The massage profession has made a few good strides lately–and taken a few hard hits, as well. On the “moving forward” side, the wake-up call to the therapists in California over Bill 1822 was answered when more than 2000 therapists e-mailed their legislators in less than 48 hours, causing the bill to be favorably amended. The same happened in Cook County, IL a few months ago when therapists protested loudly about a detrimental zoning proposition that would have limited massage therapists to practicing in areas zoned for heavy industry and taverns. I’m glad people in the massage community are finally rising to the occasion. Complacency is not a good thing.
On the “moving backward” front last week, Delaware’s proposed action to do away with tiered licensing and raise the standard to 500 hours across the board was vetoed, in spite of the fact that the plan included a three-year grandfathering period for bringing everyone up to snuff. In the past month, we’ve also had to deal with the Al Gore controversy, the nincompoops on The View giving massage a bad name, and the unfortunate circumstances leading to the demise of one of the providers of liability insurance to massage therapists.
Like any other industry or profession, we have our share of problems. I think the key is to keep on plugging away until we have regulation in every state, and have educated every member of the public to what massage therapy is really all about. In spite of the fact that massage has been documented in cave drawings and in the pyramids, we’re far from the point of being able to rest on our laurels.
A number of our state regulatory boards are still in their youth, and are too busy dealing with the business of getting established to conduct effective public education campaigns. And it’s not just the general public who has to be educated, it’s the legislators. While our professional associations all have government relations representatives, they can’t go everywhere and they can’t be everywhere at one time. There’s only a few of them, but there’s 250,000 or so of us. It’s up to us. The call to action in CA and IL and the subsequent outcry is the proof that enough therapists rising up can stop detrimental legislation in its tracks.
A lot of therapists are oblivious to what goes on in their own state, and that’s a shame. Board meetings are open to the public. In addition, when any proposed law is anywhere is on the horizon, there is a public comment period and we all need to take advantage of the opportunity to express an opinion.
I’m into social networking, and whenever the Al Gore and The View incidents happened, there were literally thousands of comments posted from therapists everywhere in response on FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If that same number of therapists would contact their legislators to educate them about therapeutic massage and tell them how they feel when something that is unfair or not in the best interests of the profession is coming down the pike, we could put an end to detrimental legislation altogether. It’s time for moving forward. There’s no room to move back.
August 7th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by MASSAGE Magazine, MASSAGE Magazine. MASSAGE Magazine said: New blog post: A Few Steps Forward, A Few Steps Back http://bit.ly/a2dHnw [...]
August 8th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Hi Laura,
I am actively licensed to practice massage and bodywork therapy in a few States; Delaware is one of those States. I would like to say a few words about regulatory action in Delaware mentioned in your blog. I realize how it seems to many people – the Governor in DE vetoed legislation that would have “raised the bar” to National minimums as far as massage education was concerned. From an outside point of view, people see this and wonder what the heck is going on, why wouldn’t a Governor want massage therapists to have educational requirements that at least, meet the minimum requirements established by National Boards within the profession?
What has transpired in Delaware is not what it appears to be. The Governor did not veto the idea of raising educational requirements for massage therapists in DE, he vetoed a piece of legislation that was pushed through the legislative process very quietly that abolished a 2nd tier of massage practitioner. The legislation would have immediately done away with a “Certified Technician” level of practitioner and required that all current CT’s (Certified Technician) upgrade to “Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist” within three years of the adopted legislation. There was NO administrative preparation for this process, there was NO plan ever discussed on how to handle the influx of calls, questions and concerns from those that would be affected (over 60% of current State recognized Massage and Bodywork Therapists). There was NO mass announcement or direct communication to practitioners that a final legislative proposal was agreed upon by the Board with the exception of what the Board chooses to hide behind: The legal requirement to publish a public comments and questions notice in a newspaper and obscure meeting minutes posted way after the fact. That legal requirement of how to inform the public should have been the first item on their proposed legislation – this is the age of technology; mass communication is easier than ever to accomplish with the internet via email and website postings while newspaper circulation and readership is the lowest it has ever been. The Board also chooses to hide behind complaints that “no one comes to meetings and workshops,” and “no one gets involved or speaks up until after the fact,” and more ridiculous excuses.
As with many States that have had massage and bodywork legislation for a long time, the rules and regulations have evolved from a beginning that was designed to include as many people as possible under a regulatory umbrella. In the beginning, schools and trainings were not as organized as they are now and people had training from places that went out of business, owners moved, formal records were not kept, etc. So legislative organizers did the best they could do to include as many people that wanted to be included. Early on, 100 hours of training was sufficient to apply for a 2nd or 3rd tier of licensing/certification. Over fifteen to twenty years, that has evolved in bits and pieces.
Over the years a few people worked very hard to put together legislation to clean up old legislation that long outlived its original purpose (temporary licenses with only 100-200 hours of educational requirement that was fairly non-specific – for starters. Also and more recently, about 5 years worth of bickering over extreme legislative proposals (a few years ago it was proposed that each modality of bodywork be licensed with its own individual educational requirements). Many ideas were brought to the Board for review. Ideas such as: timely transparency of Board actions and proposals, renewal notices that allowed practitioners to agree/disagree to allow their contact info and/email info to be made public and available for mailing lists (right now, only names and license titles are the only info that can be made public – no contact info. So no mailings lists can be purchased through the State which limits mass notification, newsletters, notice of education training, etc.), adding detailed Board agendas to the Board website (before the meetings), posting of Board and workshop meeting minutes in the form of immediate transcripts or recordings – live streaming of Board meetings, using the Board website to announce and give links to Board proposed legislative actions and proposed rules (Before they are adopted), holding meetings and workshops in the evening so more people can attend meetings, educating the practitioners each renewal period and on-line with information on how to become actively involved in State Board business and educate on how to apply for Board positions, TRAINING for BOARD members so each knows it is not simply about personal agendas but what is best for the mission of the Board, encouraging clear and strict delineation between practitioner tiers so as not to be confusing to the public or other practitioners. Right now, there is really no enforced incentive to become licensed for massage and bodywork in DE as the other tier – certified technician – is not required to take any exam, is only required to take half as many continuing education hours for renewal as licensed level and if a school is willing to submit transcripts midway through a basic massage and/or bodywork program, a person can become a certified technician with as few as 300 hours of “training” and drop out of school if they want and still practice legally in Delaware. Currently there is vague and un-enforced regulations and rules about the difference in work roles between licensed and technician practitioners which has caused a rift within the profession (the public is simply unaware and uneducated concerning differences). Ideas have been presented to the Board to make clear the role differences and enforce the rules. Up until now, the Board hides behind the fact that few public complaints have been made in this regard. To be fair, the Board (and Board of Regulation) are not friendly Boards to work with in regard to filing of complaints and follow through. Ideas have been suggested to improve the complaint process as well. Many of these ideas were shot down or ignored repeatedly over the last five years (and longer). I know, because I have repeatedly submitted them along with many other ideas for the Board to discuss, tweak and refine. I know of many others who have repeatedly tried to communicate ideas for improvement to the Board well before I became involved. Their stories include antagonizing actions, being chastised and condemnation – complete opposites of what the Board portrays as “welcoming all and encouraging involvement.”
The Board members and staff of one person, currently offer the company line that “no one” comes to meetings or workshops, “nobody” gets involved (meaning from within the profession), and that they only hear negative feedback AFTER action has been taken, voted upon and adopted. I would like to continue to share my personal opinion on these matters. I believe there are MANY talented and interested individuals in the State of Delaware and surrounding States that have quite a bit to offer to Board members (or as Board members), simply for the asking. The Board doesn’t ask or poll and if and when they say they do, the population chosen is selective and appears biased. I believe there are MANY interested individuals that would like better and more current ways of being connected to Massage and Bodywork Board activities. However, people have tried to become involved and have tried to offer suggestions, ideas and outright help to the Board and various members over the years. Phone calls have gone un-returned, emails go un-answered, Board Workshops were cancelled regularly over the past year alone and no notice given in a public way (no advance notice on the website). How do you suppose that fosters a “welcome all” to interested parties that took an entire day off of work and drove over an hour to attend a Board workshop meeting? Board meeting minutes often take 60 days to be posted to the Board website. The Board meeting minutes are frequently dotted with un-connectable dots and minutes from one meeting to the next are often very disjointed with little continuity or follow up in the next set of minutes.
Specifically related to the proposed legislation that would have completely eliminated the certified technician tier of massage technicians and required the current technicians to upgrade their current level to license by taking the National Board Exam for State Licensing (and passing it) within three years of the legislation being adopted, The Board of Massage and Bodywork in DE seemingly pushed this proposal (and a few other tidbits) through WITHOUT a lot of effort to notify anyone. The Board states in posted minutes that the President contacted massage schools about this issue but I have yet to find ANYONE who was actually given a copy of the proposed legislation as it was written. There have been many proposals for legislative changes written over the last 5 years, each one significantly different from the previous. There was even a proposal (3 or 4 very different versions ago) voted and approved on by Board members and sent for legislative sponsorship that somehow mysteriously showed up at the Board of Professional Regulation (Board above the Massage and Bodywork Board) with changes that the Board members say they did not know about. I KNOW this because about 2 years ago I just so happened to request a copy of any legislative proposals written up by the Board and the Board staff member sent me a copy of one that she stated was already approved and awaiting State legislative vote. I flipped a lid when I read it and immediately set to task to comment on almost each line of the proposal and how detrimental and contradictory the language was in the proposal. I submitted my comments and my suggestions for re-writing the proposal to the Board of Massage and Bodywork and also to the Board of Professional Regulations. When the Board of Massage and Bodywork received my comments on the proposed legislation (2 years and 3-4 versions ago), the President of the Board called me and told me she NEVER saw the version I was given. She checked with the staff member and the staff member told her the Deputy Attorney General (at the time) wrote it, the Board approved it and it was submitted to the Board of Professional Regulations for sponsorship. The Board President (still the same President) swears up and down she NEVER saw the version that was given to me. Ironically, the letter I sent to everyone to point out the contradictions and poor language and idiotic ideas written in the proposal 2 years ago, simply disappeared. The President told me they didn’t really need it and the public Board members didn’t really understand it because they weren’t in the profession (?????) and that the Board was going to submit the version she thought was supposed to be sent further up the chain.
Well, the version of proposed legislation that the President sent up the chain was immediately knocked down and the Board was ordered to undergo a “Sunset Review.” I continued to ask to receive copies of proposals for legislative action. I received none.
I pleaded with the Board President to announce any plan that she may have had to abolish the 2nd tier of technician in a public way on the Board website, through a Board mailer or other ways. I pleaded with the Board President to make administrative preparations for legislative changes by making announcements on the website, opening a discussion forum for people to offer their ideas and opinions so that it did not bog down the one staff member, I asked her to do this openly and honestly and I asked the Board President to offer 3 different ways increase the educational requirements for practitioners so that all involved felt as though they had a choice. The Board President refused to share any information with me on this latest version of proposed legislation. I had a few friends contact the Board Staff member to get copies of the proposed legislation (as I wasn’t successful at acquiring proposals) and they were only give links to current rules and regulations.
So yes, it appears (behind the scenes) that this Board pushed this proposal through in again, what appears to be a very quiet way that masks the intent of purposely avoiding public comment and involvement. After the most recent legislation was passed in the State, I told the Board President that I was very disappointed that my phone calls or emails were not returned for the last year and a half and that the Board did not share the proposed legislation with me after I repeatedly asked. I told the Board President that I was so disappointed to learn that the proposal that was submitted to the State was not reflective of any of the things we had discussed in earlier versions of proposed legislation and I told her how disappointed I was that none of my many letters written to the Board in the last 5 years have been taken seriously and in fact were seemingly ignored by the Board and admonished by the former Deputy Attorney General who was recorded as saying my letters to the Board had nothing to do with Board discussions or business. There are many items that need addressed in Delaware that in my opinion, supercede the need for immediate and direct abolishment of a tier of practitioner.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. There is more and plenty of it. I hope this serves to pique interest in practitioners getting more involved in their State Boards. Being on any professional Board is a tremendous commitment. I have contributed a lot of energy from the sidelines and know the work that is involved. I know of many other talented and educated people that have tried the same over the years and have been just as disappointed and frustrated as I am. I must admit I have learned so much more than I ever thought I would learn because of the disappointing actions of Board members. So in a strange way, I am grateful for the opportunity to educate myself. It has helped me to become clearer about State regulations and rules and processes. I am also grateful to all of those who have stepped forward in the past to help shape and tweak the rules and regulations that affect our profession. I would like to strongly encourage Board members of any Board to consciously keep lines of communication OPEN and Honest. The current Board in DE has educated and talented people and I encourage them to open lines of communication and honestly welcome input. This is the age of technology and information and there is no valid reason why technology and information can’t be used in a more efficient and public way. I also congratulate those in our profession such as you Laura, who do “watchdog” what is happening across the Nation in government relations that affect our profession. I too was thrilled to see the response from practitioners when word was SHARED about what was going on in specific States in relation to Massage and Bodywork legislation. Thank you.