The Massage Pundit

I’m very fortunate to have been invited to the 50th Anniversary of the MA Chapter of AMTA this coming weekend. I am so looking forward to seeing friends from far and wide their. I’m also on a mission to talk to the folks from the NCBTMB, who will be in attendance as well, about the forthcoming new Advanced Certification Exam (ACE).

I intend to take the exam myself. For one thing, I’ve talked a lot about it on this and my other blogs, and I think I ought to take it for that reason if nothing else…I always like to know what I’m talking about! For another, I want to see if I’ve learned anything in the decade + since I graduated from massage school. I’ve attended my share of continuing education, taught a lot of classes, written numerous articles and a couple of books, so I want to see if anything I have learned has stuck with me or if it’s flown right out of my middle-aged brain.

I took a little poll on Facebook to ask how many intended to take it and I’d like to do the same here. Do you intend to go for the Advanced Certification? Do you think a general exam of that type is going to serve you, or are you holding out for a modality-specific exam? That’s something that I expect will be coming in the not-too-distant future, if the NCB has been paying attention to the massage community.

I believe there was proof of that earlier this week: they are paying attention. The fact that continuing education was not going to be a requirement to sit for the exam caused an uproar, and the NCBTMB’s Board of Directors has now decided to revisit that decision. The Task Force had recommended it all along, and the BOD voted against it. They are now going to back up on that and include that as one of the criteria for taking the exam. That’s a good thing.

I don’t personally accept any new massage clients…my staff members get those.  Somebody has to do the laundry around here! I don’t know that the clients in my clinic will be impressed if I pass the exam or not. I don’t think I’ve taken any kind of exam since grad school, other than the NCETMB more than ten years ago, so it’ll be a stretch for me to participate in one at all. It might do me good to jog my memory and exercise a few brain cells.

What do you think? Is taking this exam going to be on your agenda? My inquiring mind wants to know.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I seem to be preaching this sermon all the time, about being informed and involved in the governance of massage therapy. I’m constantly amazed at the number of massage therapists who are unconcerned about what’s going on in their own state or locale with massage regulation. There seems to be a pervasive attitude that if you ignore it, it isn’t really happening. Wrong!

Keith Eric Grant, who has been blogging about the political scene in massage many years before I started, sent me his latest post yesterday about the things that are happening in California.

California has made some good strides ahead, and that could go up in a puff of smoke if you don’t stand up and make your voice heard. AB 1822 could destroy that progress with the stroke of a pen.

There is legislation afoot in New York and Arkansas, and I’m sure that’s not all; they’re just two that are on my radar at the moment. A couple of my recent blogs were about the potentially disastrous zoning proposals being considered in Chicago. I am happy to report that due to the diligence of the IL Chapter of AMTA in spreading the word all over the Internet and mobilizing the troops to come and protest this action have resulted in it being stopped, at least for the time being, while further consideration is given.

Keeping your head in the sand because you don’t care about politics is a bad move. When you receive a letter telling you that you have to move your massage practice because your area has been rezoned to prohibit the practice of massage there, or informing you that you need to report to the police department so you can be treated like a prostitute that’s just been busted, it will be too late for you to protest. You had better protest before it happens.

I see a small group of therapists who give a flip. The same group of us are always the ones who exhibit any concern. The fact that WE care is not good enough. There is strength in numbers, and legislators have to listen when enough people stand up and holler. YOU have to care.

You have to take a minute or two out of your day to call your legislators. Take a few hours and attend the Board meetings, the legislature,  or the town council meetings where these things are being discussed. Write a letter, make a call. If you don’t take any action, you shouldn’t be surprised when something comes out of left field and you suddenly find out that your ability to practice massage isn’t what you thought it would be. I’m trying to give you a wake-up call. Don’t wait until you get one from the massage gestapo.

Laura Allen

Today’s the day (Monday, April 12) that the Zoning Committee in Chicago is voting on an ordinance to require that massage establishments only be allowed in areas that are zoned B-3, which means limited to industrial use, heavy commercial use, and taverns.

This amendment was introduced by Alderman Ray Suarez, who feels that by prohibiting massage therapists from operating in retail areas and neighborhoods, that he is somehow fighting prostitution.  His heart may be in the right place, but this misguided notion will not accomplish anything except to penalize legitimate massage therapists.

The Zoning Committee meets this morning at 10:30 am, Chicago City Hall, Room 201-A, LaSalle St, and every massage therapist in town needs to be there! April 14, this will go for a full vote. If you can’t attend the meeting in person, call your alderman.

If this ordinance passes, you may find yourself in the position of being forced to move your massage practice to some seedy area you’d rather not be in. Don’t be silent about this.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Ahmos Netanel has been named the new interim CEO of the California Massage Therapy Council.  I would like to be the first to congratulate Mr. Netanel for taking the job for the paltry salary of $200,000. That looks a whole lot better to me than the $340,000 + a year that he was asking for, as I first reported in my blog on Feb. 10th.

He will get an additional $36,000 worth of benefits including vacation and sick leave, and a moving allowance. Netanel currently resides in Hawaii, and to put it simply the CA job isn’t do-able from there. He has committed to moving to CA by June.

There’s no doubt this will be a demanding position. There’s no template, as this is not a “state board” per se. It is a private non-profit that is not part of state government, but one that will definitely have some overlap and many dealings with state and local government.

California will have a two-tiered system. A CMT (Certified Massage Therapist) must have 500 hours of education. An CMP (Certified Massage Practitioner) must have 250.  That certainly beats the old system of requiring nothing at all, and there’s nowhere to go but up.

Good luck to the therapists in the state of California, to Mr. Netanel and the rest of the CAMTC.