Dr Sam Mishra (hc), a multi-award-winning medical and sports massage therapist, aromatherapist, accredited training course provider, oncology and lymphatic practitioner, trauma practitioner, breathwork facilitator, reiki and intuitive energy healer, transformational and spiritual coach, and hypnotherapist, has been nominated in multiple categories at the Influencer Magazine Awards 2026. Alongside the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, she has also been recognised for Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Legendary Achiever Award, Health Influencer of the Year, Industry Impact Award, Social Impact Champion, and Outstanding Leadership Award. These nominations recognise her more than 29 years of dedicated service in the healthcare and wellness sector. Her medical background as a nurse and a midwife, combined with her own experiences of childhood disability and abuse, have resulted in a diverse and specialised service, but she is mostly known for her trauma work. She is motivated by the adversity she has faced, using it as a driving force in her charity work and in offering the vulnerable a means of support. Her aim is to educate about medical conditions using easily understood language, to avoid inappropriate treatments being carried out and for health promotion purposes in the general public. She is also known for challenging the stigmas in our society and pushing through the boundaries that have been set by such stigmas within the massage industry.
Globally recognised for therapeutic innovation, educational leadership, community service and contribution to mental health projects, she has also received an honorary doctorate for Integrative Wellness and Social Impact. She served as a Senior executive contributor for Brainz Magazine for 3 years and is now a published author, having had her first book Where Wounds Live published and her second book Beautifully Broken due to be launched by the end of August 2026. Three decades ago she qualified into a career of caring for people at their most vulnerable, and she has never left it. What began on surgical wards in 1997 and continued through a high-risk labour ward has become, over 29 years, a body of work spanning clinical nursing, midwifery, massage therapy, specialist education, publishing and community advocacy, all built around a single, unmoving belief: that no one should be left unsupported in their pain, whether that pain is physical, psychological, or both.
Her career began with nine years as a surgical nurse across gynaecology, oncology, orthopaedics, ENT and main theatre recovery, followed by three years on a high-risk labour ward as part of a designated FGM support team. She qualified in massage therapy in 1997, teaching surgical skills to student nurses and running active birth workshops alongside her clinical work, before becoming self-employed in February 2020 to build a practice that could finally combine both worlds. Since then she has completed over 50 additional qualifications and certifications, built 26 specialist training courses from the ground up, and grown from a single treatment room into a multi-strand business spanning clinical treatment, education, mentorship and publishing. Across that arc, the standard has never dropped: over 850 client reviews at a 99% five-star rating, and more than 55 awards, including seven global awards and an honorary doctorate in Integrative Wellness and Social Impact, recognising sustained excellence rather than a single moment of it.
Her purpose has never come from a textbook, it comes from having navigated grief, complex PTSD, depression and her own darkest moments largely without support, and from a determination that no one she encounters should have to face theirs alone. That purpose is why she built a post-mastectomy rehabilitation programme when she saw women’s recovery stop at physical function; why she created 26 medically grounded training courses when she saw therapists working without the knowledge to keep complex clients safe; and why, this year, she wrote her first book, Where Wounds Live, and is already writing her second. It is why she has raised over £13,000 for charities supporting trauma, domestic abuse, sexual assault and disability, and why she continues teaching, mentoring and writing internationally as a Senior Executive Contributor to a global wellness magazine, decades into a career that could have stopped being demanding long ago, but has not, because the purpose behind it never has.
The measure of this career is not what she has built for herself, but what continues without her in the room. Hundreds of students she has trained 1:1 now carry medically grounded, trauma-informed practice into their own clinics, extending safer care to clients she will never meet. Her post-mastectomy programme has shown a sceptical medical community that holistic therapy can be trusted, a precedent that outlasts any single treatment. Where Wounds Live is already being used as a resource by other trauma-informed practitioners, and her mentorship programme means students return to her years after certification, building on a foundation designed to keep growing. Free referral pathways she established for domestic abuse and sexual assault survivors, and support for families like the one she helped raise £135,000 for after their toddler acquired cerebral palsy, continue to matter long after the original need has passed. That is the legacy she set out to build: not a name remembered, but a standard of care and knowledge that keeps changing lives after she is no longer the one delivering it.
What distinguishes Dr Sam Mishra is her unwavering commitment to challenging the stigmas that exist within both the healthcare and massage industries. She has consistently pushed through boundaries, advocating for a more integrated approach to health and wellness that recognises the connection between physical and emotional wellbeing. Her work with trauma survivors, cancer patients, and those with complex medical conditions has demonstrated the profound impact that compassionate, knowledgeable care can have on individuals who have often been overlooked or misunderstood by traditional healthcare systems. Her ability to combine her clinical nursing and midwifery background with her holistic and therapeutic skills has made her a unique and invaluable resource for her clients and students alike.
Her nominations across seven categories at the Influencer Magazine Awards 2026, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Legendary Achiever Award, Health Influencer of the Year, Industry Impact Award, Social Impact Champion, and Outstanding Leadership Award, reflect the remarkable breadth and lasting impact of her career. From her early days as a surgical nurse to her current role as a globally recognised therapist, educator, author, and advocate, Dr Sam Mishra has consistently demonstrated compassion, resilience, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of others. Her legacy is defined not only by the awards and recognition she has received, but by the countless individuals she has helped, the professionals she has trained, and the lasting standards of care, education, leadership, and social impact she has established, creating a legacy that will continue to benefit communities for generations to come.
