Marie-Annick
Marie-Annick Béliveau, M. Sc. pht, C/NDT cares about your child's health, motor development and happiness.
Marie-Annick received both a Bachelor and a Masters of Science in Physiotherapy from the Université de Montréal in 2013 and 2014 respectively. She then completed a Bachelor of Commerce at McGill University in 2016.
Marie-Annick is a physiotherapist at Sainte-Justine University Hospital where she has been refining her expertise in paediatric physiotherapy since 2014, She has been working within CIRENE (Centre Intégré du Réseau en Neuro développement de l'Enfant), a unique project in North America that is essential for the future of Quebec’s children presenting with neurodevelopmental disorders. She is a member of the l'Ordre Professionnel de la Physiothérapie du Québec (OPPQ) and the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association (NDTA).
Marie-Annick strives to continuously update her knowledge base by participating in various conferences, seminars and courses. These include in-depth training on the prevention and treatment of torticollis and plagiocephaly (Sainte-Justine University Hospital. January 2016) and a course on the Neuro Developmental Treatment (NDT*) of the Baby and Young Child (Weymouth, MA, USA, October 2016).
Marie-Annick devoted her summer 2017 to getting her paediatric NDT certification. She now has a "broader picture" of her clients.
*NDT: a certification of 261 clinical hours, NDT is a holistic and interdisciplinary clinical practice model informed by current and evolving research that emphasizes individualized therapeutic handing based on movement analysis for habilitation and rehabilitation of individuals with neurological pathophysiology. The therapist uses the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) model in a problem solving approach to assess activity and participation, thereby to identify and prioritize relevant integrities and impairments as a basis for establishing achievable outcomes with clients and caregivers. An in-depth knowledge of the human movement system, including the understanding of typical and atypical development, and expertise in analyzing postural control, movement, activity, and participation throughout the lifespan, form the basis for examination, evaluation and intervention. Therapeutic handling, used during evaluation and intervention, consists of a dynamic reciprocal interaction between the client and therapist for activating optimal sensorimotor processing, task performance, and skill acquisition to enable participation in meaningful activities. (Instructors Group of NDTA. (2016, May 27). The NDT/Bobath (Neuro-Developmental Treatment/Bobath) Definition. Retrieved from http://www.ndta.org/whatisndt.php).
In April 2018, Marie-Annick went to North Carolina to attend a pediatric Myofascial Release (MFR) seminar. Another set of skills and techniques to help her young clients! (She deepened her MFR skills and knowledge by taking MFR1 in November 2022 in St Paul, Minnesota).
In June 2019, Marie-Annick completed the NDT Advanced Baby course, a 70 hours therapeutic handling course, offered only to NDT certified therapists.
Yoga Teacher Training and Women’s Health
Marie-Annick deepened her passion for yoga in the last few years, discovering that teaching yoga brought her passion for anatomy and movement altogether along with the joy of sharing her passion (similar to the reasons why she chose to become a physical therapist!).
At that time pregnant and with free time due to COVID-19, she found the ideal timing to jump into the journey of the 200 YTT (Yoga Teacher Training, 200 hours) with Helene Couvrette from H-OM yoga (completed in February 2021). Marie-Annick already had to adapt a few postures (for herself at that time pregnant or for the individual restrictions of other students). Her expertise as a physiotherapist (since 2014) was very resourceful for the group of future instructors.
She also completed the Pre & Post Natal (50 hours) Yoga Teacher Training with Dominique Gagné, Renaud Duguay-Lefebvre D.O., Bc. Sc. & Annick Bourbonnais (October 2020).
Marie-Annick is also passionated by therapeutic yoga. She deepened and shared her passion while working in oncology and rheumatology (in a pediatric university hospital) and in special needs schools (adapted yoga for pour children and teenagers using wheelchairs, motorized chairs, with important spasticity and motor limitations).
She also got more certifications to help pregnant women and postpartum women with their activity level or «back to running» phase. She took course called Perinatal phase and pelvic health in running (self-translated) with The Running Clinic (January 2021). Marie-Annick had already taken their entry-level course called Running Injuries prevention (self-translated) (September 2015).
A few of Marie-Annick’s clients also presented with breastfeeding related issues (maternal and/or infant factors) during consultations. Marie-Annick therefore took a class specifically to help breastfeeding dyads : The Physical Therapy Assessment of Breastfeeding Related Conditions : Maternal and Infant Factors (December 2020). This course, taken during COVID-19, also proved that it was possible to help these dyads through telehealth (interesting fact : the patients for the course were situated in another Canadian province!) Marie-Annick has a true passion for breastfeeding and had the chance to breastfeed her two daughters. It is a real pleasure to help all breastfeeding parents (exclusive pumpers, mixed feeding are also implicitly included in the text here).
A home consultation is quite convenient in postpartum
Breastfeeding related consultation, while breastfeeding! Marie-Annick is a mother of two and understands the true reality of the postpartum phase
Teaching and public speaker
Marie-Annick has always loved to teach and speak in front of people. From her early teenage years, she taught swimming and lifesaving at international levels. It’s actually this passion for sharing her knowledge that made her pick physical therapy as a career, where she thrives daily doing so.
Marie-Annick loves to share her knowledge through conferences, workshops and writing. She gives group workshops to parents and their babies (at Bougeotte et Placotine or you can create your own group, in your own home!), she loves to teach in workplaces and she built a few classes for parents and daycare educators. She also collaborated with a reporter for Naître et Grandir, a magazine from Québec targeting parents.
Marie-Annick started to teach pre/post-natal yoga during the COVID-19 pandemic. She gained a specific expertise in virtual and outdoor teaching. She organized free pre/post-natal yoga classes to help mothers in her community. What a great sharing experience, even for herself at the time pregnant or a new mom.
Public speaker, teacher and collaborations
Naître et Grandir : I was interviewed for the November 2019 edition, about toys and the importance of outdoor play in the gross motor development of children.
Bougeotte et Placotine : workshops (since April 2020) 0-6 months and 6+ months, with baby! REGISTER HERE!!
https://www.bougeotteetplacotine.ca/ateliers/developpement-moteur-de-bebe-0-6-mois
https://www.bougeotteetplacotine.ca/ateliers/developpement-moteur-de-bebe-6-mois-montreal
Centre éducatif Sous les arbres (Lévis, QC) : videos (April 2020 see videos), course to daycare educators (October 5th, 2020), Conference for educators and parents (October 3rd, 2022).
Marie-Annick created and taught teaching modules for Yoga-Natal (Fall 2022), class about the technical/anatomical aspect of perinatal yoga, for perinatal yoga teachers.
CPR for my baby, personal class created and taught by Marie-Annick Béliveau lifesaving instructor for the Lifesaving Society (November 2019)