Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Jurgenson.
Hi Rachel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My journey into being a medical massage therapist and business owner started when I was fourteen years old. My family has a hereditary eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa or (RP). My mom was a single parent, and my siblings were grown and out of the home. When her eye disease came to a full life changing event, her eyesight had plummeted to almost blindness within days. Being her closest source of help, in the eighth grade I was taken out of public schooling to homeschool and work to help provide for our household, like most immature teenagers I didn’t do my schooling like I should have, not understanding the value in education, I just continued to work hard and learn how to make money. At twenty-two I already had a family and children to care for, however I felt inadequate as an adult and decided to go back to school, I received my GED two weeks later. In the meantime, my mom found the resource The Blind Institute where they helped her become a medical massage therapist. Although she was amazing at her field, she still needed help with paperwork and daily business functions, and I needed some extra money as my children were young, and I didn’t want to leave them with a babysitter. Working for my mom and bringing my children with me, was a huge help for our family.
When we first started massaging you didn’t have to be licensed in the State of Michigan, so with my mom’s help I learned to massage elderly people’s hands and feet for arthritis pain management. In doing this I found that I loved helping people in this way, seeing how effective it was in reliving some of their discomfort.
As a natural healer this became what I now call my dharma, making a significant impact in others’ lives. Not just through massage but also through leadership. It would still be years before I would step into this role, first I had some hurdles to grow through. After some time, I too decided to become a medical massage therapist and work alongside my mom, and this is where Sandy & Rachel’s Medical Massage Therapy P.C. was born. We worked out of her home for several years, continuing to have my children in tow and learning how much I loved this profession.
At age twenty-nine I was diagnosed with Hodgkins’s lymphoma; this was a whirlwind of emotions and changes in our lives. The treatment had left me unable to work, and reliant on my family to care for me, while not only my family and friends but clients rallied by my side as I fought for my life and ultimately went through a divorce at the same time. I became bitter with life and needed to step into a world that didn’t focus on others. I went into the unknown world of trailer factor work. Although this job was straining physically, I learned quickly and began to move “up the ladder” . It was here that I learned leadership. The universe surely works in mysterious ways.
The environment was taxing and emotionally stressful after a while, I didn’t see my children as much as I wanted, and needed to make a move, so one morning I called my mom on my way into work with tears in my voice. I wanted, needed a change, and also knew I had three little humans that not only emotionally but financially relied on me expecting me to make the right choices.
Immediately my mother’s response was, go back to massaging where you belong. Out of fear, I said no, three months later I quit my well-paying stressful job to go back to what I loved. I remembered thinking it felt like stepping off a cliff, not seeing the bottom and no way of knowing what this all would look like. However I learned to trust, so I prayed and told the universe that it would need to catch me. However, this time, I wanted to expand so that I could reach as many people as possible, and help as many people as I could, so that maybe, just maybe my life experience would not be in vain.
November 2019, I quit my job and opened Sandy & Rachel’s Medical Massage Therapy P.C. In town, I had no clients and rented a room in the back of a tanning salon. Every day I asked the question, what did I need to do? Every day I assured myself that the universe heard my prayers and would create ground where my feet stepped. Watching my clientele grow with the help of the tanning salon owners who did all they could, my sister who also owns a successful salon in Jones, Mi Satori Salon and Spa, who had been by my side my entire life, clients that had been supportive throughout my career, local business owners, my children who encouraged me every step of the way and doing whatever it would take, I watched as my dream started to come alive.
March 2020, I was able to move Sandy & Rachel’s Medical Massage Therapy P.C. to beautiful downtown Dowagiac Mi, it was a small eight hundred square foot building with a shared bathroom to the adjoining business, ten-foot ceilings, huge glass front door, fantastic place. We were shut down March 10th, 2020, this was one of my first big hurdles and it was a doozy, I had to use my personal savings to pay for the rent and utilities to a place that I could not work in, at such an impactful time for a business trying to grow. I heard the statement in the back of my head, that successful business owners grow the most in adversity, so let’s do this, I kept my thoughts and intentions aligned and dreamt of all the things I wanted to do with this journey. It wasn’t long before I found a front desk person after we got back to work. She was the best thing I could have ever asked for and was pivotal in my learning to walk like a baby in the professional world of business owning.
I poured myself into learning everything I could about business strategies, customer service, leadership, positive mind, and healing others. It was a brilliant time of hard work, dedication and building a community. I read books, went to seminars, listened to audio books, podcast and took classes. I soaked in as much as I could that I barely saw the growth that was happening before my eyes. I had worked enough that I built an additional room to this small space and hired another therapist, I just kept swimming.
October 2022, the same tanning salon that I had worked out of in the beginning had become available, it was the perfect space that I needed to grow! I had manifested this moment since that conversation with my mom, making that impact more real than ever. I was so grateful to have this space that I dedicated the work, the business and the healing written in prayers on the walls and sealing them in with a fresh coat of paint. That everyone that walked into this space would find healing, and peace.
We now have six medical massage therapists including myself and my mom Sandy who taught me to keep climbing, yoga teachers and front desk staff, specializing in chronic pain management and manual medical massage, creating a clear pathway into our client’s wellness journey. As a team we value teamwork, integrity, and hard work. Creating this team that has a passion for helping others as much as I do, cultivating relationships with our patients and community has been my personal growth, passion and dharma. I am honored and blessed to be able to be my authentic self, helping others and being privileged enough that they and this business make such a significant impact on my life.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Covid a big one also thriving in a small community.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Sandy & Rachel’s Medical Massage Therapy PC?
Our top priority is teamwork and a cohesive work environment. Where we support each other in our mission and cultivating strong communication and respect for each other. It’s our foundation for creating the best environment for not only ourselves but our patients.
We value Integrity because it is our belief that what you put into the world, you get back in return.
We specialize in medical massage therapy / and we are known for values and customer service.
what sets us apart is our dedication to helping others.
I am most proud of our integration of different techniques cultivating our own way into a path of healing for our patients.
We are dedicated to serving our clients with our utmost care through massage, ranging from Swedish, sports therapy, deep tissue, medical manual, lymphatic, craniosacral, and reflexology. Utilizing other modalities as well such as yoga, detox and patient education,
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that our city is a small, where we support each other. Where you can go just about anywhere and see people you know. We continue to strive towards having a strong family-based community. We have all kinds of small businesses ready to grow,
I like least that it has little options for healthy eating,
