Massage Therapy dip in Oz/NZ?

[classy lady]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and hoping for some tips. I recently did some training in Thai massage and am now very interested in becoming a massage therapist.

To make it more interesting, I would like to get my qualification in either New Zealand or Australia (I'm from the US), with a possibility of permanent residence after that. And as I'm very new to this arena, I'm just at the starting point and know practically nothing about how to go about it, I'm basically looking for any info on good schools (in interesting, active/outdoorsy towns or cities if you know any!), specific qualifications to aim for or avoid, anything really.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[VictoriaMS259]

hi nomad,

i did what you're thinking about doing.

here are the two top schools in sydney. i trained at the acnt, their remedial massage diploma was awesome - one year full time. but i've heard really good things about nature care too. here are the websites for both of them.
http://www.naturecare.com.au/
http://www.acnt.com.au/

you can get a 1/2 year student visa for almost all of the courses at these colleges. if you contact them, they'll provide details. but for an overview of the process, go to the australian dept of immigration website
http://www.immi.gov.au/study/overview/index.htm

good luck

henry

 

[none]

Hi Henry,

Thanks for the links--I've just spent about 2 hours on the 2 sites and they both look vey, very good.
Would you mind giving some more info like how you decided on Oz/Sydney, why ACNT, what specifically you studied (how did you narrow it down?), the goods/bads of the school and your qualification, are you there working now or do you have esidency, ummmm, basically everything!
I'm drowning in choices and I think it'd really help to hear how you finalized your choices, if that makes sense.

Thanks very much!
michelle

 

[hubby]

do you know of any other forums where i could post similar pleas for tips?
i found one but i suppose the more advice i get the better at this point!

ta,
m

 

[byjdwrqf]

i decided on sydney because i had lots of mates living there
i had very clear idea beforehand. i wanted to do remedial massage from the outset so i sat the diploma in remedial massage.
both colleges had strong content in their remedial massage diplomas. i decided on ACNT because their myofascial release teacher has a very strong reputation. also it was more centrally located.
bad points about ACNT is they run it like a business, it's a little stale. nature care college has a reputation for being a much nicer environment to study. also, some of the tutors were terrible, but on the other hand some of them were guru-like. i guess it balances out in the end.
all the courses are modular so you can do alot of add-ons. i ended up doing foundation courses all sorts of things (lymphatic drainage, chinese massage, shiatsu, aromatherapy).
i'm now working in london.

hope this helps
x

 

[Know It All]

Hi Michelle,

I'm studying meditation at Nature Care and about to start doing A&P there too. I'm very impressed with the college. The staff are approachable, friendly, and very helpful and the lecturers that I've had contact with are very knowledgeable.

The main reason I chose Nature Care over ACNT was that I wanted to study part time. Nature Care is more flexible in their timetabling, whereas at ACNT I would have had to take day time classes to do the course I was looking at.

Henry is right, ACNT is much more central than Nature Care, and in a much hipper suburb. Nature Care is a 20 minute train ride North, and ACNT is more like 10-15 minutes walk from the central station.

Cat

 

[ykihxlqt]

My friend is currently studying at Wellpark College in Auckland, NZ www.wellpark.co.nz and she absolutely loves it! I would have loved to study there too, but unfortunately I don't have the resources. She's doing a massage course there.
I can't recommend New Zealand highly enough. Great quality of life and I found it to be a really spiritual place. If you need any more detail PM me.

Hope you find the course of your dreams!

 

[Emperor Oddity]

thanks for the info everyone!

henry, did you try to work in oz after you got your diploma, or were you planning on going to the uk anyway? (you're british?)

blue cat and honeybun, thanks for your ideas. i'll check out the auckalnd site asap.

and for all of you, how would you comment on the lifestyle in the various palces you mentioned--quality and expense of of living, opportunities to have an active, healthy lifestyle (outdoor hiking, biking, rec sports temas even, etc) and the all-important singles situation for people in their 30's/40's who aren't into the bar/party thing anymore?

thanks for any more ideas from anyone!
michelle

 

[Some One]

hi nomad,

yes, i'm british. i worked for about a year in sydney before coming to london... not for any other reason than i had been planning to anyway. in sydney there are tonnes of places offering massage and there are a lot of very good massage therapists, so a lot of stiff competition. however, the market is also quite mature (more like certain parts of the states) so you have a lot more people wanting massage therapy for remedial purposes than (say) in the uk. consequently there's a strong referral culture between remedial massage therapists and chiros and osteopaths... in fact many of the top osteos employ full time massage therapists in their practices to prep clients before adjustments or do the main soft tissue rebalancing work afterwards. i think sydney's generally a good environment to develop your trade, but it's not easy.

x

h