Heather Neal just started teaching at Greenfield Community College's massage therapy program this year, but a few years ago her life was heading in a very different direction. Neal, 42, had been working in advertising in Manhattan in New York City at the same company for 12 years and her life was all about work, deadlines and pushing your limits.

"It started to be the same thing — faster, better, cheaper, more stress, less time to do more work and less thanks for it." Around the end of her first career, Neal had a friend who was dying of cancer. He had an ability to notice things, like how blue the sky was on a pretty day, while all she could notice was what time The Gap was open so she could buy a new outfit for work. She wanted to change her life and to become more like him before it was too late. At the same time, she had realized that the only motivational tool that was working on her staff when she wanted to get them to work until 4 a.m. to make a deadline, was not overtime pay or benefits, it was a back rub and some conversation.

Neal became interested in massage therapy and after talking with a friend who had attended GCC's Stillpoint Massage Program, she decided that this was the place for her. She moved to Greenfield and started the program. She graduated from the program in 2000 and started working as she continued at GCC for her associate's degree. As she began her new career, she noticed something about her clients. As soon as they got on the table, they began to unload what was on their mind, releasing psychological stress as she helped them release their physical stress. "I found that when I started massaging people, they started talking about their life as soon as they got on the table, and I wasn't equipped to talk about it," she said. She finished her associate's degree in 2002. She then enrolled in the psychology program at Smith College as an Ada Comstock Scholar, after receiving encouragement from her teachers at GCC.

While at Smith, Neal took on an internship in Miami, Fla., at the Touch Research Institute at the Miami School of Medicine. As an undergraduate, Neal did graduate level research on massage, working with pre-term infants. She said studies have shown that pre-term infants who receive massage develop mentally and physically about 40 percent faster than infants who are not massaged. Her work with babies was inspiring and rewarding and only reinforced what she already believed about the power of gentle touch. "It was great! I learned so much about study design and got so excited about it," she said. "I really wanted to bring that to the Pioneer Valley, which is why I wanted to teach at GCC."

Neal now works three days a week as a massage therapist in Northampton and is teaching as an adjunct faculty member. Her goal is to eventually develop a touch research program here at GCC, tapping into the high number of massage therapists and body workers in the area and the psychology departments from the Five Colleges. "We have all the ingredients to start a touch research institute here," she said. She said it's unfortunate that by law, talk therapists aren't allowed to touch their patients and touch therapists aren't allowed to talk to their patients.

Most research into the psychological benefits of massage is anecdotal and she hopes to change that. "I want to help develop the integrity of the massage field – to make it less anecdotal." Judi Singley, associate dean for Health Occupations at GCC, said it's a wonderful opportunity to have Neal on staff. "What she brings as a practitioner informed by her passion for research is just fantastic," Singley said. "What a gift for us and our students. As she is continuing her career in massage therapy and as a scientist, she is also growing and developing as a teacher." For information about the Stillpoint Massage Therapy Certificate Program call 413.775.1635.