Yesterday afternoon was my second “clinic practicum” at school and the first where I worked on someone I didn’t know. “Clinic” is basically the way our school simulates professional massage sessions for its students.
While we’re not actually in BCMT’s clinic but we’re set up in a large room with all of the professionalism and ambiance an actual clinic session would have. We’re also required to do an “intake” with our client to assess their health and determine what type of treatment they need. For Shiatsu bodywork, the intake includes giving the client an explanation of what Shiatsu is about as well as setting some physical and inner “focuses” for the session, or simply, with what areas of your physical and inner self do you need help?
For my first clinic I worked on Clare which was great because it made for a slightly less nervous go-round. It wasn’t good in that I sort of slacked in my “professionalism” – I didn’t go through the intake or massage with the same focus that I would have on someone I didn’t know. I think the school realizes that for everyones first clinic it’s helpful to worry less about simulating an actual professional massage and more about learning how the whole clinic procedure works (doing the intake and shiatsu explanation, filling out the SOAP charts, reading the client’s health history form, etc). For your second clinic practicum you’re assigned someone from the public (or, because I don’t think many people are stoked to have a 1st quarter student working on them, it often turns out to be student volunteers as was the case for me). My client, a second quarter student, was great to work with and allowed me to go through the whole spiel, even though she was only a quarter removed from it herself. She was nice in letting me explain Shiatsu and how the session would go even though she already knew everything I was telling her. Good sport and she gets a free massage out of the deal!
So back to the title of this post, “I think I made the right choice.” I wasn’t thinking about much during the massage. And I repeat, I wasn’t thinking about much during the massage. Those of you who know me know that there aren’t many times in my life where my brain is switched off but massage has so far proven to be something that can switch it off. I felt great during the session; I was in my body, feeling confident, checking in with the client, and just generally at ease, and then after…I felt a massive endorphin rush! Back in the SOAP room (SOAP, by the way stands for “Subjective – Objective – Assessment – Plan” and is sort of the “locker room” in the clinic for therapists) I spoke briefly to my classmate Daniel who had also just been in clinic and who is a notoriously disinterested-looking person in our classes. I couldn’t contain my excitement and I blurted something like “man, I get such a kick out of giving massage!” And Daniel replied “yeah, it really proves that this isn’t about the stress and mundane class work…it’s actually about working on people!” And through all of my trepidation and wishy washy feelings about the choice of career I’ve made, I realized, I think this massage thing is really something I want to do. I really enjoy it.
