The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards was formed in 2005 with the intention of bringing state boards together in the spirit of collaboration to address the needs for consistent scopes of practice and entry level standards across the country, the need for a valid and reliable licensing exam that would be accepted in all jurisdictions, and the need for a common database with licensing and disciplinary information and the ability to store critical documents.
After a Job Task Analysis with over 7,000 participants was completed, the MBLEx (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Exam) was born and made available to member states. 31 state boards, plus the District of Columbia and Peurto Rico are now members of the Federation. Debra Persinger was hired as the Executive Director in 2006. I recently had the opportunity to find out more about her and the Federation.
LA: What is your background in the massage profession? Are you now or have you ever personally been a massage therapist?
DP: I am not a massage therapist and probably never will be a massage therapist unless I could be exempt from having to touch people’s feet! I have degrees in human nutrition, human development and human services – I guess you could say I like to study humans – oh, and a post graduate diploma in teaching. I like to improve the human condition and I am also big on standards – a perfect match for my work with the Federation. I was hired for my combined expertise in association management and credentialing but I have also taught at universities, conducted research, published books, counseled violent offenders, facilitated support groups, taught ethics workshops; and in my parallel career path I am a working mom!
LA: How long have you been with the organization?
DP: I have been with the FSMTB since September 2006.
LA: Have you been in the same position with the organization since you started, or did you climb through the ranks?
DP: I was hired as executive director and I retain that title today. I have been a staff of one so that is not to say I was not the receptionist, file clerk, meeting planner, marketing director, candidate social worker, political correspondent, finance officer and myriad other titles. This week I got an assistant so now I have climbed out of the ranks of receptionist and file clerk.
LA: What is the mission statement of your organization?
DP: The mission of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) is to support its member boards (the state licensing boards and agencies) Â in their work to ensure that the practice of massage therapy is provided to the public in a safe and effective manner.
LA: What do you think your organization is doing to honor the mission statement?
DP: We continue to expand knowledge, understanding and accessibility to information by providing a forum for communal exchange of ideas among the regulatory community. Our flagship exam program is also on point as an assessment tool to establish public protection by examining core competencies for licensing massage & bodywork professionals.
LA: What do you feel has been your biggest achievement there?
DP: Establishing the FSTMB as a trustworthy organization that values transparency, integrity, accountability and … People!
LA: What do you see as the most important initiative for moving your organization forward?
DP: Continuing to develop a solid infrastructure for providing top quality services to our stakeholders. Like the song says… you’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr Inbetween.
LA: What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing your organization today?
DP: Managing the growth – seriously, it’s a nice challenge to have but it’s still a challenge.
LA: There are more organizations and associations for the massage profession now than ever before. What do you see as the ideal relationship between them?
DP: We can all act as change agents. We can choose to take action in improving and healing our environment and our society. Our task is to paddle the boat with awareness and integrity; the flow of the river is outside our doing.
LA: If you could only say one thing to your stakeholders, what would it be?
DP: I like to operationalize things so if you tell me your dreams, I’ll do my best to make them come true – and I have a little ceramic heart above my desk that says … Kindness Matters!
February 21st, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Thanks for writing this series Laura. It’s helpful to clarify the roles of these organizations, and hopefully the people who are a little confused about what each org does is reading your blog.
What strikes me is that we have NCBTMB that has content eligibility; COMTA that has a set of 6 competencies with the elements of each competency which schools need to teach in order to be accredited by COMTA; and we have the FSMTB that also created a test based on a job task analysis to determine what massage therapists need to know. Of course I’m simplifying all of this, but now, after all this work has been done, we have a committee to determine a body of knowledge. So when do we stop going back to square one? And, in the end what will change if the MTBOK is more, less or the same as what we already have? I’m not criticizing the effort, and I may have missed the answer, but I’m curious about what the long term goals are for the MTBOK and how the information will be used. My guess is someone has the answer and if you do, please share. Thanks.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
What a wonderful chance to hear from one of the most brilliant people in the massage world. Debra has shown a new level of professional standards in our field. Her work with the FSMTB/MBLEx shows us what we can be as a profession. We no longer need to feel stuck in the rut of “well, that’s what we’ve got” when we discuss our standards of licensure. She is a ray of light in our field.