By: Paula Burchat, BA, RMT, CSMTA(SF) • July 30, 2024

It is with excitement that I am returning to work on August 13, 2024.   After two years living in Stockholm, Sweden we are happy to be home. 

My plan is to start back to work slowly.  I’ll be taking up to 3 clients/day from Tuesday to Thursday and increasing my hours over time as my body and demand from clients dictate.

The last two years in Sweden have given me lots of time to think and plan how I want to spend the next several years back at work.  I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with you and helping you with any issues you may have. 

Over the last two years, I’ve taken eight osteopathic courses with the Barral Institute in Europe.   The instructors were exceptional.  Working with experienced students and teaching assistants was an enriching experience too.  I will actually be returning to Scotland in September 2024 to complete one more course in the Visceral Manipulation series.  Some of the courses I took focused on physical trauma – hits, falls, collisions – and its impact on a person’s body.  Other courses looked at the general day to day impacts of the nervous and vascular systems on the muscles and joints. 

In addition to studying and working briefly with some clients in Sweden, I had ample opportunity to travel around Europe with Carl and Laurel.  If I ever get tired of being a massage therapist, I’ll be able to get work as a travel agent or travel guide!  We took trips to France, Norway, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Scotland and England.

We are inordinately grateful for the time we had living in Sweden. Laurel has grown and matured so much while we were there.  She’s visited 16 countries before she’s 16 years old.  We’ll see what we can do to add one more before she turns 17.

Living in Sweden has changed us.  We definitely embraced the Swedish approach to life while in Stockholm.  We loved the day-to-day lifestyle, learned to appreciate the darkness and embraced relaxing and doing nothing in the sun.  However, we also come home knowing that, while Canada is not perfect, there are no other countries that we have visited that have what is available here.  We will never take for granted our Canadian citizenship and will forever see ourselves as proud Canadians even if we live somewhere else.

I look forward to seeing you soon and working with you again.

Best wishes,

Paula