Primary Teachers

Linda Hickey, one of Canada's leading maternity massage therapy experts, became a massage therapist and found her "home" after a 20-year career working with families in social services. Originally from Toronto, Ontario, she relocated to Calgary to be near the Rocky Mountains, a landscape she loves.

Linda graduated in 1995 from Mount Royal College's Massage Therapy Program. Since then her private practice has been centred in the birth community. She loves the changing, flowing bodies and energy of pregnant women and new mothers nurturing themselves and their babies and children. She shares her experiences through her writing, public speaking.

In her commitment to disabled communities, she co-founded PACE - a rehabilitation program for children with cerebral palsy that integrates massage as a valued supportive therapy.

She co-created and practices at Synergea Family Health Centre in Calgary, a new collaborative care community where massage therapists, midwives, chiropractors and other affiliated professionals join together with women and their families to provide for health and well being.

Linda has been working and teaching with Carole and Liz since 1995. Students overwhelmingly respond to her warmth, sincerity, and talent with rave reviews. She is a naturally gifted and thoughtful educator, expressing her passion for maternity massage through her work, writing, teaching and her life.

Hear what students have said about Linda!


Jennifer Hicks has worked with allied health professions on issues specific to women since 1984. She began her professional massage therapy training in 1989 at the International Professional School of Bodywork in San Diego. Over the years she has studied numerous integrative therapies, including Cranial Sacral Therapy, Hanna Somatics, and Thai Massage. Most recently gaining certification in structural integration with Tom Myers' Kinesis Myofascial Integration. She began working with pregnancy and infant massage in 1995 and has assisted Carole and Linda in the Pre & Perinatal trainings since 1998.

In 1996 she co-founded Big Sky Somatic Institute School of Massage Therapy in Helena, Montana where she is Educational Director. As primary faculty she teaches passive movement, body psychology, deep tissue muscle sculpting, somatic unwinding, business, and ethics. She is also adjunctive faculty at the University of Great Falls.

In 1998 she co-founded Integrative Medicine Clinic in Great Falls, Montana where she works with a physician specializing in physical medicine, acupuncturists, family nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and a biofeedback technician in providing multidisciplinary care for all ages.

Jennifer's personal mission is in empowering woman to embrace all phases of their lives. Students appreciate her passion, vision, and patient instruction.

Hear what students have said about Jennifer!

Liz Ellis has been a practitioner and teacher of massage therapy since 1991. She studied her craft at the Chicago School of Massage Therapy, and she was an instructor there for 7 years before moving on to her current full time practice. She continues to expand her skills and has developed an integrative body therapy practice. She has studied Neuromuscular therapy with Judith Walker-Delaney, Craniosacral work with Michael Shea, and of course pregnancy and related massage work with Carole Osborne-Sheets. She began treating pregnant, laboring and postpartum women after completing her certification in 1993. She has recently completed in-depth study and certification in Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy as well as certifying as a Labor Assistant through the Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators.

Throughout her career Liz has worked closely with Chiropractic and Integrative Medical Doctors. She spent 9 years providing volunteer massage to AIDS patients both in an alternative therapies clinic and at Chicago's Cook County Hospital. She has worked as a pregnancy massage therapist and doula at a large obstetric practice in Chicago and has extensive experience attending laboring women in a variety of settings.

In class Liz integrates her experience and knowledge as a massage practitioner and teacher with her theatre training providing an energizing and stimulating class experience. Students consistently describe Liz as an excellent and inspired teacher.

Hear what students have said about Liz!


Carole Osborne-Sheets has been an integrative body therapist since 1974. In addition to private practice, she has worked in osteopathic, women's medical clinic, and psychological practices. Her work focuses on facilitating somato-emotional and neuromuscular integration. She is a specialist in family issues, including pregnancy, sexual and emotional trauma, substance and eating disorders, self-image, and nurturing.

Her earliest bodywork studies were with the Arica Institute, Milton Trager, and Tai chi with Master Abraham Liu, and in an apprenticeship in the teachings of Ida P. Rolf with Edward Maupin, Ph.D. More recent studies have included osteopathic soft tissue therapies. Carole cofounded IPSB, in San Diego, in 1977, where she continues to teach. She is also an original faculty member at Big Sky Somatic Institute, Helena, Montana. She has taught throughout North America and in Europe.

Sparked by personal and clinical experiences, Carole began researching and developing infant and prenatal massage therapy programs in 1980. With collaboration with perinatal professionals and colleagues, she trained parents and hospital and association staffs, and she co-created the original Bodywork for the Childbearing Year® training. In 1997, she independently expanded and refined that former course to create her Pre- and Perinatal Massage Therapy programs and publications. She has taught maternity massage therapy to over 2,000 massage and perinatal specialists. She is mother of Josh and Elizabeth whose gestations, births, and lives inspired and continue to guide her work.

Carole has published two textbooks, Pre- and Perinatal Massage Therapy and Deep Tissue Sculpting, and articles in both Massage and Massage Therapy Journal.She provided consultation on several videos, and for other prenatal and infant massage media items, including an upcoming book on pregnancy and sexual abuse survivors. She is a professional member of AMTA and the National Association for Pregnancy Massage Therapists, and is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.