On May 14, 2024, I posted a petition on change.org addressed to the Coalition of National Massage Therapy Organizations. In case you did not know…our 7 major national massage associations meet once a year to discuss issues and share information. This year they are meeting next week.
To: The Coalition of National Massage Therapy Organizations (CNMTO)
- Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE)
- American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA)
- Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP)
- Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA)
- Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB)
- Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF)
- National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB)
History of the Coalition of National Massage Associations.
The group has been getting together once a year since 2011 from what I have been able to find so far. (See history of Coalition of National Massage Associations on my other website.)
The top issues that they are working on since the group first started getting together are:
- Portability
- Consistency of Practice Standards
- Entry Level Education
- Continuing Education
- Discipline/Licensure (Safety/Public Protection)
- Certification
(05/10/2012 press release regarding the massage leadership summit held last week in Chicago, Illinois. Leadership Summit in Chicago Addresses Concerns of the Profession CHICAGO – Seven of the massage therapy profession’s organizations gathered for a second “Leadership Summit”)
Where are we now?
Portability: The Council of State Governments (CSG) partnered with the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) to support the mobility of licensed massage therapists through the development of a new interstate compact. The IMpact legislation was developed by a Technical Assistance Group of 25 individuals from all massage therapy arenas—educators, licensees, regulators, and representatives from FSMTB, ABMP, and the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). (See the IMpact Development Process (PDF))
Technical Assistance Group Members:
Sandra Anderson, Nevada State Board of Massage Therapy
Niccole Anthony, LMT, Self Care Extraordinaire, LLC
Karen Armstrong, LMT, Beaumont Health
Tom Augherton, Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy
Ed Bolden, LMT, Tennessee Board of Massage Licensure
Jay Douglas, Virginia Board of Nursing
Laura Embleton, Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals
Leyser Q. Hayes, Esq., Mississippi State Board of Massage Therapy
Kimberly Hodge, Tennessee Board of Massage Licensure
Dawn Hogue, COMTA (Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation)
Craig Knowles, LMT, Georgia Massage Therapy Board
Kama Monroe, Florida Board of Massage Therapy
Debra Persinger, Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
Mai Lin Petrine, Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
Mark Retzlaff, LMT, AMTA Oregon
Mitch Richter, Promethean Tactics LLC
Bob Ruark, Oregon State Board of Massage Therapists
Susan Salvo, LMT, Bodyworks Massage Therapy
Elan Schacter, LMT, Elan Schacter Massage Therapy
Jan Shaw, South Carolina Massage/Bodywork Panel
James Specker, AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association)
Deirdre Strunk, LMT, Nevada Board of Massage Therapy
Benny Vaughn, LMT, Benny Vaughn Athletic Therapy Center
Keith Warren, Alabama Board of Massage Therapy
Document Team Group Members
Rebecca Burkhalter, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
Darren Embry, EMS Law
Dan Logsdon, CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts
Teresa Matthews, LMT, Health, Wellness and Fitness Professionals
Samantha Nance, EMS Law
Debra Persinger, Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
Mai Lin Petrine, Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
Adrienne Price, Georgia Professional Licensing Boards
Matt Shafer, CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts
Jessica Thomas, CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts
ABMP supports the Compact while AMTA does not.
ABMP supports the IMpact because we believe in the mantra “perfect is the enemy of good.” There are approximately 320,000 massage therapists in the US. The overwhelming majority will likely never have to navigate the IMpact requirements to practice in another state. But progress as a profession matters, and enacting an interstate compact is an important step forward as a profession. Those who need or want to practice in other states—especially those moving to a state with more rigorous standards than that of their “home” state—will value the opportunity to obtain permission to practice in additional states with relatively minimal effort.
AMTA’s Statement:
Since the Compact Technical Advisory Group (TAG) was formed, AMTA has had concerns about the IMpact as it was discussed and drafted, as well as with the final version. At the same time, we recognize and value the need for greater mobility in our profession. In fact, it’s one of our top strategic objectives to “establish portability for massage practice across the U.S.”
We also recognize that public disagreements within the profession can be one of the fastest ways to kill (or weaken) a legislative effort. For these reasons, we initially decided to empower our chapters to take this on state by state. Our position, communicated to all stakeholders, was to allow the supermajority of members to lead the way. If the supermajority were to vote against the IMpact, AMTA would remain neutral. If the members were to vote in favor, AMTA would support it, but we would support it with concerns, specifically the requirement of 625 clock hours of massage education.
*My Note: No survey of AMTA members was ever done on a national level. If they had concerns about it back then, why didn’t they create a different plan or do something?
Consistency of Practice Standards
NCBTMB has created Practice Standards and AMTA also has their own.
AMTA:
These American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Standards of Practice were developed to assist the professional massage therapist to:
- provide safe, consistent care
- determine the quality of care provided
- provide a common base to develop a practice
- support/preserve the basic rights of the client and professional massage therapist
- assist the public to understand what to expect from a professional massage therapi
NCBTMB developed and adopted these Standards of Practice to provide Certificants with a clear statement of the expectations of professional conduct and level of practice afforded the public in, among other things, the following areas: Professionalism, Legal and Ethical Requirements, Confidentiality, Business Practices, Roles and Boundaries, and Prevention of Sexual Misconduct and Inappropriate Touch. These Standards of Practice were approved and ratified by the NCBTMB Certification Board, representatives of the Certificant population, and key stakeholders of the NCBTMB.
Revised: September 15, 2017
Entry Level Education
The Entry-Level Analysis Project (ELAP) is a research project initiated by the Coalition of National Massage Therapy Organizations in March 2012. The project goals were to define knowledge and skill components of entry-level education and recommend the minimum number of hours schools should teach to prepare graduates for safe and competent practice in the massage profession. Completed in December of 2013, the project published two documents, which describes ELAP work group findings and recommendations. Read the Coalition Statement in response to the project and review The Core: Entry-Level Analysis Project Report (Final Report) and The Core: Entry-Level Massage Education Blueprint (the Blueprint) available to download on this website.
Not every Coalition member agreed with every item in the 350-page ELAP blueprint, yet all seven Coalition members signed on to a December 2013, eight-page summary, the “Statement of Coalition of National Massage Therapy Organizations.” The ELAP subsequently informed revised, entry-level educational requirements in several states and was incorporated in Model Practice Act Guidelines created by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards.
Was it a result of the Coalition? I just found this: “The ELAP is not an ABMP project; it germinated with Anne (Williams), but has been embraced and developed by the organizations listed above.” Why I Believe by Les Sweeny, ABMP
Except now AMTA says this about the ELAP:
“While AMTA continues to support the general content of the ELAP report, we have never endorsed or supported the 625-hour recommendation. As FSMTB is aware, having also participated in ELAP, the original findings recommended well over 625 hours of massage therapy education. AMTA strongly objected to this number, as it disregarded the evidence-based findings, which conflicts with our core values and even in the words of the ELAP work group, “We encourage interested parties to focus less upon the total hours and more on recommended subject matter and subtopics.” We do not believe that there is an empirical basis for the 625-hour threshold.”
Where are we? Nowhere. Without the support of AMTA this will take years to implement if it ever gets done at all.
Continuing Education
I have written extensively about the issues of CE in the massage therapy profession. The CE Conundrum outlines the and my article The Continuing CE Conundrum in the Massage Profession tells more. The main problems with CE is that there is not any research in any profession that shows CE helps to continue the education of the licensed massage therapist. Our CE classes are approved by the NCBTMB and also the FSMTB has created a CE registry which makes it confusing. The approval process for NCBTMB classes are also a joke (in my opinion!)
Read those two articles and then come back!
Discipline/Licensure (Safety/Public Protection)
The number of illicit businesses continues to grow despite our efforts at licensing and the added burden of establishment licensing. The FSTMB has a human trafficking task force that is looking into things like this.
The main objective of licensing is to protect the public from harm and to also support the licensed massage therapist to a certain extent. We still have many cases of sexual assault of clients by licensed massage therapists happening.
My Hands Off Our Name Initiative is my 2 years of research on the issue and possible solutions.
Certification
The NCBTMB has the Board Certification in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (BCTMB®) which claims to be the highest level of achievement in the massage profession, except for the fact that the number of hours required to take the test are only at 500 which is down from the orignial 750. (Why they decreased the hours, I don’t yet know.) That doesn’t really make it the highest level of achievement but in a way it is as that is all there is. The attempt at Specialty Certificates was a flop. We need Specialty Certifications.
Currently the NCBTMB is funded mainly by the AMTA. AMTA support for this org has gone back and forth. Read the History of National Certification.
So where are we at?
We have Standards of Practice, ELAP, Board Certification, Teacher Certification and TOO MANY involved in CE (without any evidence on what is needed for CE to be effective in continuing a massage therapists education beyond massage school…all waiting to be implemented. We have the Interstate Massage Compact (www.massagecompact.com) waiting in the wings. It could be the first step toward portability, yet the lack of support and the lack of something better has yet to be seen.
Our state massage license language is all over the place with some states considering massage therapists healthcare providers while others do not. In WA State we have been healthacare providers since the early 80’s and have been able to bill health insurance because we also have a law that makes it so (Everycategory Law). Other states lag behind in being able to bill.
The inconsistencies in number of hours of education required in each state make license portablity challenging.
The number of massage therapists has started to decrease (ABMP). The number of massage schools (ABMP) has decreased significantly over the years (not just because of the pandemic). The number of graduates has decreased significantly since 2006 (ABMP). The number of people seeking and getting massage continues to increase.
The number of illicit massage businesses continues to grow with CA, TX, FL, NY, IL and WA leading the way with the highest numbers. (Facebook post from my other website – www.lookbeforeyoubookamassage.com)
Our National Associations seem to be fighting fires rather than building the profession.
What am I doing about it? Starting with this Petition that is really based on my 35 years of watching the massage profession and writing about these same issues for 25 of those years.
ABMP replies to the petition.
Here is my reply to that:
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I am (We are) not asking for anything different than what has already been stated.
Your 2012 coalition statement says:
“The group’s purpose, to come together to address the previously identified concerns of the profession and explore how to collaborate in that work, laid the foundation for the conversation. The issues identified at the first meeting were revisited and each organization updated the group on its individual focus and projects. The highest priorities included: Portability, Consistency of Practice Standards, Entry Level Education, Continuing Education, Discipline/Licensure (Safety/Public Protection), and Certification.”
Duplicate efforts are slowing the process down as is the fact that two organizations are forced to compete. A petition won’t solve that but using a third party organizational development company could help to create a more collaborative environment.
See these resources:
Building a Collaborative Governance Framework: A Five Step Process; Portland State University. https://www.pdx.edu/policy-consensuscenter/sites/policyconsensuscenter.web.wdt.pdx.edu/files/2020-06/1-Building-a-Collaborative-Governance-Framework.pdf
Collaborative Governance Guide – https://platformc.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/Collaborative%20Governance%20Guide%20June%202020.pdf
I am attending the AFMTE conference next week in case one of you might be there and would like more information or to discuss this further or would be happy to talk.
Thanks for your time.
Julie Onofrio, LMT