A B M P m e m b e r s ea r n F R E E C E h o u r s by rea d i n g t h i s i s s u e ! 67
T
he path to a career in massage and
bodywork often comes through the
map laid out by a therapist's personal
experience with pain. For Shawn Shimkets,
it was needing to find his way out of the
darkness of PTSD that brought him to
massage. Now he works to help others do
the same.
A RECIPE FOR PTSD
After serving two tours in Iraq in the 2000s,
Shimkets came home a US Marine Corps
veteran who found himself dealing with a
new enemy—posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), wreaked on his body, mind, and
spirit by the havoc of war. Although quick
to say he hasn't experienced the level of
trauma some of his fellow veterans have,
his journey reminds us how trauma at
all levels embeds itself deep within.
It was 2004 when Shimkets was first
deployed to Iraq. "As high school came to
an end, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do
with my life. My parents couldn't afford
to send me to college, and I didn't want
to be buried in student loan debt." With
no plan at hand, a trip with a friend to a
Marine Corps recruiter's office sealed a
young Shimkets's fate. "[The recruiter
WAR,
WOUNDS,
AND
WELLNESS
By Karrie Osborn
Stories of Inspiration
Shawn Shimkets was one of the
winners of the 2022 Massage
Is for EveryBody awards. Read
the essays from 2023 winners,
highlighted on page 10.
A Veteran's Trek
to Becoming a
Massage Therapist
