Healing Tree Massage + Wellness Studio is a collective of Healthcare Professionals working as a team to help you attain your goals of health and wellness with Registered Massage Therapy, Acupuncture and Wellness Classes.
We feel very fortunate to be able to do what we love as our professions and we strive to give every client exceptional quality of care.
We believe in empowering our clients and will encourage you to take ownership of your health. We emphasize education on your specific health concern and provide instruction on exercises that will help you continue your goals between treatments at home.
We look forward to meeting you at Healing Tree Massage + Wellness Studio!
Meet the Team
It is with great joy that Talia brings to you Healing Tree Massage & Wellness Studio. Healing Tree comes from Talia’s vision that by creating a warm, welcoming and supportive environment, everyone can attain optimal health and well-being. She invites us all to embrace a slower way of being and to take time to reconnect with Self.
Being a Registered Massage Therapist is a profoundly fulfilling profession for Talia. It has afforded her many incredible opportunities over the last 17 years giving her the chance to travel within Canada and abroad to gain valuable experience treating a wide variety of conditions some of which include common sports injuries, post surgical care, nerve impingement syndromes, scoliosis, repetitive strain injuries, edema, sciatica and headaches/migraines.
Talia takes every opportunity to better her skills through enrolling in many continuing education courses annually. Her treatments may include myofasical release, osteopathic manipulations, muscle energy technique, trigger point therapy and active isolated stretching inter-weaved with traditional swedish massage techniques.
Talia’s ability to make you feel relaxed and comfortable coupled with her talent to see the body comprehensively will make you feel ensured that you are in good hands. She looks forward to meeting you at Healing Tree and to helping you attain your goals of health and well-being.
Talia Garner, RMT/Owner
Thur/Fri
Alexandra’s own journey with chronic pain and stress helped ignite her passion and drive to support others with theirs. This led her to train to become an RMT at VCMT where she graduated with honours.
She understands everyone’s story contributes to their health and she is dedicated to finding out how each person’s life experiences correlate with their discomfort. With this knowledge and her additional training in trauma informed massage therapy she formulates treatment plans that are very intentional and tailored to each client to help them attain optimal health.
Originally from Australia, Alexandra came to Canada in 2013. After exploring the country from coast to coast, she fell in love with the beauty of BC and now calls Vancouver home.
Outside of work, Alexandra loves travelling, camping, true crime documentaries, reading autobiographies, gardening and singing karaoke.
She is excited to be part of the Healing Tree Team to help support our amazing clientele with their goals of health and wellness!
Alexandra Carey, RMT
Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri
**NOTICE: Sonya is moving to a Gulf Island early November 2023**
- We are excited for Sonya’ new adventure but sad to see her leave Healing Tree. We know so many clients will miss her too! Keep your eyes open for the occasional weekend she might add to our schedule when we comes back to visit 🙂 Best of luck Sonya!
Bio:
With nearly two decades of experience teaching yoga and personal training, Sonya expanded her knowledge and recently became a Registered Massage Therapist graduating with honours from VCMT.
She is dedicated to helping her clients feel good in their own bodies and she enjoys giving them tailored tools and homecare exercises for their specific concerns to help them feel empowered and an active participant in their healing journey.
Sonya’s massage style has a meditative flowing quality to it and her intention is to make the transition from one treatment technique to the next feel as seamless as possible. She enjoys being able to be creative with her treatments as she sees massage therapy as an artform. She incorporates myofascial release, trigger point release work when necessary, joint play and gentle joint mobilizations when indicated, assisted and passive stretching, static pressure techniques and of course, Swedish massage techniques into a relaxing and effective treatment for her clients.
Sonya grew up in the Lower Mainland and has a love for world travel. Her adventurous spirit has seen her hiking the W (backwards) in Torres Del Paine National Park, Patagonia, Chile by herself with a 20L backpack and Hennessy hammock in only 5 days!
When outside of Healing Tree you can find Sonya soaking in nature and being near water. She also enjoys walks and yoga and spending time with her 2 beautiful daughters and her black cat named Oliver who is a wise 19 year old (or 92 year old in human years!)
Sonya is available for Massage Therapy appointments Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and she looks forward to meeting you at Healing Tree soon.
Sonya Pitcairn, RMT
**NOTICE: Sonya is moving to a Gulf Island early November 2023**
One of the first questions I get asked is “Why did you become an RMT” in the beginning of my career I always said something like “because I really wanted to help people” and left it at that. Now that I have worked with many clients my answer is this, “I love this career because I get to help people feel good and healthy. I live for the days when my clients come into my treatment room excited and say “I didn’t feel any pain last week when I went for my daily walks” or “I could actually reach the shelf in my kitchen without help” or the look on my client’s face when they get off my table and realize the pain in their back is gone and they get to walk out of the clinic with what feels like a different body and for the rest of the day they can forget that they had pain in the morning. That is why I became and RMT.
Hi, my name Meghan and I am a RMT graduate from Vancouver Career College. I enjoy working with older and youth populations. A couple of facts about me: prior to my RMT training I went to school and became a Certified Personal Trainer and I enjoy working as a trainer part time along with my work as an RMT. In my spare time I love to go hiking, traveling the world, and trying different kinds of foods, especially trying every kind of ice cream I can find.
I look forward to meeting you at Healing Tree!
Meghan Mitterer, RMT
Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed
Rebecca is passionate about helping people feel comfortable in their bodies, whether it’s through providing support for an injury, maintaining movement, or grounding through relaxation.
After studying at the West Coast College of Massage Therapy, she developed her approach to massage therapy, which is one that encourages well-being, stress reduction, and facilitates functional movement.
Gravitating toward stretching techniques, myofascial release, passive movements, and intuitive Swedish massage, Rebecca works with each client to optimize wellness. Her goal is to provide a comforting space for her clients to relax, release tension, heal, and get back to the lifestyles and activities that they enjoy.
Born and raised in Victoria, Rebecca has lived an active lifestyle on the island and enjoys hiking, practicing yoga, and movement of any form.
She looks forward to meeting you at Healing Tree!
Rebecca Jansen, RMT
Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri
After a lifelong fascination with movement and human anatomy, Nicole’s journey into Massage Therapy began in 2005 when she moved to Vancouver to study at Vancouver School of Bodywork and Massage. Upon graduation she stayed in Vancouver and began a career in the spa industry. With a thirst for knowledge she went on to complete her RMT and graduated from Vancouver College of Massage Therapy in 2010.
In 2015, Nicole joined the faculty at Vancouver School of Bodywork and Massage sharing her knowledge and passion for massage with future practitioners. Along with her academic studies she was also training in dance and circus arts further deepening her understanding of movement in the body. She has continued her movement practice and teaches dance and movement wellness classes in Vancouver. As a creative mover and self proclaimed “anatomy nerd”, she has developed a holistic approach to wellness and aims to restore balance by treating the whole body and bringing calm to the mind. She enjoys working to help restore structural imbalances, treat injuries, and help you improve flexibility, strength and overall muscle health. Forever a student, she is continuing studies in rehabilitative pilates and exercise, craniosacral and osteopathic techniques which she incorporates into her treatments and home care plans.
Nicole now offers Therapeutic Movement Massage which is a combination of her movement background and massage training. These treatments incorporate hands-on techniques to free up restrictions followed by a 1/1 exercise portion where you will receive a stretch and strength program tailored to your specific needs. Nicole helps patients to understand anatomy and movement which empowers them to better understand the source of their pain and equips them with strategies to restore strength and balance.
Nicole Schlemm, RMT
Tue/Wed/Thur/Fri
Jennifer is passionate about healing and has dedicated the past eight years to improving the health and wellness of others. By connecting with her clients she tailors her treatments to each client’s unique needs by incorporating a variety of techniques and approaches she deems best suited for them. Jennifer believes that knowledge is power. Through education and homecare exercises she aims to help her clients achieve their health goals to become the best version of themselves.
Beyond the clinic, she can be found appreciating all mother nature has to offer, sewing up a storm or upside down practicing aerial arts.
Jennifer Nguyen, RMT
Tue/Wed
A born movement enthusiast, Julia is ecstatic to guide people on the journey of re-establishing their connections to their bodies. A trained dancer, she moved to Vancouver from Calgary a decade ago to complete her Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia in Computational Intelligence and Design, and ended up falling in love with Vancouver’s rich underground dance, music, and art scene. A few years later, as a result of deep soul-searching and reflection after graduation, she has decided to pursue work that will be more enriching to her community and herself.
She is a recent graduate of the Vancouver College of Massage Therapy, where she graduated with honours. Combining her passion for health and wellness, her training in dance and theatre, and her research-based, analytical mind, Julia blends more mechanical, orthopaedic techniques with holistic, relaxing Swedish massage, as needed for each person’s unique body.
When off-duty, Julia can be found immersing herself in the arts, most likely in a dance studio, be it teaching, training, or playing. She also loves catching up with her friends, family, and pets, and staying active in the gym or nature.
Julia Litke, RMT
Mon/Tues/Wed/Thur
After years of care-giving and personal family experience with childhood oncology Don naturally progressed into the manual therapy field in 2009. While training at Vancouver Community College in the Occupational Physical Therapist Assistant (OPTA) program, Don worked with the physiotherapy teams on the Acute Care for Elderly (ACE) units at both Lions Gate and Vancouver General hospitals. He also completed occupational therapy placements at Royal Colombian and the Colony Farms Forensic Psychiatric Hospital working with traumatic brain injured and stroke patients.
Due to chronic relapses with his oldest son Owen’s leukemia, Don moved on to working in the Burnaby school board as an educational assistant for children with special needs. This allowed Don and Owen the freedom to travel for multiple trials and treatments at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MA. While there he was further introduced to the profession of Registered Massage Therapy.
On returning to Canada, Don decided to supplement his skill set with formal training in the field of RMT, where he graduated from the Vancouver College of Massage Therapy with the Achievement Award for his class. His life and work experience over the last 13 years has left Don well versed in a wide range of health conditions and rehabilitative areas.
Don Barrett, RMT
Sun/Mon
After a rewarding yet strenuous career in the media industry, Lillian found herself ridden with tension headaches, bodily pain, and anxiety. The stress of the industry had her trying all sorts of remedies for her ailments, but it wasn’t until she tried acupuncture that everything changed. After her acupuncture program and several months of work experience in a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital in Nanjing, China, she knew that she had found her calling. To this day, her zest for the practice is clear, as she continues to stay on top of the latest research and newest practices.
Upon learning about her journey to acupuncture, it’s easy to see why the most rewarding part of her practice is helping people with physiological as well as emotional pain (ie. anxiety, stress, depression). While she interested in treating all sorts of pain, she is particularly recommended for those who would like aid in digestive disorders, women’s health, and sleeping irregularities. Lillian provides complimentary gua sha (skin scraping) detoxification and cupping if needed in her treatments. She is also fluent in Mandarin.
Lillian Wei, R. Ac.
Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat
Born on the sunshine coast and spending most of his life on the west coast of BC, Steven is passionate about helping others stay healthy and pain free so they can live their best lives and enjoy everything this beautiful place has to offer. He enjoys exploring the outdoors, and has hiked and photographed much of the west coast.
Through the many modalities learnt in his journey, Steven strives to help clients of all ages and from all walks of life to ease tension and stress, and align their body to achieve optimal mobility and function.
He is experienced in treating a wide variety of systemic and orthopedic conditions, such as strains or sprains, and repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel or plantar fasciitis, fractures and scars, and many other causes of pain or discomfort such as scoliosis, frozen shoulder syndrome, headaches and high stress, and a wide range of neurological conditions. Whatever your goals and needs are, Steven will help you to achieve them.
He enjoys helping others improve from postural dysfunction both at work and in everyday life, as well as to achieve fitness goals to further develop towards life goals in sport or hobby, and working together with his clients through stretches, strengthening exercises, and changes in activities of daily life has brought about positive changes that allows for better movement, energy levels, and functionality, as well as improved sleep and mood.
Steven Rheaume, RMT
Mon/Tue/Wed/Thurs