About Us

At Carolina Massage institute, we believe massage therapy is both an art and a science. The art lies in the therapist’s ability to create a conversation with the client, both verbally and nonverbally. Our program develops therapists’ ability to create a treatment plan to help clients feel balanced, centered, and deeply heard.

To support this intuitive conversation, we ground therapists in the best practices, using research-backed Western and Eastern approaches. Because any good conversation includes a lot of questions and careful attention to the answers, we teach our therapists to stay critically aware and up-to-date on the latest medical approaches to manual therapy. Our students graduate with a balanced sense of creativity and rationality to serve each unique client for the benefit of the individual and the greater community.

Program director Sara Owens is always available at info@carolinamassageinstitute.com. We encourage you to make an appointment to visit, ask all your questions, tour the space, and get to know us!

Faculty

Ruth Newnam, our director of education, is the lead instructor for CMI’s business and self-care courses. Ruth came to bodywork after a short stint in fundraising and event planning, working with local nonprofits and athletic organizations. The time came in 2001 to find a career that allowed her to provide direct services to the people in her community; she chose the massage therapy diploma program at the Body Therapy Institute in Siler City. Immediately upon graduation, Ruth trained at the Vodder School for Manual Lymph Drainage and Combined Decongestive Therapy in order to work with cancer survivors. Lymphatic massage has been proven a very effective tool to use with athletes, as well. Her private practice in Carrboro, Carrboro Massage Therapy, stays booked and houses several other massage therapists and healthcare providers.

Ruth’s past as a Division I swimmer at the College of William and Mary and her master’s degree from UNC–Chapel Hill in Sport Administration (1996) led her to work with teams and administrators in UNC Athletics and with the President of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Dr. LeRoy Walker. Since becoming a massage therapist, Ruth has worked with the UNC Men’s Basketball and Volleyball teams and several professional athletes. Her observations of the athlete’s need for therapeutic care on a daily basis led Ruth to understand how much self-care massage therapists need for their physically demanding jobs. She specializes in teaching clients and instructors self-care routines to improve their quality of life and to increase the longevity of their physically demanding careers.

Ruth had an early advantage understanding the business side of massage from her graduate program and her five years in fundraising. Her understanding of types of business structures, accounting practices, and types of employment have evolved from her studies, professional experience, and 15 years of trial and error learning in the local massage therapy field. Most importantly, Ruth brings a wealth of anecdotal knowledge, experience, and common sense to creating, maintaining, and developing a massage business and career. Her strategies for communicating and doing business with clients will bring CMI’s students into the modern era of running a small business, negotiating pay and benefits, navigating the healthcare world, and creating a network of peer professional support.

Ruth realizes that her talents and skills as a massage therapist are only half of the equation for success in her field. Her directness, common sense, consistency, and reliability are the other half. Students will learn that their business practices overlap significantly with their self-care practices and that their professional success will depend greatly upon their personal development.

John McKelvey, CMI’s lead teacher, served on the faculty at the Body Therapy Institute from 2001 to 2016: as an assistant hands-on instructor (2001–4), and lead hands-on instructor from 2004 to 2016. At CMI, John’s topics include Swedish massage, myofascial massage, and clinical integration. John is a BTI graduate, NC LMBT (#1592), and an ABMP member. John completed structural integration certification through Kinesis Myofascial Integration (KMI) in 2008. Since then, he has completed Ralph Stevens’s medical massage program, leadership training with Strozzi Institute, and Visceral Manipulation for Structural Integrators through the Rolf Institute.

Students in John’s classes will learn to use fundamental techniques, proper body mechanics, and sound clinical reasoning to move beyond full-body massage sequences into unique client-centered strategies for improved therapeutic results.

John holds a master’s degree in Geology from UNC–Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in natural resources from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. John’s former career includes environmental consulting and three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines. John has a private practice in Chapel Hill, NC.

Laura Terry is anatomy and physiology teacher at CMI. Laura graduated from UNC–Chapel Hill with a degree in exercise and sport science in 1995. She received her master’s degree in physical therapy at East Carolina University in 1998. Laura studied gross anatomy, functional anatomy and biomechanics, physiology, and pathology for her PT degree.

Laura has been practicing physical therapy for 18 years in many different settings, working with a variety of patients and clients. She currently has a private practice, Yoga and PT, where she uses yoga as a therapeutic exercise along with traditional PT. She uses bodywork techniques as part of her practice and has been specifically trained in a gentle manual treatment called Integrated Positional Therapy.

Her studies and work have led her to be amazed at the human body’s ability to locomote, to allow us to feel, to work, to heal, to learn, to give birth, to grow, to age. She has been witness to and participated in the body’s healing from trauma, disease, overuse, and neglect. The incredible ability of the body to process all of these states of being and work to bring itself to a point of balance is astounding and has fueled Laura to learn more about how the body functions and what we do to make our bodies better and healthier.

Laura will share her enthusiasm for learning about the human body and how it works with the students at CMI. It’s important for you as a massage therapist to know what feels normal under your hands, and which abnormalities are pathological versus normal variations. Clients will come to you with a problem, and you will want to know the anatomy of the area, what types of treatments will make it worse or better, when to refer a client to another medical professional, and the general pathology of the diagnosis with expected outcomes. This knowledge will make you a better massage therapist and holistic practitioner, and it will help your clients feel truly cared for.

Anatomy and physiology can be dry and require time and memorization, but Laura will help you feel awe for and be inspired to learn about the body and its amazing ability to function. We will use several different techniques for learning, including written, visual, experiential movement, and palpation, so that every type of learner can master the information.

Stacy Hewitt, L.Ac, LMBT, is our Eastern energetics instructor. Stacy’s journey to become an alternative healthcare provider started in 1997 when he graduated from the Carolina School of Massage Therapy and furthered his postgraduate education with advanced certifications in geriatric, orthopedic, and structural bodywork. He also pursued training in Jin Shin Do acupressure and Reiki. With his training as a massage therapist, Stacy volunteered at a Community Holistic HIV clinic. While volunteering, Stacy witnessed the healing power of Chinese medicine through the use of acupressure alone, and that sparked his interest to pursue advanced studies in Chinese medicine.

Graduating at the top of his class, Stacy received his four-year graduate degree in acupuncture at the Jung Tao School of Classical Chinese Medicine in Sugar Grove, North Carolina. While at Jung Tao he was fortunate to have studied in the lineage of one of the world’s great masters of classical Chinese medicine, Nguyen Van Nghi. Stacy currently practices acupuncture full time in addition to teaching acupuncture clinical skills at his alma mater.

Stacy’s expertise in acupuncture and acupressure combined with his enthusiasm for teaching and real-world clinical experience makes him an excellent resource for his students. Incorporating real-life experience and hands-on practice, Stacy’s classes not only provide an understanding of Chinese medicine and energy work, but more importantly provide valuable bodywork techniques that can easily be incorporated with any massage modality.