Jen Guest – PAA President 2013-19

I had the pleasure of acting as PAA President from 2013 to 2019, following several years as Secretary.

I had taken over from founding President, Sally Anderson and subsequent Presidents, Karen Beattie and Lanette Gavran. It was a period in Australasia, where Pilates had proven itself as an accurate movement method for both rehabilitative purposes and wellbeing and had moved from the perception of another fad to a comprehensive method of substance.

Olga Tamara (Vice President) was instrumental in the rebranding of the PAA, enhancing its presence as the key Pilates industry body in both the fitness and rehabilitation realms. Through my term, the PAA focused on Community understanding of the Pilates Method, its true history and foundation principals. This crossed into the Education sector, developing specific criteria on the eligibility of Certificate IV, Diploma and Continuing education levels of qualification. With these elevated standards of education model, we furthered the biennial PAA conference to three-day events with National and International presenters, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to our community.

The Board of the PAA worked strongly in governance, connecting with the Associations Forum and Ministers to align the principals of our industry body with those larger bodies incorporating the medical, allied health and fitness fields.

I completed my tenure, by moving to correlate with the Australian Pilates Method Association, in the form of collaboration and connectedness between our communities and members. The sense of cohesiveness whilst still maintaining independence with our Education alignment, further strengthened the position of The Pilates Method in Australasia.

Jen Guest B. App. Sci. (Physio) DIP Polestar Pilates Instruction MAPA MPAA MIADMS MFABSA
Director Smart Health Training and Services