Healing Hands, Powerful Careers at Reflections of Health Massage School

How Can Massage Therapy Training Change Your Life? Meet Jeannine VanValen

Ever wondered if your healing touch could transform into a rewarding career? Jeannine VanValen certainly did. After spending nearly a decade as a dental assistant, she found herself seeking more autonomy, deeper purpose, and greater personal satisfaction. Her solution? Massage therapy.

In this heartfelt conversation, Jeannine reveals how her transition from dental chair to massage table wasn't just a career change—it was a life transformation. "I'm a doer, I'm a giver," she explains, describing how massage therapy allowed her to channel these inherent qualities into a profession where she could directly impact individual wellness journeys. The practical benefits are compelling: setting her own schedule, becoming her own boss, and achieving better work-life balance while maintaining the helping role she values so deeply.

What makes Jeannine's story particularly powerful is the dual transformation she experienced—professional growth alongside personal development. Massage therapy training built her confidence, enhanced her self-esteem, and uncovered talents she hadn't fully recognized. Meanwhile, her clients experience their own transformations, with many making weekly appointments and testifying they "couldn't do without it." As medical professionals increasingly "prescribe" massage therapy for various conditions, the field gains further legitimacy and stability. Whether you're seeking escape from corporate burnout, craving more meaningful work, or simply wanting to turn your natural talent for healing touch into a sustainable career, Jeannine's journey offers both inspiration and practical insight. Ready to explore if massage therapy might be your path to purpose? Your healing hands could become your most powerful career asset.

To learn more about Reflections of Health School of Massage, Inc. visit:
https://www.ReflectionsofHealth.com
Reflections of Health School of Massage, Inc.
1604 Lamons Ln, Ste 207a
Johnson City, TN 37604
423-804-3067

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Reflections of Health Massage
School Podcast, where healinghands become powerful careers.
Whether you're looking toescape the 9-to-5 grind, earn
extra income during college orfinally get paid for all those
family shoulder rubs, massagetherapy could be your next big
move.
Join us as we explore the powerof touch, the path to purpose,

(00:26):
and why starting your journey inmassage therapy might be the
smartest decision you'll evermake.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
From burned out and unfulfilled to energized and
empowered.
Janine Van Valen's story showsjust how transformational
massage therapy training can be,whether you're craving a career
change or looking for a deeperpurpose.
Her journey is proof thathealing others can begin with
healing yourself.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monty, co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio

(01:01):
with a special guest.
Today We've got Janine VanValen of the Reflections of
Health Massage School in thestudio.
Janine, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Good.
Thank you, skip, great to behere.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, we are thrilled to have you and I know Tammy,
the director of the school, issuper excited to have you with
us and interested in you sharingyour story with us.
So, if you don't mind, can youtell us how can massage?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
therapy training change your life.
Well, massage therapy trainingchanged my life personally,
because I'm a doer, I'm a giver.
So my whole career, life up tothis point of being a massage
therapist, was in the dentalfield, which is always helping,
or the food industry.
It was always a giving part ofwho I am.

(01:47):
And so when I stopped andrealized what direction my life
wanted to proceed forward to asI got a little bit older, I
really wanted a career that Icould personally help people
individually and helping themtake their next step forward in

(02:09):
their journey of life.
And health is something that weall have to deal with each and
every day, and the power oftouch is just that.
There is great power in touch,great power and touch.
And so, as being a massagetherapist, I have learned and

(02:30):
have honed into the skills andtalents that I have personally
to help individuals take thatnext step forward in their
journey of their recovery inlife, whatever it may be aches
and pains it could be, you know,emotional could be, you know,
array of different aspects oftheir life.
So being a massage therapistreally helps giving back, giving

(02:55):
back to individuals, givingback even to your community.
So I personally think it's agreat opportunity for me to be
self-fulfilling, of giving back,and that's what makes me a
whole person, is what I'm doingfor others.
That's great satisfaction forme.

(03:16):
So then, now I'm fulfillingsomething within myself and
helping my neighbor as well.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Awesome, awesome, so it sounds very rewarding
actually in your as well.
Awesome, awesome, so it soundsvery rewarding actually in your
personal experience.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
What were you doing before you decided to go to
massage school?
You mentioned you were in thedentist field.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was a nationally board certified dental assistant
.
So basically I did yeah, yeah,I did oral surgery for about
almost 10 years, right, and thensome general dentistry on top
of that.
So you know when the patientscome in, you're the first person
they see.
They don't see the dentist.
You know, you're the face ofthe practice, so that really

(04:02):
gets you connected to yourpatients in that regards.
You know, building that trust,building that confidence,
helping them.
Dental work is not an easy,likable, fun thing to go do.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
I can see that.
I can see that.
So was there a certain pointwhen you just said you know what
I want to do somethingdifferent and this is it, or was
like an aha kind of thing?

Speaker 3 (04:27):
I think you know, as the journey of my career went um
, you know you get to look at itfinancially as well.
I was really connected to allmy clients on a personal level
and became, you know, friendswith them most of them.
But then you know, working forsomeone else is just that you're
working for someone else andyou know, having the capability

(04:51):
of working for myself and honinginto the skills that I learned
working in a dental field reallyset me up nicely to work for
myself in my own practice, in myown massage practice.
So transferring over working inthe public eye versus working

(05:12):
privately for myself was asmooth transition because I was
able to take the skills and thetalents of how to run a practice
and apply it to my own.
And then therefore, now Ibecome my own boss.
I set my own schedule, I workmy own pace, I can have more
freedom on top of fulfillingpersonal satisfaction of helping

(05:37):
.
So it's a win-win I get to helpmyself and then I get to help,
you know, my community as well.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Awesome.
So what made you choose?
Reflections of Health MassageSchool over other programs.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Other programs.
Well, I had moved here fromOregon and this was just massage
school in town, so it was alocal.
It was right around the corner.
I said, why not, let's do it?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
So super convenient, I guess.
Well, you and you, you touchedon this a little bit in the
rewarding and fulfilling part ofthe job, but I was going to ask
how does being a massagetherapist change a student or a
person's personal health andwork-life balance?

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Well, I think the fact is that in society nowadays
we're never taught to giveourselves permission to take the
next step forward in ourjourney of life.
And being a massage therapistand for me personally it helped
me take that step forward that Ican be an owner of a business,

(06:39):
I can help people, I can moveforward, I can.
So it built my confidence.
It built up the self-esteem youknow.
It helps with characteristicsof an individual that maybe they
might know they have, of anindividual that maybe they might
know they have but are lacking,to put it, forward in life.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
So it may bring out qualities that otherwise you
wouldn't see without diet.
Well, I was going to ask whatimpact from a client perspective
, what kind of impact do you seemassage therapy having on
individual lives?

Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think it's fantastic.
I even know that the medicalcommunity has picked up on it
quite a bit here lately and arestarting to apply that in their
you know prescriptions like goget a massage.
You know for different avenuesof them, seeing their patients
as well, knowing that you knowmassage has helped the human

(07:45):
body so much.
There's much more researchgoing on even as we speak right
now and how important it is tohave massages as a practice of
maintaining health.
In my practice I have clientsthat come every week and they

(08:06):
testify that they couldn't do itwithout it.
Whether it's anxiety, whetherit's just relaxation, whether
it's getting out the aches andpains in their joints, what may
have you.
But and then I have a handfulof clients that come every other
week I mean the resilience ofthe understanding with my

(08:27):
clients and how important touchis is phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
I couldn't agree more .

Speaker 3 (08:33):
I know lots of people who have told me that it's
changed their life, you know,for the better as a receiver of
massage, so also rewarding forthose who provide the service as
well as those who take it downand when you do that 60 minute

(09:01):
or 90 minute or even two hourmassage, it almost forces you to
slow down and reflect and giveyou some of that personal, quiet
, healing time for yourselfwhile you're in the process of
having that massage.
And I think that's so importantfor us to give ourselves that
permission to have thatself-care, and massage does that

(09:23):
for us.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Helps you completely unplug.
For sure it's important.
Well, Janine, I can't tell youhow much I appreciate you taking
time out of your busy scheduleto spend some time with me and
with our listeners.
That was some great informationand very helpful to, I know, a
lot of people considering doingwhat you did and following in
your footsteps as a massagetherapist.
So thanks for being here todayand hopefully we'll have you.

(09:46):
We'll have you back on the showsoon.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Thank you, skip, looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Think you've got the touch, let's make it official.
Call or text 423-804-3067 toschedule your tour and
consultation, or visitreflectionsofhealthcom.
Your future could be just onemassage away.
And, let's be honest, beingeveryone's favorite stress

(10:15):
reliever isn't a bad gig.