Massage School in Kalispell, Mt.

Are you ready for, um, the truth?  I’d like to share MY EXPERIENCE with massage school in Kalispell, Mt., the good, the bad, and the possibilities for future employment here in the Flathead Valley.  I graduated from Montana Institute of Massage Therapy in May, 2011, when I was 45 years old.  At the time, this massage school in Kalispell was owned by a local chiropractor who also held an M.D.  He taught many of our classes, including A&P, and Pathology.  It was an 800 hour program, with an additional 50 hours of hands on work that had to be completed off campus.  Classes were held Monday thru Friday, 8 hours a day, with student clinics on Saturdays.  It was intense, for me.  I worked part time while attending school.  I was a good student, but had to study very hard.  We had 8 students in the class to start, and 6 who graduated.  This massage therapy school in Montana was heavy on Swedish and chair massage, with a large portion of the year spent working towards our certificate in Neuromuscular Therapy.  We had brief encounters with reflexology, lomi-lomi, and hydrotherapy.  Near the end of our year, we were required to do a final thesis and presentation on a form of massage therapy that was not part of our curriculum.  I recall a student choosing cupping, one presented on rolfing, and I did ashiatsu.  We were given large binders with syllabus schedules, and I later realized that some of it wasn’t taught.  Our teachers were very diverse, most of them working in their own Kalispell massage therapy practices while also teaching us.  We were taught very little marketing.  We sometimes corrected our own tests.  When it was all done, I’d spent about 18k on tuition, equipment, lost wages, etc.  I still have the portable table I used in school!

The good news:  there was very little emphasis on the hocus-pocus-crystal waving hemisphere of the massage therapy world.  This Kalispell massage school was medically oriented with college level kinesiology, medical terminology, and ethics classes.  A broad view of the massage world was shown, giving us the tools to pass the state licensing exam, and decide what we would specialize in.    The massage school was a relatively nurturing environment, usually a good vibe, and we all felt we had a goal:  to graduate.  Then, of course most of us had a plan to use our skills to make money.  Good also was the cost, compared to a Harvard education, etc.  And unlike a current version of this same school, we only had one class that was of an online variety.  The teachers were friendly, approachable, and knew their stuff.

Now for the bad news: the school was experiencing financial problems that most of us students were unaware of, however we could feel that corners were being cut, and having a negative effect .  Remember above I mentioned us correcting our own tests, and very little marketing being taught?  (marketing took up only 4 of the 800 hours).  Often staff were not available to fulfill duties of that nature.  The Saturday clinics where students worked on the public were held in a room that had heavy drapes between booths.  We were asked to take these home and launder them ourselves.  They were way too large for a standard washer, and probably supposed to be dry cleaned.  Our class of this massage school in Kalispell was the last to graduate before the school closed due to finances.   There were rumors of staff sleeping with past students, creating tension behind the scenes in admin.  A couple teachers were reluctant to show us some of their finer skill secrets, knowing that upon graduation many of us would go to work locally, and be competing for a piece of the pie.  School was HARD.  There was a lot of memorization to be done, tons of homework outside of class hours, and lots of hobbies given up to be a fulltime student.  Ours was the first graduating class that had to deal with the state of Montana requiring massage therapists to be licensed, so we didn’t have massage therapists in Kalispell we could discuss the test with.

To locals who are considering massage schools in Kalispell, or the Flathead Valley, I would warn you that it’s tough to make a living out here, if you want to be a full-time LMT, and not need a 2nd or 3rd job.    There are TONS of massage therapists to compete with, and part of that is because we currently have 2 schools in our small home town area cranking out finished students.  Though I currently charge $75 an hour for a session at my office, after expenses, taxes, insurance, licensing fees, etc., I net about $25 an hour, which seems great for our area until you realize how hard this work really is.  Being self employed is not for everyone.  You have to be very organized, and able to wear many hats including laundry attendant, marketing consultant, and SEO expert.  We do not currently have a Massage Envy in Kalispell, nor any similar corporate chain employer.  The local hospitals have very small massage programs, and are the only punch-in-punch-out jobs I’m aware of, and no one works full time.  But do you REALLY want that type of job?  I’ve got to admit, the idea of someone doing all your scheduling, marketing, and laundry is pretty enticing, until I realize what I’d be giving up.  I’d no longer be in control of my schedule.  I’d have to answer to someone about the methods of treatment I was using.  I might be resigned to performing a cookie-cutter massage routine outlined by administration.  These factors might not be on the radar of recent graduates, but after you’ve been self employed for awhile they certainly show up.   The majority of Flathead massage therapists are private contractors who work out of a one room office.  We come to work when we want, go home when we want, and charge what we want.  However, that freedom comes at a very high price in some cases.  Full time LMT’s are prone to burn-out, repetitive stress injuries like carpal-tunnel syndrome, and back problems.  You spend 5 or more hours a day in a darkened room, which can mess with your sleep cycle.  These, and many more facts of employment as a massage therapy professional in the Flathead Valley were not discussed when I was a student, and I certainly didn’t write out the pro’s and con’s on a piece of paper either.  I love my job,  but feel an obligation to share my experience with those who might be considering this education option.  Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.  Ask others who know you.  Ask school admin about local employment options.  Their job is training you to pass the tests needed for licensing, not educate you about how hard things might be once that’s accomplished.   To see more about my biography and personal life, click HERE, and if you’d like to watch videos of me at work in my Kalispell massage therapy office, click HERE.  Massagearita!