Jacqueline (Jax) Sebetovsky graduated from the Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy (CCMH) program in Bedford with honours in 2007 with a focus in Sports Therapy.
Within her first year of graduating, she had the opportunity to work in a few different settings, and found her happy place working in multi-disciplinary clinics alongside other healthcare practitioners.
"I have always been very fortunate in working with very knowledgeable therapists with a passion for what they did, and I was eager to learn more," Jax says, having taken additional courses to enhance her resume. These courses included a certificate in Natural Health Fundamentals, Cupping Therapy, and Acupuncture.
Jax's love of growing her practice sparked in her a craving to return back to school and earn her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. As much as she wanted to do that, she also had a dream to play volleyball overseas since she spent years involved in leagues across Atlantic Canada.
"The same day I sent in my University application I also contacted a couple of volleyball agents. Long story short, I landed a spot on a team in Switzerland and received my acceptance to the University of New Brunswick," she says. "The next couple of years were the busiest of my life."
Jax played the rest of her season overseas, returned to move to Fredericton and was recruited for the varsity volleyball team, and was fortunate enough to land a placement working in another amazing multi-disciplinary clinic.
While studying and training full-time, she made the Dean's List, was awarded Rookie of the Year and also received both the CIS Academic All-Canadian and AUS Championship All-Star awards.
"Volleyball was far from coming to an end, and after all of that I seized another opportunity to play overseas in the Czech Republic and Sweden," Jax says. "The standards of our education in massage at CCMH have been a huge asset for me during my travels. Our diploma had exceeded the basic requirements to practice in the countries I have been and opened more doors and opportunities for me along the way."
Three years later, Jax continues to play in Sweden while practicing her Swedish Massage Techniques.
Jax's story is one of the many examples of the flexibility that comes with massage therapy. Students can have a career that is high in demand that can provide excellent returns on their educational investment. They may work in a wide variety of venues, like private practice clinics, medical settings, wellness centres, multidisciplinary clinics, spas, or cruise ships.
Massage therapy is a portable career that allows the freedom of travelling the world or working in international five-star resorts. It is a career that provides the opportunity for Massage Therapists to act as collaborators with other health-care professionals, and it is a growing field with countless possibilities as employees and as entrepreneurs, accompanied all the while with the complete career satisfaction of knowing they're making a real difference in peoples' lives.