
Our Team – Strong Hands, Warm Hearts
Our goal is simple: to contribute to community wellness by delivering professional, individualized massage therapy treatments in a relaxing, supportive environment.
Tara Miller
Registered Message Therapist (RMT)
Tara is passionate about helping others enjoy optimal quality of life and gain greater mobility at work and play. As an avid mountain biker, snowboarder and yoga enthusiast, her fascination with the complex and dynamic healing ability of the body began with the desire to achieve health and wellness in her own life.
Tara graduated from the West Coast College of Massage Therapy and has been practising in Cumberland since 2009. Based on individual needs, her holistic approach takes her deeper into the body, beyond the site of injury and pain, to uncover and improve the underlying causes of imbalance.
Tara uses fascial release therapy, craniosacral therapy (cranio-fascial mobilization), visceral manipulation, and other noninvasive osteopathic techniques to combat chronic issues such as headache, back and neck pain, stress, whiplash, women’s health concerns and more. While full-body, deep tissue or relaxation massage are not usually included in Tara’s treatment approach, she feels that by unveiling and addressing issues in the body her massages still result in stress relief. After all, these chronic areas of tension are often where we hold stress in our bodies.

A self-care advocate and life-long learner, Tara is always upgrading her skills and knowledge. Currently, she’s enrolled in a two-year continuing education program that expands on myofascial and osteopathic techniques, diving deep into the anatomy, function and structure of the body to consider all tissue layers and the relationships between them.
In her free time, Tara can be found in the mountains and forests surrounding her home – usually in the good company of her dog.
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Visceral Manipulation 1
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Visceral Manipulation 2
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Introduction to Osteopathic Techniques
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Biodynamic Fascial Integration Training 9-course series (Natale Rao RMT, Heather Gittens RMT):
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Course 1 - Craniosacral Therapy (Cranio-Fascial Mobilization)
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Course 2 - Visceral Connections
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Course 3 - Fascial Mobilization and Release
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Course 4 - Cervical spine-TMJ-Cranium Region
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Course 5 - Lumbo-sacral Region
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Course 6 - Thoracic Region
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Course 7 - The Extremities
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Course 8 - Advanced Visceral Connections
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Course 9 - The Tie that Binds – A Culmination of the Series
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Contact Tara at tara@cumberlandwellness.ca
Elissa Marcus
Registered Massage Therapist (RMT)
Elissa completed her 2400 hour RMT diploma in 2008 and a 1200hr Diploma of Osteopathic Manual Therapy in 2021.
Her treatments tend to incorporate both registered massage therapy and osteopathic techniques using swedish, cranial-sacral, myofascial, visceral, lymphatic and osteo-articulation techniques to help achieve the client's treatment goals.
While she is open to meeting her clients exactly where they are at every visit, Elissa loves working on alignment issues which she feels is necessary to achieve optimum health.
A fairly new resident to the valley, she looks forward to meeting the community.

Contact Elissa at elissa@cumberlandwellness.ca
Fran Hailstone
Registered Message Therapist (RMT)
Fran moved to the Comox Valley in 2017 and is very grateful to be part of
such an amazing and beautiful community. Her goal is to empower each
client in their own healing capabilities and facilitate healing with a holistic
approach. She combines evidence based practices and energetic
techniques for a whole body approach to support healing, relaxation,
greater body awareness and overall wellness. Further studies in Cranial
Sacral Therapy, Systemic deep tissue, Myofascial work, Reiki and Yoga
help to augment Frans treatments.
Fran brings a background of fine arts, love of leading an active life and
experience as a mother to her massage therapy practice, this has helped
her hone creativity, foster greater compassion, respect and humility for
how different we are in our bodies and unique in our healing processes.
She graduated in 2004 from West Coast College for Massage Therapy and
in that time has had the honour to support many different conditions; from
sports injuries, palliative support, anxiety, depression and perinatal
support. These experiences have been a witness to Fran about the
holistic nature of massage therapy and the healing power of touch.
Outside work Fran can be found hiking and playing in the outdoors with
her dog “Buddy” and her family.

Contact Fran at info@cumberlandwellness.ca
Kirsten Werner
Registered Message Therapist (RMT)
Kirsten is the owner of Cumberland Village Wellness. She is currently off work and recovering from a MVA. She encourages you to see the other skilled RMTS at Cumberland Village Wellness.
Connecting with and caring for others has always been part of Kirsten’s life. It was through her work as a doula that she learned about the many benefits of massage and uncovered a passion for it as a therapy.
Kirsten has been helping clients of all ages achieve wellness through massage for over 20 years. Initially certified in Aromatherapy Massage in 2001, following the birth of her second child, Kirsten enrolled in the three-year RMT program through West Coast College of Massage Therapy and graduated in 2008.
Kirsten offers different modalities based on individual needs, including Swedish massage, pre- and post-natal massage, post-Caesarean section massage, myofascial release and trigger point therapy. In addition to providing RMT services, she offers one-on-one lessons in both infant/toddler massage and labour massage for expectant couples.

As an RMT, Kirsten’s objective is to provide physical relief and calm support while working with clients to educate them about their treatment plan and help them participate in their self-care. As a small-business owner, her aim is to contribute to the local business community and create valuable collaborations within it.
Outside of work, Kirsten loves spending time with her family making the most of the Comox Valley’s cultural and recreational richness.
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Cumberland Business Association Member
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International Association Infant Massage Instructor
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Continuing Education Training (Paula Jaspar, MEd, RMT):
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Part 1: Pregnancy (14PE)
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Part 2: Labour, Birth and Postpartum (14PE)
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Part 3: The Complicated Pregnancy (12PE)
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Part 5: Post Caesarean Section Treatment (12PE)
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Contact Kirsten at kirsten@cumberlandwellness.ca