{"id":2492,"date":"2020-03-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/?p=2492"},"modified":"2020-03-10T11:14:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T00:14:42","slug":"amt-chairperson-autumn-message-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2020\/03\/11\/amt-chairperson-autumn-message-2\/","title":{"rendered":"AMT Chairperson Autumn Message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\nMichelle McKerron<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\nhad the privilege of going on a camping trip with my family in January. We\npacked up our home-away-from-home and headed north of Sydney, as those roads\nwere open and there was the all clear to travel in that direction. It was a hot\nweek, and we swam, chatted in our camp chairs and had the occasional* ice\ncream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nday before we were to drive home, we awoke to the sound of sirens on the main road\noutside the caravan park. Stepping out of our tents, we faced a billowing black\nsky and the stench of smoke. An uncontrolled grass fire was 500 metres down the\nroad. It was a \u201cwatch and act\u201d situation. The caravan park manager told us\nthere would only be one long, loud blast of a horn and then he was leaving if\nit came to it. Apart from the regulars hosing down their onsite vans, there was\nan unnatural quiet as people chose to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within\nan hour there were three helicopters water bombing the area (legends!) and we\nwere spectators to a humbling and inspiring scene as the fire was tamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhindsight, I find it amazing how many emotions you can feel in the space of one\nday. I know there are people reading this who have been on that rollercoaster.\nIn fact, theirs was a way bigger, longer and more twisty-turny rollercoaster\nthan my little one. Helplessness, frustration, fear, hope, wonder and the reminder\nthat people matter and \u2018stuff\u2019 doesn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the relief of rain. But for some, there\nwere crazy hailstorms and floods, and damage to trees and cars and people\nlosing bits off their houses. And, of\ncourse, COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For\nmany of us, the start to 2020 wasn\u2019t the positive one we had hoped for and\nthere isn\u2019t the usual \u2018welcome to this year\u2019 vibe to this AMT Chairperson\nmessage. I know that some of you have been hit hard, I know some of you have\nbeen energetically supporting your communities, and I know for some of you, a\nreally important time of rest was lost to situations outside of your control. And\nI know for some of you, this is ongoing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether\nin the path of a natural disaster or not, we have all been bombarded by the\nmedia with information. And that\u2019s only the acute stuff. This is on top of the\npace of our normal life. Have you found it exhausting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthis is not where the story ends. Let\u2019s not get bogged down if we can help it.\nThere is always some degree of hope. Some way of moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\npast couple of months has led me to consider who I can rely upon. Who in my\ncommunity can I call on when I have a huge problem, or a little issue? I hope\nyou have a network that have been able to come to your aid if and where\nnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One\nthing that can be counted upon is that AMT have your back when it comes to\nanything \u2018massage related\u2019. I have been heartened and encouraged by the\ninformation that has become available to us since 2020 started. Information and\nhelp for victims of the fires, information about COVID-19, Liz Sharkey\u2019s blog\non working through loneliness as a therapist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\nyou feel the love? I sure can! And that\u2019s because there are a great team of human\nbeings in Head Office and representing you on the Board of Directors, all aware\nand focused on what needs addressing in the here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nexample of our commitment to our therapists is the next AMT Mentoring Program\ndue to start shortly. Some of you have the experience, some of you crave\ndirection. I urge you to get involved. If you missed that info, catch up here<\/a> and sign up as a mentor\nor mentee here<\/a>. Applications for the program close on 25 March\n2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very much looking forward, along with the rest of the Board, to meeting up and connecting with members as we hold the AMT AGM and workshop later this month in Brisbane. You can register to attend here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMT are your greatest cheer leaders. Please remember to call (02 9211 2441) or email Head Office<\/a> if you have any questions regarding your membership or what\u2019s happening in the industry. Stay connected and up to date with all aspects of massage therapy so that even when everything seems to be a little crazy, you can rely on the facts. We are looking forward to tackling what lies ahead in the coming months with you, whatever that may be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nhope that you can label 2020 \u2018the year that kept getting better\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Thrice\ndaily is considered occasional in our household.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About\nthe Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Michelle McKerron is currently\nrepresenting AMT members in the role of Chairperson of the Board of Directors.\nIt\u2019s a role she takes seriously because, as a Massage Therapist herself, she\nknows what it\u2019s like to be working in the industry and wants to encourage\nmembers to continue the tradition that AMT holds in standing up for excellent\nmassage therapy in Australia.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2020 may not have gotten off to the best of starts but AMT Chairperson Michelle McKerron says we have plenty of reason to stay positive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[186,106,569,338,283,105,285],"class_list":["post-2492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amt","tag-amt-agm","tag-amt-chairperson","tag-amt-mentoring-program","tag-liz-sharkey","tag-mentoring","tag-michelle-mckerron","tag-support"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Michelle01.jpg?fit=640%2C345&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":417,"url":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2017\/12\/12\/7-considerations\/","url_meta":{"origin":2492,"position":0},"title":"7 Considerations for 2018","author":"admin","date":"12\/12\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"AMT Chairperson, Michelle McKerron shares her thoughts, advice and hopes for AMT members along with what's ahead for AMT in 2018.","rel":"","context":"In "AMT"","block_context":{"text":"AMT","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/category\/amt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cheetah-sleep-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3146,"url":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2021\/03\/24\/amt-chairperson-autumn-2021-message\/","url_meta":{"origin":2492,"position":1},"title":"AMT Chairperson Autumn 2021 Message","author":"admin","date":"24\/03\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"AMT Chairperson Michelle McKerron returns to tell us what 2021 has in store for AMT members, including a plan to get rid of \"that\" phrase.","rel":"","context":"In "AMT"","block_context":{"text":"AMT","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/category\/amt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Chairperson.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Chairperson.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Chairperson.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Chairperson.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Chairperson.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2821,"url":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2020\/09\/23\/amt-chairperson-spring-message\/","url_meta":{"origin":2492,"position":2},"title":"AMT Chairperson Spring Message","author":"admin","date":"23\/09\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"2020 doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. AMT Chairperson Michelle McKerron wants us to focus on how to improve ourselves as therapists.","rel":"","context":"In "AMT"","block_context":{"text":"AMT","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/category\/amt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/spring.jpg?fit=900%2C391&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/spring.jpg?fit=900%2C391&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/spring.jpg?fit=900%2C391&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/spring.jpg?fit=900%2C391&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1800,"url":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2019\/06\/26\/chairperson-message-happy-100th\/","url_meta":{"origin":2492,"position":3},"title":"Chairperson Message: Happy 100th","author":"admin","date":"26\/06\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"AMT Chairperson Michelle McKerron on the need to continually stay up to date in the way we communicate as we celebrate the 100th article on AMT's blog","rel":"","context":"In "AMT"","block_context":{"text":"AMT","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/category\/amt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mentoring-2.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mentoring-2.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mentoring-2.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mentoring-2.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mentoring-2.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2663,"url":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2020\/06\/17\/amt-chairperson-winter-message-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2492,"position":4},"title":"AMT Chairperson Winter Message","author":"admin","date":"17\/06\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you returned to work or about to re-open? 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She does not disappoint.","rel":"","context":"In "AMT"","block_context":{"text":"AMT","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/category\/amt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot-2020-12-14-150444.jpg?fit=1197%2C622&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot-2020-12-14-150444.jpg?fit=1197%2C622&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot-2020-12-14-150444.jpg?fit=1197%2C622&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot-2020-12-14-150444.jpg?fit=1197%2C622&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.amt.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screenshot-2020-12-14-150444.jpg?fit=1197%2C622&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2492"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2499,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492\/revisions\/2499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}