When registered massage therapist Beth Atkinson approached counsellor Kate Roach about working together in a multidisciplinary health clinic in downtown Parksville, it turned into the world’s easiest sales pitch.
“I used to champion this idea at one time, before life took me in a little different direction,” said Roach, one of four practitioners at Foundations Complementary Health Centre. “When Beth contacted me, it was the perfect invitation. For years I thought it was something I’d really love to do.”
Foundations, which opened its doors in May, combines the healing arts of registered massage therapists Atkinson and Kylie Parker; the therapeutic yoga, meditation and reiki of Taryn Pickard; and the counselling work of Roach, whose main focus is working with clients in a transitional stage of life.
The women will introduce themselves and their collaborative approach in an open house Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 6-9 p.m. Foundations is located at
172 Weld St.
“Our hope with the open house is to thank the people who have helped us with the conception of this place and to showcase ourselves, obviously,” said Atkinson, who purchased the building and opened the business after relocating last year from Victoria. “But it’s also to highlight the community connections we are developing as we are maturing.
“What we’re trying to accomplish is a resource for people. We’re trying to help people with the all-encompassing aspect of their life rather than looking at one symptom or issue.”
Foundations is the brainchild of Atkinson, 47, a 20-year massage therapist who owned a clinic in Victoria for 15 years before moving to Nanoose Bay when her husband Steve took a new job in the Nanaimo area. She was in the midst of wrapping up her bachelor’s degree in health sciences from Thompson Rivers University and looking into changing the model of her clinic to incorporate other healing practices.
“What I felt was sometimes missing in applying one modality, is every life isn’t fixed by treating one aspect; we’re limited in what we can give them as a single practitioner,” Atkinson said. “I was really wanting to do that complementary thing.”
With the lease on her Victoria building just coming due, Atkinson was preparing two years ago to use the lease renewal as a chance to put her new plan into action. That was knocked off track when her husband’s new job led to their move but, the pieces of the Foundations puzzle fell into place with an ease and speed that made the clinic’s launch seem pre-ordained.
First, Steve found the current clinic building for sale on the multiple-listing service — “right in the medical hub of downtown Parksville,” Atkinson said. After making the purchase in February of this year, she was then granted an extended closing date, which she spent locating and recruiting a diverse group of women, each of whom just happened to be in the exact place in their own life to jump at the chance.
Parker, 27, found Atkinson via a message on the Registered Massage Therapists of B.C. Facebook page. A Parksville native, Parker had just returned from a six-month stay in Calgary with the hope of starting her career in her hometown.
“I met with her a few times, heard her ideas on a clinic and loved the idea,” said Parker. “I’ve always wanted to work in a multidisciplinary clinic with other health professionals like physio (therapists), acupuncturists, yoga instructors and stuff like that.
“When she came to me about the counselling and yoga and bringing in other health-care professionals, that’s what attracted me to it.”
Atkinson got Roach’s name through a fellow massage therapist. Roach, now in her 60s and “the oldster” of the group, is another local who raised her children in Qualicum Beach before going on to live in Toronto, Vancouver and a few other places while running a market research company she owned.
Roach had also earned a BA in psychology from Antioch University in Seattle, and following the death of her husband moved back to Parksville to work with small groups of clients out of her home.
“The last couple of years I was moving out of the market research and developing a very small (counselling) clientele until Beth came along and announced she was doing something I used to dream about, too,” Roach said.
Pickard, 27, may be the most unlikely addition to the team. Atkinson learned of her through the contractor who was working on her home, and who happens to be Pickard’s in-law.
“I was teaching yoga and working for Dave (Kasprick) doing welding and blacksmithing,” said Pickard (nee Taryn Scammell). “Both of those things were coming to an end just as this opened up, so that was perfect timing.”
Pickard finished her 200-level yoga teacher training a year and a half ago, and focuses on therapeutic yoga for anxiety, depression and other emotional ailments, rather than for fitness.
“It’s very different from a lot of other yoga spaces where the primary goal is fitness, or social,” she said. “That’s awesome, but that’s not where my passion lies. It lies in bringing healing to people through yoga, and through their practice bringing healing back to their bodies.”
Each of the women has a specialized focus area, though they are not limited within their practice. Parker said her “soft spot” is for pre- and post-natal massage.
while Atkinson says she focuses on care of cancer patients with lymphedema.
“A lot of what’s going on right now is all of us learning how to be in this space with each other,” Atkinson said. “It’s like, ‘How do we do this?’ You can’t just jump right in when there’s no mould. We’re developing a mould that we hope is going to represent what we’re going to look like two, three, five years down the road.”
Atkinson’s longer-term vision includes adding other practitioners, which she said the physical building space will permit with the sharing of space and flexible scheduling. The clinic also places a strong emphasis on collaboration outside its walls, which Atkinson admits has taken other area practitioners by surprise.
“I phoned another RMT and said, ‘I know you’re working with so-and-so; do you want to collaborate on that?’” she said. “And she was, ‘Oh, my God, what a great idea!’
“We’re working toward improving that person’s health, but it surprises people when you reach out to them, especially within the same practice or discipline. Even though it’s an old concept, it’s very new in practice.”
Roach said it’s an idea whose time has come — and hopefully come to stay.
“We’re here to give each individual direction to whatever degree we can, to help them to move forward,” said Roach. “That doesn’t necessarily mean staying with us.
“What we have here in this space right now is wonderful and I think we all bring really, really important things to the mental and physical health of people we bring into our sphere. And I only see that growing.”
To learn more, visit www.foundationshealthcentre.com, email info@foundationshealthcentre.com or call 250-586-5442.
