Jamie Johnston RMT is the founder of www.themtdc.com. He is passionate about furthering the professionalism and education of RMT’s. He is also a firefighter, first aid, Sport First Responder, and EMR instructor, and former clinical supervisor at WCCMT – Victoria. He has spent years working in sport, initially working with our local Junior A hockey team, the Victoria Grizzlies for seven years, one of which spent as head trainer and medical director. He also spent a year working with our national Men’s 7’s Rugby team, has worked with UBC swim team, along with other sports like rowing and Ironman. For the past four years has also been working with (and continues to) Hockey Canada in the women’s development program. His teaching style, sense of humour and humility has consistently received fantastic reviews from those who have attended his courses.
Eric Purves MRSc, RMT has been an RMT since 2006. He has a full-time practice and co-owns Achieve Health, a multidisciplinary clinic in Victoria, BC. He was a co-chair for the Registered Massage Therapists Association of BC (RMTBC) advanced practice group in pain management. The groups objective is to provide education and resources for evidence-based treatments and effective pain management strategies for manual and movement therapists. In 2016, Eric joined the education faculty at PainBC where he teaches a course on persistent pain management. He also has his own education company where he regularly teaches across North America workshops on pain, manual therapy, movement/exercise therapies and rehabilitation principles for health care providers. His graduate studies at the University of British Columbia focused on the application of research evidence in healthcare practice. Eric’s presented his research at conferences and has had articles published throughout the world in various massage therapy journals.
Jocelyn Kirton, RMT has been an RMT since 2013. She has taken a special interest in treating patients with persistent pain, specifically in the abdominal and pelvic regions. Her treatment foundations are built around a neurocentric patient centred clinical reasoning framework. Her educational and practical experiences have given her the unique opportunity to incorporate her knowledge base allowing for a modern and evidence-based approach to persistent abdominal and pelvic pain. In addition to her abdominal and pelvic focus, Jocelyn revolves her practice around guided recovery to encourage and empower her patients to take control of their health by giving them at home strategies to help manage their pain.
As an instructor of Massage Therapy at CDI college, Jocelyn worked with the women’s health in-reach. Her educational abilities instilled confidence and skill in her students when treating patients with pelvic pain.
Jocelyn also taught the introduction to sports treatment course and oversaw the sports outreach, bridging classroom comprehension and treating athletic patient populations together.
Outside of her practice, Jocelyn wants to impact the Massage Therapy profession by educating RMTs on the positive impact the profession can have for people dealing with abdominal and pelvic pain. Jocelyn is motivated for other health care professionals to recognize the benefit patients with pelvic pain would receive from seeing an RMT. In her opinion, it’s time we get comfortable as a profession in managing patients with abdominal and pelvic pain that is evidence informed and safe.
Emily York, RMT graduated from the West Coast College of Massage Therapy in 2014 and has been working as a Registered Massage Therapist since May 2015. Over the years and with the influence of new evidence and continuing education Emily’s practice has grown and morphed to where it is now. She has always operated under the idea that “you treat the patient, not the condition” and in the early years of her practice this placed a heavy emphasis on learning different massage techniques. This included numerous assessment courses, an introduction to visceral manipulation, and instrument assisted soft tissue manipulation.
It was attending a low back and pelvic assessment course, in addition to the RMTBC’s “Mental Health and Massage Therapy” conference that introduced Emily to the Biopsychosocial model of treating patients. Furthermore, Emily completed her 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher Training in 2018 and in 2019 started her Bachelor of Arts in Leadership at Trinity Western University.
In her personal life Emily spent several years volunteering in an addiction rehabilitation facility and has spent the last several years on a journey of self discovery which has resulted in uncovering her passion for food, art, weightlifting, running, hiking, boxing, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Emily’s vision in life is to support and empower the people around her to be the best versions of themselves and in her practice, this is evident through her commitment to an evidence-based practice and patient centered care. Emily is passionate about education, supporting people with persistent pain, and helping them understand when you are seen, heard, and validated we can create a treatment plan specific to you.
Emily works with patients experiencing prenatal and post-partum concerns, overuse injuries, persistent pelvic and low back pain, fatigue, PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
