Mentorship for Massage Therapists
Mentorship for Massage Therapists
~and other helping professionals~
Learn to prevent burnout, improve patient relationships and deepen career satisfaction and meaning.
Less pressure to optimize your life.
More attunement with your totally reasonable human needs.
Somatic mentorship and coaching is a unique space where you can:
Gradually repair your ability to track and meet your own needs
Learn how bypassed emotions can become fuel for courageous action
Explore your goals for work in a spacious yet focused way
Over the course of our work together, you’ll re-discover the personal depths you haven’t had space for recently — and learn to navigate them with mature skill and confidence.
And you’ll gradually move from nervous system literacy to fluency, which can help you make decisions more intentionally, find creative flow and engage with the fullness of your experience…
Imagine…
We’ve been meeting monthly, or biweekly for a little while…
You’ve acquired new tools to avoid being overdrawn as a helping professional in this extractive culture.
You’ve identified meaningful and reliable ways to replenish yourself and you are feeling less burned out.
Even if your responsibilities aren’t getting lighter anytime soon, you have more breathing room to be the real, whole, human you… At home, at work and beyond.
And… The list of people you care for now includes you.
LET’S WORK ON THIS TOGETHER.
No magic wand.
No 10-steps to a better you.
No ridiculous claims or promises.
Just steady, reliable support and change.
We need critical thinking and body fluency to navigate these times.
I’m Annie Bray (she/her). I’m a Trauma-Informed Somatic Practitioner.
I value our cognitive discernment and our body wisdom equally.
My work supports your integration of the two, so you can show up for the people and the work you love without burning out or losing heart.
My coaching and mentorship methodology is informed by 20 years of hands-on bodywork and concurrent studies in trauma recovery, applied polyvagal theory, meditation, yoga and advanced coaching skills.
I believe finding our way in these highly dysregulating times requires more critical thinking and more embodied connection; with self, spirit, nature, and each other.
To deepen our analysis as we restore those connections is why I do this work.
COACHING & MENTORSHIP
Details
My approach to somatic mentorship can support you in developing embodied fluency, building discernment in your body and moving towards your relational, personal and creative goals.
We do this through custom 1:1 sessions that can include dialogue, guided meditation, grounding exercises and movement, practiced in a relational space that fosters safety and connection.
Sessions can happen online or in my Ottawa office.
Usually this work is best integrated over the course of 3 months or longer, with built in time to rest and digest.
Here’s how our work together flows:
We start with a zero-pressure introduction call to make sure we’re right for each other.
This is a chance for you to ask questions and to get a sense of who I am and how the mentorship process works. If we agree to work together we will book your first few appointments and I will send you a questionnaire to fill out before we start. Ideally, you can set aside some time and use this as a reflection practice.
We have our first session to identify your big-picture needs.
The first in our series of sessions is a supportive conversation and somatic exploration to help us create a map of our work together and to get a sense of how often we will meet and for how long.
We begin! Your 60-minute sessions happen on a schedule of your choosing. I recommend meeting at a regular time every 2-4 weeks because our nervous system loves a reliable rhythm.
These sessions will be your space to attune your awareness and deepen into your embodiment skills. I want you to feel good about moving through what’s present, without pushing, perfecting, or punishing.
Pricing
$250 CAD/ Intake session
$170 CAD/ Ongoing sessions
I recommend a 3-month commitment with biweekly sessions to start, as a guideline.
Your first session includes:
Intake questionnaire (30-60 min, on your own time, before we meet.)
75-minute session
Session summary with a proposed program outline- A flexible guide for our work together.
Ongoing sessions are 55-minutes and include a session summary.
Annie is the safe space that you’ve been looking for
“I work as a massage therapist and I’m a highly sensitive person that struggles with anxiety. Like many other medical professionals, I found that practicing during the thick of the pandemic started to take its toll on me.
I began coaching with Annie when I decided that burning out from compassion fatigue wasn’t good for my health anymore.
Our coaching sessions have guided me back to taking care of myself by learning how to resource within my life and own body through somatic movement practices and breath work.”
Jennifer/ Registered Massage Therapist
Annie is so supportive and it was wonderful working with her
“As a healthcare provider directly involved in the pandemic response while also parenting 2 small kids and trying to break unhealthy intergenerational cycles, I had been struggling for years.
Working with Annie helped me apply what I was learning in therapy and implement practical changes in my everyday life using somatic practices. I was able to find more space for my own emotional experience and more connection with my family, in addition to making significant improvements in my job situation.”
Physician
What support do you need so that you can stay resourced and mobilized?
How does this work differs from therapy?
My approach to somatics can be supportive in addition to therapy or even by itself, however I am not a clinical therapist trained to resolve acute mental health crises.
I offer my work through a trauma-informed lens, because trauma is a normal yet often untended part of life and this work is an excellent support for anyone on a post-traumatic growth journey.
At the same time, if you are currently in crisis or have a history of unresolved trauma, I would suggest bringing in dedicated support for that before we start working together.
If you’re not sure if this is the right fit I’m here to help figure that out. I will always prioritize your wellbeing and refer you to alternate professionals when I believe that’s needed.
Reach out here.
Let’s create breathing room for you to experience—
and celebrate
your whole human self.
You chose a life path that could satisfy your ambition and your desire to contribute, and you’re doing it through highly dysregulating times.
From climate change to systemic oppression and political polarization, it’s natural that our bodies should respond to this level of threat for which there is no quick fix.
It’s never been more important to learn practical, heartfelt strategies to support your mental health as you navigate the demands of this extractive culture.
Somatic mentorship can help guide your boat in a new direction while steering clear of cultural tropes of the “selfless servant” with a heart of gold.
Let’s create some space to honour the pieces of you that have gone missing since you stepped into a role that sometimes asks more of you than seems reasonable.
You are worth tending to as you are, right now.
You do not have to fit any social ideal of the selfless caregiver.
What if you could experience more meaning and nourishment in your life, while continuing to pursue the work that matters to you.
I want you to have a baseline foundation of resourcefulness, a sense of emotional plumpness, and the discernment to meet your needs even when days are dry, difficult or unglamorous.
I’m here to help you unravel and reconnect to what’s most meaningful right now, so you can gently steer your ship in a direction that feels sustainable and even joyful…
Even as we navigate these increasingly challenging times.