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Jake had spent many years working in the hospitality industry and the hours had just become too consuming and left him with no life or time to spend with family. Jake was drawn to the fact that as a Remedial Massage Therapist he didn’t have to be tied to regular business hours and could choose to be more flexible in when he worked and how often.

The Diploma of Remedial Massage was a 12-month course with °ÄÂ鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥, on-campus learning, and 100 hrs practical work in the on-campus clinic. The course was challenging in the beginning, Jake had no previous experience in human anatomy, but was keen to develop his skills in this area. Jake’s learning experience also came at a time during the COVID pandemic, so he had to shift to online study during lockdowns. This change came with its own set of challenges and he felt like he was missing the opportunity to complete the practical learning alongside the theory. However, thanks to the great staff and a great trainer providing him with support and guidance online and over the phone, Jake was able to focus on developing his knowledge of human anatomy and remedial massage. Once lockdowns lifted, he was able to return to the clinic with clients and this gave him more confidence in his ability to become a qualified therapist.

Jake’s favourite part of the course was the Atwea Clinic which involved practical lessons where he got to have hands-on experience with a client, getting to put the theory to practice which was very rewarding, and helped him to gain more confidence to complete the course.

Jake chose °ÄÂ鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥ as his husband used to work at the Cooks Hill campus and recommended he choose the school to complete the course as Atwea offers a more hands-on approach to learning and is very accommodating to people with learning disabilities.

Jake loved his time with Atwea, the staff were extremely nice and helpful through the entire year of study. He had one of the best trainers of his life during the course and contributes his ability to complete such an in-depth course to her and her patience.

Jake has started his own business, Mr Massage Man, offering mobile and private home clinic remedial massage treatments across Newcastle & the Lake Macquarie area.

His goal for the future is to expand Mr Massage Man and hopefully open more clinics in town employing more therapists to work under the Mr Massage Man brand.

In 2022 during his time at °ÄÂ鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥, whilst trying to complete the course, Jake also had the stress of planning a wedding and dealing with covid and its challenges. It was still a great experience for him and he would do it all again. A fantastic trainer and administrative team made it a very positive experience. Now Jake is running his very first business with a large client base that keeps growing and says he has °ÄÂ鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥ to thank for that.