If you work in a high-intensity environment—hospital units, community mental health, veterinarian med—you know burnout isn’t abstract. It’s the fog that follows you home, the edge that won’t lift after a “rest day,” and the sense that you’ve lost the part of the work that felt human.
Yet the reason you chose your field hasn’t changed: you still want to help people.
Massage therapy can provide the right outlet for you to keep serving others, without sacrificing your wellbeing. And for many making this transition, the Costa Rica School of Massage Therapy (CRSMT) is a perfect fit to help you turn your professional career around: an immersive, hands-on program led by instructors who understand both the science and the human side of touch.
Key Insights
- Massage therapy preserves your “why.” Keep helping people without the constant triage, through one-on-one, presence-driven care that supports emotional balance and wellbeing.
- CRSMT offers a fast, hands-on path. Immersive training with early supervised practice in the on-campus Student Massage Clinic helps you build confidence quickly.
- Real career flexibility and autonomy is at the center of the “balance.” Choose employment, independent contracting, or private practice. Your schedule, caseload, and setting can match your season of life
- Those who decide to make the move can align timing and budget with CRSMT’s academic calendar and transparent tuition.
The rise of burnout among caregivers
Burnout in healthcare settings is measurable and widespread. A CDC Vital Signs analysis of nationally representative data found that from 2018 to 2022, U.S. health workers reported more days of poor mental health and a sharp rise in those feeling burned out very often (from 11.6% to 19.0%). Overall, about 46% of health workers reported feeling burned out often or very often in 2022.
The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon—a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed—underscoring the reality that it is a work-related condition, not a personal failing.
As a result, many caregivers look for a way to continue helping people without losing themselves in the process. Jan Frus, CRSMT’s Director of Education and Lead Instructor, knows this feeling firsthand. A former ER nurse of 15 years, she describes how, even after reducing her hospital hours, she still ran headlong into that “wall.”
“I still felt completely burnt out… I knew I had to make a change,” she explains. What drew her to massage therapy was the chance to “still help people, but… on my own terms.”
Inside her classroom, the resonance is palpable. Frus says that when she asks new cohorts how many of them understand burnout, “at least 90% if not 100%” of hands go up—a signal that many students arrive after their own high-stress chapters and are ready for a more manageable pace of practice.
Massage therapy shifts the daily rhythm from constant triage to one person, one session, one plan, where presence, pacing, and touch are central. For practitioners like Frus, that reframing preserves the purpose of helping while restoring the conditions that make it sustainable.
Why massage therapy resonates with health professionals
For many clinicians and first responders, the draw of massage therapy isn’t just the chance to move into a new job; it’s continuity of purpose. Frus notes that the experience of serving another person, even during a tough day, can be restorative: conduct a session and “everything turns around.” She frames it as stepping outside your own discomfort to focus on someone else’s wellbeing.
CRSMT is built to help students feel that shift early. Students move from classroom to supervised practice in the on-campus clinic, where they greet clients, conduct intakes, design sessions, and receive feedback. Frus describes that moment—calling a client’s name, talking through the treatment, doing the work, and hearing how it went—as when “things get real” and the joy of the journey lands.
Why become a massage therapist?
Can massage therapy be meaningful and sustainable? Frus is honest in advising that no profession, not even massage therapy, is completely burnout-proof. CRSMT even teaches about it as part of the curriculum. But Frus underscores the structural differences that protect energy: boundaries, pacing, and choice.
“The power comes from the choice,” she says, explaining that practitioners are often in a position to decide whether to take an off-day call or when to schedule personal time. The decision isn’t what matters. It’s the agency behind the decision.
That autonomy shows up in career models. Some graduates work in employee roles or as independent contractors, while others build private practices, split time between settings, or shape seasonal schedules. Frus has seen numerous former students find meaning and satisfaction working in a variety of settings, such as resorts, cruise ships, yachts, touring bands, athletics, or working alongside therapists supporting clients through trauma. Some even have the ability to split their year, creating a six-months-on/six-months-off lifestyle.
Will my healthcare experience transfer?
If you’ve worked in patient care, you already carry assets that translate to massage therapy, such as anatomy/physiology literacy, clinical professionalism, clear communication, or trauma-informed empathy. Frus acknowledges that, when she first began as a therapist, she had an easier time than some of her classmates because she’d “been touching people professionally for 15 years” and “knew the science already.” What felt unfamiliar to some career changers—especially those from corporate backgrounds—felt natural to her.
CRSMT’s curriculum is designed to turn those strengths into confidence. With structured mentorship and early, supervised clinic work, students practice full-session flow—intake, plan, treatment, and debrief—so by the time they graduate, they’ve already connected the dots between knowledge and care.
What the pivot actually looks like
Many career changers need a realistic timeline to plan savings, notices, and family logistics. Frus’s own story includes a leave of absence that turned into a longer stay because she didn’t want to leave. It’s an option she admits isn’t for everyone, but it illustrates the benefit of aligning timing and finances with the right cohort so as to make the leap easier.
CRSMT offers multiple intakes each year, with immersive pacing and a split-year option for students who need to train in segments. On the practical side, life in Sámara is built into the training experience, as students live close to campus, the beach, and daily essentials. Students can also review all program costs before applying, so as to clearly map potential savings, plan for leave time, or set up part-time work.
Why serving someone can reset your day
One shift Frus says she only understood once she lived it: how focusing on the person on the table can change your own state.
“...The new research that’s coming out on joy is really talking about being of service to others… and how that can be such a pathway to joy and contentment and the opposite of burnout,” she explains.
That perspective runs through CRSMT’s culture. The program emphasizes immersive, hands-on practice, reflection, and community support in an environment designed to help students center presence and rediscover satisfaction in helping others.
Considering making the change? Ask yourself these questions
1. What part of helping do I most want to preserve, and what needs to change?
List the moments in your current role that still feel meaningful (e.g., one-on-one connection, patient education, hands-on care) and the parts that drain you (pace, shift length, constant triage). Massage therapy preserves the helping and healing while changing the context: one client at a time, with presence and pacing.
2. How would my life feel if I worked in 60–90 minute blocks, one person at a time?
Imagine your day as a series of focused client sessions with time for intake, treatment, and decompression. That rhythm is built into CRSMT’s model, where students practice full-session flow in the supervised clinic, which helps you learn what an emotionally sustainable day can look like.
3. Which schedule model protects my energy—employee, independent contractor, or private practice?
Each path trades off stability and control:
- Employee: Predictable shifts, benefits possible; less control over caseload or modalities; less responsibility for business administration and marketing; show up and work with clients.
- Independent contractor: Mix of freedom and structure; you choose where and when to accept bookings.
- Private practice: Maximum autonomy and boundaries; you own scheduling, pricing, and policies.
4. What would make the transition financially realistic?
Work backward from your target start date. Common plans include:
- Save ahead for tuition and a living cushion.
- Request a leave of absence or reduced hours during training.
- Pick the right pacing: CRSMT offers immersive timelines and a split-year option if you need to train in segments.
5. How will early, supervised practice build confidence?
Confidence comes from reps with real clients. At CRSMT, you move from the classroom to the on-campus clinic, practicing full sessions under instructor supervision. This is where knowledge, touch, and communication click.
Now’s the time to take the leap
When students arrive at CRSMT, Frus assures them that completing the program changes you in more ways than technique. You learn about yourself, your boundaries, and your capacity to help without losing yourself in the process.
Her advice to anyone stuck in burnout limbo is simple: “Jump. Do it… What you’re doing isn’t working… take a chance on yourself.”
If you’re ready to explore a new way to care:
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