensuring that the program continues to evolve and respond to the needs of students, employers, and the community.

Sarah Ward

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

As Executive Director, Sarah‘s job is a mix of administrative and educational responsibilities that all boil down to making sure that Vicars students get a great massage education that prepares them for a successful career. As the massage profession continues to evolve in Alberta, her goal is maintain the school’s tradition of excellence as we prepare for regulation and massage school accreditation in the near future.
Prior to taking on this role, Sarah was our Calgary director and assistant director of curriculum. Sarah is passionate about working with students, and has continued to teach in Calgary even while holding these leadership roles.
Sarah trained at Foothills College of Massage Therapy, and taught there before joining the Vicars team. She is based out of our Calgary location.

Robin Collum

BUSINESS & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Robin is a writer and editor who has been with Vicars School since 2010. She handles the school’s external communications and marketing, and has worked extensively on our in-house publications and curriculum materials.
Robin has a BA from the University of Alberta and a Master of Arts in International and Intercultural Communication from Royal Roads University.
She can relate to Vicars students very closely, as her Masters program was also delivered through blended learning.

Education and curriculum team

Linda McGeachy

DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM

Linda is responsible for maintaining the quality of our curriculum materials and resources and keeping them current with the latest industry standards as we prepare for national accreditation.
Linda worked health care as a medical technologist in both public and private facilities for over 20 years before completing her massage therapy training in 1998. Her massage practice has included both clinical and spa work. She has trained spa therapists in the private spa industry, and taught at Metro Community College and the Alberta Institute of Massage before joining us in September 2003. Linda has helped to develop the curriculum material for both first- and second-year students, instructs both first- and second- year classes. She teaches at the Calgary campus.

Janine Borger

EDMONTON FACULTY LIAISON

Janine has been with Vicars School from the very beginning, and brings years of experience as a teacher and therapist to the classes she teaches.
Janine owned a successful clinic in Lacombe for many years, and continues to practice there independently. Her experience living and working in a small town makes her an invaluable resource for our many rural students. As an employer, she became interested in teaching massage because of her experience in the on-the-job development of recent massage therapy grads. She found it frustrating that the schools at the time were not producing graduates that were ready to work effectively. She helped founder Maryhelen Vicars to fine-tune the new school’s program to a higher level of job readiness for its grads.
She has been active in the education work of the Massage Therapist Association of Alberta, and is enthusiastic about working with adult students.

Admissions and student support team

Cori Maron

ADMISSIONS ASSISTANT & EDMONTON CAMPUS MANAGER

Students, faculty, staff, and clinic clients have a lot to thank Cori for!
Cori is an essential member of our admissions team, helping future students learn everything they need to know about massage as a career, and how Vicars School can help them achieve their goals.
In addition to her admissions role, Cori is the glue that holds the Edmonton campus together. She works with Fallon, Janine, and the clinic coordinator to make sure that everything on campus is running smoothly.

Heather McGeachy

MOODLE COORDINATOR, CALGARY CAMPUS MANAGER

A master multi-tasker, Heather adeptly balances multiple roles at our Calgary campus.
Heather coordinates the public and in-class clinics in Calgary, ensuring that the experience runs smoothly for both clients and students. She is also the first point of contact for visitors and callers in Calgary, and offers administrative support for staff and instructors.
Her influence isn’t restricted to the Calgary campus, however. Heather puts her extensive computing background to good use as coordinator and tech support for our online learning platform, Moodle.

Lourdes Nunes-Sammer

ADMISSIONS ADVISOR & EDMONTON INSTRUCTOR

Lourdes’ decision to become a massage therapist was driven by her lifelong curiosity and interest in health and wellness. She wanted a hands-on understanding of the body, and to know how to help people build the foundations to keep themselves healthy, well, active, and agile.
Lourdes earned her diploma from MH Vicars School in 2009. Like so many Vicars students, she lived several hours away from the city at the time, and travelled to Edmonton each month to complete her in-person classes.
In addition to being a 2009 graduate of the Vicars program, Lourdes brings to the table the knowledge & skills developed from over two decades of fitness and recreation programming & leadership and over a decade of experience as a massage therapist and massage clinic owner.
With her passion for teaching and massage therapy, instructing at MH Vicars is a natural fit. Teaching gives her the opportunity to share her skills and knowledge, as well as pursue her personal goals of lifelong learning.
Lourdes currently runs a successful multi-therapist clinic in Jasper, and has her own practice in Edmonton. As an instructor, she also draws from her experiences of over two decades working in fitness training and recreation programming.

Campus and administrative support team

Fallon Forbes

EDMONTON OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

If you need assistance on campus in Edmonton, turn to Fallon.
Prior to joining us at Vicars, Fallon had honed her administrative skills at high-pressure, fast-paced offices in several different industries. Meticulous, practical, and flexible, she can handle anything our Edmonton students and staff throw at her.
But what makes her such a valuable member of the Vicars team is her creativity, positive attitude, and relentless support of our students.