What the First Year as an RMT Really Looks Like

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

If you are considering massage therapy, you can probably picture the training. Anatomy and physiology, hundreds of supervised treatment hours, a student clinic placement, board exams at the end.

The year that follows is harder to picture. What happens after the exams? How do you find a first position? How does a new practitioner build a practice that supports them?

A recent graduate of the Royal Canadian College of Massage Therapy sat down with our students and answered exactly that — six months into her career, with the specificity that only comes from having just lived it.

We recorded the session so our evening and weekend students would not miss it. Listening back, it became clear the conversation is just as useful to anyone weighing this career, so we are sharing it here.

Meet Esther

Esther Huang, RMT, came to massage therapy as a deliberate change in direction. She had been in graduate school for psychotherapy when the pandemic interrupted her plans, and she wanted work in healthcare that was hands-on, regulated, and flexible enough to build around a young family.

Before she enrolled, she did her homework. She found graduates on LinkedIn and messaged them directly to ask what the program was actually like. The answers were consistent: demanding, thorough, and graduates pass their board exams. She applied to one school.

She wrote her certification examinations in December and was registered in January. Six months on, she practises across two very different Toronto clinics — a wellness studio in Yorkville and a family practice in midtown.

What she credits

Hands-on training across the full scope. Esther was taught to perform the full range of treatment, not simply read about it — intraoral and TMJ work, abdominal treatment, prenatal, breast massage. When a clinic owner ran through a list asking what she was comfortable providing, the answer to every item was yes. The owner called her a unicorn. Esther's response was that this is simply how she was taught.

Instructors who make themselves available. Students here practise on their instructors, ask relentless questions, and receive honest feedback in return. Esther still emails her instructors with clinical questions today, and still receives answers.

Classmates who became a support system. In the weeks before their examinations, Esther and her classmates booked practice space at the college several times a week, timing one another and critiquing without mercy. They passed on the first attempt.

Preparation for the business of practice. Registering with the Canada Revenue Agency. Understanding the difference between working as an employee and working for yourself. Invoicing, setting aside tax, and negotiating the share of each treatment fee she keeps. Esther arrived at those conversations knowing which questions to ask, because independence is something we teach.

The confidence to go after the work. Her second position she created from nothing. The clinic was not advertising and had no massage therapist on staff. She wrote to them anyway, explaining who she was and the patients she wanted to serve. Weeks later, the owner replied.

Her advice to students

Know your muscles — not only their names, but their actions.

And slow down. This was the line that landed hardest in the room: nobody wants a rushed treatment. Every hand you place on a patient should have a reason behind it. Every touch is an assessment.

Listen to the full conversation

The complete session, including the questions our students asked her directly, is the first episode of Pressure Points, our podcast featuring conversations from every side of the table.

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Our thanks to Esther for her time and her candour, and for paying it forward.

Thinking about a career as a registered massage therapist? Royal Canadian College of Massage Therapy is a CMTCA-accredited college in North York, Toronto. Explore our programs or book a campus visit to see the training for yourself.