I think anyone that touches therapeutically would benefit from this course. Dr. Olson has clearly spent a great deal of time studying the overlaps between the fields of neuroscience, manual therapy, pain science, and trauma. Participants will be able to fast track themselves into the most recent explanatory models of why manual therapy works, and which historical explanations are under scrutiny and why. It also offers evidenced-based approaches for how we communicate with those in our care, which as it turns out can adversely affect outcomes when not understood and managed properly.
This course was amazing. I am the coordinator for a team of massage therapists at a comprehensive cancer center and we are involved in NIH funded clinical research. This was the perfect continuing education class for this team because it is highly evidence-informed, integrative, and broadly applicable in many different types of roles.
Mark is an expert in neuro-based massage therapy and I would describe his content as highly integrative, thoughtful, and beneficial to anyone working in any setting. By learning these concepts slowly, methodically, and with time and space for application throughout the course, I believe this course could empower massage therapists to have significantly better outcomes with pain, and build better relationships with a wide range of other integrative, allied, and medical health providers.
I found this course to be very useful in reframing how we think about and address pain with our clients. This is truly a new perspective about what really helps and I believe it be essential in being effective and ethical practitioners and helpers.
Your ability to model and demonstrate humility and talk about science like a scientist rather than like a cereal commercial was absolutely refreshing and I think something that will serve as a model for those folks who hope to continue to engage with clinical research down the line.
Your “classroom management” is absolutely amazing, your ability to field questions that at times sounded inane and highly ignorant with a high degree of patience, respect, and generous assumptions was fantastic. You created a very safe learning environment for a very diverse group of learners, from people with very high ACES+Dyslexia+verbal/written knowledge gaps, to people who are highly entrenched in biased and misinformed scientific communities – you created a classroom that was safe and effective for everyone.
Thank you for updating this information for anyone who is interested in learning, Mark! It is really empowering and gives me a lot to think about for many days after the classes.
The course was deep and profound. Emotions were felt and touched on. I took away a lot from it. And simply connecting and being in a class again was very needed. Imagining this is helpful on many levels !! Thank you thank you!
I wish this curriculum was required across the board for ALL Healthcare, let alone manual therapy.
More testimonials:
“This class is shattering my illusions.”
“I’ve never been so energized about learning anything before.”
“Mark is great at maintaining focus while also allowing the class to evolve somewhat organically.”
“Mark handles the learning environment in a calm and open manner, and is very effective at inviting student interaction.”
“Mark is a wonderful, knowledgeable teacher. The way he teaches is very approachable and accessible.”
“Mark’s variety of teaching methods made learning large volumes of info a lot easier.”
“Mark’s presence was supportive in so many ways i can’t count.”
“Mark’s neuroscience background brought a fascinating light to it all.”
“This class changed my perspective on life–massage, connection, human nature.”
“Mark is an outstanding teacher. He is engaging, fun, patient, kind, very knowledgable, and explains things well.“
“[Mark’s] class was extremely well organized, flexible, and well presented.”
“The quality and quantity of information is amazing.”
“Class kept me engaged by being really fun.”
“So much information presented concisely and clearly. marvelous!”