You will find me to be a very caring, nurturing, and ethical practitioner who does her utmost to provide a safe, relaxing environment for her clients. I strongly believe that every body knows deep down how to heal itself and my job as a massage therapist is to provide my clients with the time and space and a safe place to allow their bodies to contact that inner knowledge and heal. I live with my husband Wendell on a working farm of over 200 acres. People who come to my home seem to enjoy the change of pace. It's extremely peaceful and quiet here and our home is on a hill overlooking alpacas grazing in pastures, woods, and our garden. It's a perfect environment to facilitate relaxation and healing.

I graduated from a 500-hour professional massage therapy program at the Louisville School of Massage in 1998 and since then have taken hundreds of hours of continuing education in massage therapy. I'm constantly learning new techniques and receiving advanced instruction in techniques I already use. The field of massage therapy is very exciting to me and there is a modality to serve every need out there. I've taken course work in all the modalities I offer in my practice, and am very careful to ensure I do not work outside my scope of practice or training.

Why did I decide to become a massage therapist? In the late 1990s when I lived in Louisville, Kentucky, I was in search of a part-time occupation to supplement my income. I was looking for something that would make a positive impact on people around me. An aunt in Louisville had been diagnosed with what would turn out to be terminal cancer and told me one day about a massage therapist who visited her home while she was undergoing treatment for cancer and gave her massages. My aunt described how much better she felt afterward. I knew then that I'd found what I wanted to do. I later had the opportunity to meet the massage therapist who had worked with my aunt. I knew she had helped my aunt enjoy a better quality of life. While in school, I began work as a volunteer with Hospice of Louisville as a massage therapist and continued to work with Hospice until I married Wendell and moved away from Louisville.

I'm a certified member of the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals, the highest membership level offered by this organization, and I am licensed to practice massage in the state of Kentucky. I am also certified to practice massage in the state of Indiana. I uphold the ABMP's code of ethics as well as the Kentucky licensed massage therapist code of ethics.

I applied for licensure in Kentucky so that I may have the flexibility to offer my Louisville clients massage therapy in their homes. Massage therapists must be licensed by the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Massage Therapy to practice massage in Kentucky. To become licensed, a massage therapist must prove he/she has adequate training, abides by a code of ethics, and obtains at least 24 hours of continuing education in massage every two years.

Indiana's certification is what's referred to as a 'title protection act' meaning a massage therapist cannot call himself/herself a 'massage therapist' or 'certified massage therapist' without obtaining the Indiana state certification. The requirements to become certified in Indiana are similar to those for licensure in Kentucky. To remain certified I must renew my certification every 4 years and abide by a set of professional standards determined by the Indiana State Board of Massage Therapy.

I worked part-time in the evenings in 1999 at Advanced Massage Therapeutics in Louisville, Kentucky, until just before I got married and moved to Salem, Indiana. I've continued to practice massage on family and friends since then but the demands of my full-time job in Louisville had until recently kept me from devoting sufficient time to grow my massage practice here in Salem. I postponed applying for national certification until such a time when I had an active massage practice. Now that I do, I have initiated the process and expect to become nationally certified to practice massage soon.