Graduate of the Bachelor of Therapeutic and Sports Massage, Renee Varney moved to Invercargill from the Gold Coast in 2010 and learned of the existence of Southern Institute of Technology and the reputation of our massage department.
Fast forward to 2018 and Renee now operates her own Massage clinic out of her home.
“SIT prepared me to be self-employed and gave me the necessary skills to succeed. Being a self-employed Massage Therapist requires you to wear many hats. Day to day running of my clinic involves reception, marketing, cleaning, book keeping and client care.”
Prior to her studies at SIT, Renee had no tertiary education experience, but a background working in customer service was a great asset towards client care as a massage therapist.
“I chose massage therapy because I have always wanted to help people and make them feel better. Massage therapy does this by alleviating pain, reducing stress and tension, and it supports physical and psychological health and wellbeing”.
SIT’s Massage department is well renowned for their research expertise as well as the tremendous amount of knowledge the tutors pass along to their students. Students study all aspects of massage therapy from anatomy to physiology, pathology, and professional and clinical practice.
“My tutors were amazing and are a great asset to SIT. The subjects are specific and students gain a huge amount of thorough, detailed knowledge to prepare for working as a professional, alongside other health professionals”.
Renee states that SIT has not only given her a degree in massage therapy but has also changed the way she treats people.
“Now I don’t only have empathy for people but I can use my clinical reasoning to improve their wellbeing and that is very rewarding”.