For Jo Boardman, gaining her massage degree through SIT became a springboard to successfully launch her biggest and most audacious career dream.
SIT was (and still is) the only place in New Zealand where Jo could study a Bachelor’s in Therapeutic and Sports Massage. Hailing from Campbells Bay, North Shore, Auckland, Jo says the desire to train in Massage Therapy came about from her love of running. “Dealing with niggles, aches, pains, and injuries led me to want to pursue a career in Physiotherapy,” but the study options for that were just not feasible. “I have a family and bills to pay, and so I needed to work whilst studying. Massage Therapy was a remarkably close second choice and had all the study options that I needed,” she explained.
Prior to her studies Jo was working as a Purchase and Supply Chain Manager, and albeit good at her job, she admits “I was bored with it and wanted a change”. And Covid handed Jo the perfect timing to change. “The lockdowns provided ample opportunity to study massage at diploma level, which was great. I studied and got paid.”
After the lockdowns, when a return to work was expected, Jo was made redundant. “It was like the universe had a plan for me,” she says. Setting up a private Massage studio at home, Jo started offering Relaxation Massage to friends and family, while she continued studying. With the diploma achieved and ticked off, her knowledge was growing, as was her client base. “Remedial Massage gave me so much more, but I was not done there. I desperately wanted the degree to feel validated.” Jo says the SIT degree course was a hot topic amongst her peers at the diploma level, but of an entire year group there were only three of them who were interested in continuing with it.
“I knew [the degree] would give us the edge over the majority of the industry operators in New Zealand and it only made me want to do it more. A new career and to be at the top of my game sounded like where I wanted to be.”
Feeling totally out of her depth, Jo put aside concerns that her prior studies weren’t sufficient in relevant knowledge or skills to study at degree level, and she signed up with SIT. “I told myself, I would give it my best shot. I loved it.”
Jo says she held her breath for the first few months “whilst I waded knee-deep into the assignments”. She kept expecting to fail, but she didn’t. “It was the most amazing experience. The most knowledgeable and supportive tutors I could have wished for guided us through the process.”
On the degree programme, Jo learned how to hone and refine her skills, from improving Clinical Reasoning, to exploring special interest subjects around Massage for clients with Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease. “My research project really showed me how Massage Therapy is interpreted in the public domain and how important my professional reputation is to me.”
“The bachelor’s really challenged the way I think and prompted me to question things more deeply.” Jo found her clinical assessment improved dramatically, along with her reasoning and understanding “that I didn’t have to have all the answers and that I didn’t need to know everything”.
Jo thoroughly enjoyed the block courses at SIT Invercargill. “Travelling from Auckland with my two fellow Diploma friends and staying at an Airbnb felt like we were on a mini holiday.” Jo met people on the course of a similar mindset and as her network developed and grew, so did friendships, referral sources and voices of experience for discussions in various specialised areas.
Zero Fees were a huge benefit in choosing SIT, “as was SIT in general”, Jo said, adding “There was no other option for degree-level study in this field”. The demands that Jo faced during her degree were around working full-time and studying full-time simultaneously, but she managed those pressures and set up her new business in the latter part of the year. “Honestly, the challenges were related to the studies, rather than anything else. These challenges would have been the same wherever I had studied.”
Jo believes every part of her SIT journey was valuable. “The realisation that I do have the smarts as a mature student, to complete a degree and further studies beyond that, was invaluable.” Jo notes the connections she made during the study, along with improved skills and a broadened horizon, were of high value as well.
“The icing on the cake really were the tutors,” she said, describing them as enthusiastic and engaging.
“Their experience and knowledge is second to none, and it was imparted with enthusiasm and encouragement to take it further. I made some fabulous friends as part of the course too, from all around the country. I cannot praise the course, leaders, tutors, and Institute enough.”
Jo says her SIT degree gave her the confidence to follow her dream. She found a building that she wanted to occupy and operate as a Wellness Centre, with Multi-modal Allied Health Therapies. “It was a big dream, a huge lease, and a lot of self-belief,” but she made it happen, and Jo now operates the centre, which includes another two Massage Therapists, a Chiropractor, Headache Physiotherapist, Counsellor, Midwife and Life Coach. “We work exceptionally well together and refer to each other when relevant. It is organically growing into a thriving place of business, and I am so glad I did it,” she says.
And don’t expect to find Jo resting on her laurels; her next step is to complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Health and Wellbeing – also through SIT. “I am hoping it will be enough to gain a spot in the Master of Physiotherapy Practice at AUT,” she says. The full-time, two-year course will eventually see Jo come full circle, and achieve her original desire of becoming a physiotherapist. “Of course, I will already have a team of excellent therapists to refer to and to assist, and I will also have my own physio space. It is a few years away yet, but watch this space!”