Staff and Instructors
Meet Your Staff and Instructors
Shanon Harrison Fox
Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology
Teaching embodied anatomy and physiology is my life. I have taught APP for the Port Townsend School of Massage for 8 years in addition to teaching kinesiology and continuing education workshops. I love finding new ways to support student learning with engaging experiences. I hold a masters degree in education in addition to my nursing and humanities degrees.
Desha Wood
BIO
I recently realized that I don’t love ‘teaching’, what I love is facilitating knowledge expansion. As an instructor at PTSM I get the opportunity to foster a learning environment that expands knowledge. I enjoy watching my students pushing their boundaries of thought, of established bias, of social participation comfort and of fear based paradigms – we all have them. Business is typically a boring subject for those not pursuing a business degree, but my goal is that PTSM students graduate feeling like the business classes were their favorite experience (I know, lofty goals!). My instructor model focuses on action – no reading textbooks in my classroom! I tell my students, let’s do the work now, instead of talking about you needing to do the work outside of class. My favorite thing about my experiences here have been the side bar convos that come up in class discussions from mine or my students’ passions. No two classes of mine have ever been the same and I look forward to expanding our knowledge together.
Mary Lakes
Table Thai and Asian Studies
In 1997 Mary Lakes intended to take one Shiatsu class to round out the training she began with her mentor and friend Richard.
Instead of one class she ended up “in school” for ten years first as a student, then assistant and finally on staff at Big Sky Somatic Institute (Helena, Montana) Asian Healing Art Program.
She had a twenty-year Asian Arts private practice in a small Montana town about the size of Port Townsend. Her office suite-mate, Judy, who grew up in Silverdale and graduated from PTSM told her for years she should go check out PTSM to see if there were any openings for the Continuing Education classes she was certified to teach.
Mary finally made the teaching connection in the spring of 2018 and totally fell in love with the school and the town during her three-day stay teaching an Into to Thai Massage CE workshop.
She retired from her practice six months later and moved to Port Townsend to be close… but not too close… to her two sons, their wives, and her two precious granddaughters.
Mary is thrilled to now be a part of the PTSM crew.
Kay Darlington
Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology
BS – Biology
Graduate School – cell physiology, secondary teaching credential in biology
Science Research – NASA and Harvard Medical School.
At 61 years of age, I took my work in a new direction by attending Port Townsend School of Massage. After graduating, I started a private massage practice and continued my education by becoming certified in orthopedic treatment massage and MFR. After a couple years of private practice, I was invited by the school to teach Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology. This was a subject completely in my wheel house so I enthusiastically agreed. That was in 2005 and I still continue my practice and teaching today.
Teaching at PTSM has been special. The students come from different backgrounds, are of different ages, and come to it from different life experiences. One commonality, however, they seem to share is a passion to want to help and to make a difference through this profession. When we share these differences and commonality in the classroom, it makes for a rich learning environment. I continue to learn not only from my students but also from my fellow instructors. I continue to grow as an instructor and a human being and hope that I can play some small part in the growth of my students as massage therapists.
Brianna Noach
Eastern Elements
I am very grateful to have been part of the teaching team of the Port Townsend School of Massage since 2004. I appreciate this school’s warm and supportive atmosphere towards both students and faculty, and the team feeling there is amongst the faculty. This creates a great learning environment for the students. There are a lot of talented, experienced faculty here, not always found to this extent at massage schools, and I am honored to teach alongside them.
I have a broad educational background which I bring to the classes I teach or have taught. I hold two masters’ degrees, one in social work and the other in acupuncture, as well as certification in massage therapy and in various self-care practices. One of my great passions is Chinese Medicine, the theory and the practice; this is what I have mostly taught about at this school. I also taught various courses (ethics and professionalism, communication skills, movement therapies, chair massage, shiatsu, body-mind massage, student clinic) at two other massage schools: Peninsula College in Port Angeles (1995-2011) and Bellevue Massage School (1998-2008). Currently I have an eclectic practice in Port Angeles, offering acupuncture, massage therapy, imagery work, and self-care practices to my clients and patients.
Pam Adams
Doctor of Chiropractic
Dr. Pam Adams is a Doctor of Chiropractic licensed in California and Washington currently on hiatus. She practiced in California for 15 years before turning to teaching full-time at her alma mater, Life Chiropractic College West. She taught a variety of courses including Palpation, Spinal Adjusting, Geriatrics, and Clinical Nutrition as well as business and marketing courses.
In 2011, she moved to Port Townsend where she was fortunate to apply for a faculty position at the Port Townsend School of Massage. Since then, she has had the opportunity to teach both Weekend and Weekday Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology classes as well as Professional Ethics. She loves teaching adults who have chosen a career in health and healing.
She has served on the Port Townsend City Council as one of seven Council Members working to help her community thrive in every way. She lives in North Beach, Port Townsend, with her husband Mike and spaniel Cooper.
Shawn O’Reilly
Licensed Massage Therapist
I spent 24 years in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman and fell in love with many aspects of medicine. At the end of my career, I started really paying a lot more treatment time in holistic types of care. I believe that there is more than one way to help someone, that a ‘one-size-fits-all approach is sometimes not what a person needs.
My role as a massage practitioner is to help you live your best life. This really drives me to explore both therapeutic and relaxation massage. One continued theme that I see plaguing our current medical system is the lack of time invested in our clients. As a massage therapist, I get the privilege of being able to really listen, sometimes finding root causes to pain that even primary care providers did not find because they simply lacked the time to listen to the whole story.
Every day I continue to learn more and more about the body, how it works, and how massage can have so many benefits to each person. It is both a passion as well as a treat to experience. My ultimate goal is to help each individual find that right key to help unlock the mystery to find true healing.
Shawn’s educational background includes many advanced medical training through the military, as well as a bachelor’s degree in science from Trident University, and he graduated from the Port Townsend School of Massage. He is also trained in Advance Certification Orthopedic Massage (ACOM), Functional Movement Therapy (FMT), Ahybanga and Marma Point Therapy, Licensed Chest Massage & Intraoral Massage.
Alexis Vaughan
Licensed Massage Therapist
I attended the BodyMind Academy in Bellevue Washington in 2003.
I practice a therapeutic style of massage that incorporates deep tissue, myofascial release, hot stones and gua sha. What tools I use in massage depends on what the client needs.
I love being at PTSM because the students are so enthusiastic about learning to be the best therapists they can. Lizzz is very supportive of both students and staff, making sure that both have what they need to be successful.
In addition to being a Massage Therapist, I’m an avid athlete, TRX instructor, personal trainer and 200 hour trained yoga instructor (finishing my 500 hours next year) as well as a Functional Nutrition and Health Coach.
Chelsea Hoyt
Licensed Massage Therapist
Chelsea Hoyt is a licensed Medical Massage Therapist with 10+ years of experience in rehabilitation and injury prevention Massage Therapy. Blending Medical, Sports, and Swedish Massage modalities, she brings the philosophy of equal parts nature and nurture to her therapeutic style, believing that balance is the key to establishing homeostasis and returning to a state of wellness and peace of mind. Taking her years of experience working in the high volume Clinical setting, she brings her down-to-earth perspective and approach to the Clinical Treatments program at PTSM.
