It is with the utmost appreciation and gratitude that we bid farewell to our Executive Director, Rick Rosen, MA. LMBT. He is stepping down from this position to bring his full attention to the Body Therapy Institute, the school he founded in 1983. Rick’s vision, skills and commitment have helped to build a solid foundation for the Alliance, as well as a strategic direction that will support the continued success of the organization.

Rick is a founding member of the Alliance, was the head of the startup Leadership Team, and became the first Executive Director in August 2009. The Alliance has been the fortunate beneficiary of Rick’s many talents in the areas of communications, planning and policy development. His influence throughout the organization will be missed.

At this time, we are also moving from our association management company, Coulter Nonprofit Management, of McLean, Virginia. We have enjoyed working with their team of professionals during this crucial startup period. In particular, we want to acknowledge Shane Robinson, Alliance Managing Director, and Coulter CEO Thomas C. Gibson for their contributions. We are extremely appreciative of the high level of support and guidance the Coulter team has provided; their continued belief in the Alliance’s mission means a lot to us.

Within the next 30 days, the Alliance will be announcing a new administrative location for the organization. In the meantime, use the existing phone number and mailing address. The Alliance’s email <admin@afmte.org> and website address <www.afmte.org> will remain the same. This restructuring is in keeping with our fiscal responsibilities.

This transition brings challenges, yet we are excited by the opportunities and are seizing the moment to reconfirm the Alliance’s original vision to serve as the voice, advocate and resource for the entire education sector. We are confident that the evolution of a new structure will make the organization stronger and better able to serve our members and the massage therapy profession as a whole.

As we move into this new phase, we invite you to join us now as a member or sponsor, and to participate in the work of the Alliance.

ACCAHC consists of accrediting agencies, certification and testing organizations, and councils of colleges and schools that are associated with the five distinctly licensed complementary healthcare professions which have a federally recognized accrediting agency. These professions are: Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Chiropractic, Direct-entry Midwifery, Massage Therapy, and Naturopathic Medicine.

As a consortium of 16 national organizations, the members of ACCAHC engage in and support activities in the areas of education, clinical care, research and policy clarification which will help transform the client/patient experience through strengthening understanding and cooperation. Alliance Board member Stan Dawson, DC, LMT, currently serves on the ACCAHC Education Working Group.

According to John Weeks, ACCAHC Executive Director, “We have been watching the Alliance with interest since its launch two years ago, since all mature professions have an independent agency representing education. We are pleased that the Alliance is emerging as the designated representative of the massage education community, and is engaged in projects to improve the quality of teaching. We hope the massage field will increasingly see the value in participating with the Alliance. We look forward to their participation and to their contributions.”

The Alliance will join the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges, Association of Chiropractic Colleges, and the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine as the newest member of ACCAHC’s council of colleges and schools group.

The massage education seat on this ACCAHC council has been occupied by the American Massage Therapy Association, through its Council of Schools. As AMTA discontinued the COS in 2009, it no longer met the criteria and its term will end as of December 31, 2011. Weeks notes that AMTA has been a founder and core supporter of ACCAHC and that ACCAHC is pleased that AMTA plans to remain involved as an Associate Member and perhaps in other capacities.

This new relationship with ACCAHC will benefit Alliance members by bringing massage educators together with those from other complementary health, integrative medicine and other health professions education fields, to increase the level of collaboration as all groups work together to create new and more effective models of health and client care.

• Alliance for Massage Therapy Education
  President Pete Whitridge and Executive Director Rick Rosen
• American Massage Therapy Association
  President Glenath Moyle and Executive Director Shelly Johnson
• Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals
  Chairman Bob Benson and President Les Sweeney
• Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation
  Commissioner Randy Swenson and Executive Director Kate H. Zulaski
• Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
  Executive Director Debra Persinger
• Massage Therapy Foundation
  President Ruth Werner (AMTA’s Executive Dir. also serves in this capacity for the Foundation)
• National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork
  Chair Alexa Zaledonis and Chief Executive Officer Paul Lindamood

The meeting was facilitated by Andrew Lebby, PhD, founding partner of The Performance Group, a consulting firm based in Washington, DC that assists organizations in navigating the process of large-scale change.

In preparation for this meeting, each of the organizations submitted proposed agenda items which provided the raw material for the discussions. Broad agreement emerged about a need to pursue opportunities for improvement in order to become an effectively functioning profession. The current challenge, at its most fundamental level, goes to the inconsistent quality of massage therapy services provided to clients.

Inconsistent quality, depth and focus of entry-level massage therapy education and licensure portability (or professional mobility) were identified as priority discussion items.

Regarding entry-level education, a series of factors were identified that need to be addressed, including: curriculum design, teacher competency, student assessment, and updating subject matter to match evidence-informed practice. Diversely successful massage school program results are perhaps not surprising given the group observation that, unlike most other allied health fields in which both institutional and programmatic accreditation are mandatory, barely half of the 1,382 massage therapy programs in the United States have received institutional accreditation and only 100 have received specialized programmatic accreditation.

On the issue of portability, the group agreed that the problem stemmed from the lack of consistent state regulations. In pursuit of a solution, the group affirmed the role of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards in its recently-launched project to develop a Model Practice Act. Participants noted the particular importance of working toward a common scope of practice definition and of substituting a substantively-derived basis for required minimum education hours for current arbitrary hour requirements. The group examined a specific proposal to address the education hour question. Each organization agreed to consider the proposal within their organization and determine next steps.

Participants also agreed that, as model practice guidelines emerge, a re-calibrating of government relations advocacy efforts by several organizations could facilitate widespread state adoption.

With a combination of insightful discussion and professional respect shown by the 12 representatives, the meeting was positive, powerful and highly productive. Overall, it was recognized that a high level of cooperation and coordination among all the players is necessary to address the problems at hand – and that many of these changes will take a considerable length of time.

The representatives decided to continue the inter-organization dialogue begun in St. Louis. That will include another face-to-face meeting on May 1-2, 2012, as well as ongoing telephone and electronic communication.

Participants in the Massage Therapy Leadership Summit
St. Louis, Missouri, September 13-14, 2011

Left to right: Ruth Werner (MTF), Shelly Johnson (AMTA), Rick Rosen (AFMTE),
Glenath Moyle (AMTA), Randy Swenson (COMTA), Debra Persinger (FSMTB),
Bob Benson (ABMP), Kate Zulaski (COMTA), Paul Lindamood (NCBTMB),
Pete Whitridge (AFMTE), Les Sweeney (ABMP), Alexa Zaledonis (NCBTMB)

The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education was formed to serve as the voice, advocate and resource for the community of massage schools and educators. Like other groups within the massage therapy field, the education sector needed a champion of its own. In pursuit of this goal, a group of six veteran massage therapy educators came together in 2009 to lay the groundwork for this new organization.

It was an idea whose time had come. The Alliance’s Leadership Team had more than 200 years of combined experience in massage therapy, teaching and the healing arts. However, they launched this endeavor without the benefit of grants or startup loans. The group turned to the community itself, and invited massage schools, teachers, continuing education providers and companies to become Founding Members of the Alliance. In just 12 weeks, nearly $50,000 was raised that funded the first stage of organizational development.

Much was accomplished in the first year, including development of bylaws, incorporation as a non-profit, and holding the Alliance’s inaugural Conference in June 2010 in Park City, Utah. At that historic meeting, members came together to elect the first official Board of Directors, and to shape the future of massage therapy education. Out of those group visioning sessions, consensus emerged on the most compelling challenge facing the massage therapy field: teacher development.

As the Alliance moved into its second year, efforts branched out into a number of areas: a Code of Ethics for members was developed and published; outreach continued with other stakeholder organizations in the field to build mutually beneficial relationships; a survey was conducted to gather input about setting standards for teacher education, curriculum and continuing education; and a comprehensive review of the Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge was begun.

In December 2010, the Alliance published a white paper that provided the rationale and overview for a National Teacher Education Standards Project. This will be the centerpiece of the Alliance’s agenda over the coming years, and is focused on the goal of strengthening and improving the quality of massage education. Members of the Alliance’s Professional Standards Committee are actively at work on the first phase of this project, which is development of the Core Competencies for Massage Therapy Teachers. This document will outline the foundational knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) needed for teachers to produce successful and consistent outcomes with adult learners in a variety of educational settings.

The Alliance is also active in the arena of standards for continuing education. As announced earlier this year, the Alliance will be collaborating with the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) in the development of a new national program for the approval of CE courses and providers.

“Bringing Teaching to the Next Level” was the theme for the Alliance’s second Annual Conference, recently completed in Charleston, South Carolina. This event gave attendees an opportunity to provide direct feedback on the first draft of the Core Competencies document, and it featured inspiring keynote presentations and professional development workshops for attendees.

In addition to these many projects, the Alliance has been building a set of valuable benefits and services for its members over the past year. A new and streamlined membership framework was rolled out at the beginning of 2011, with a two-tiered dues structure for Massage Schools, Teachers and Continuing Education Providers. The Alliance now offers an Associate Level membership which provides basic affiliation at a modest price, as well as the full-featured Gold Level Membership Program. Complete information on membership and benefits is available on the Alliance website.

It has been an exciting and rewarding two years. The goals for the coming year are to grow this non-profit organization and to continue the efforts to bring massage education to the forefront. The Alliance seeks the active participation of all those in the education community, both by joining and through involvement in the committees and projects that will make a great difference in our field.

With a theme of Bringing Teaching to the Next Level, the conference brought a specific focus to the need for establishing standards for teacher training in the massage therapy field.

The opening keynote presentation by Tracy Ortelli explored the challenges involved in “Creating a Culture of Teaching Excellence” and the many benefits it can bring. As a renowned educator and organizational leader from the nursing profession, she brought an important perspective from her discipline – which was in dialogue for more than 100 years before deciding in 2005 to adopt competency standards for faculty who teach in nursing programs. Ortelli suggested to those present at the Alliance meeting that it was up to the massage education community to take this crucial step on its own behalf. She also pointed out (with some comic irony), “You certainly don’t have to wait as long as we did!”

Building on this theme, the Alliance’s Professional Standards Committee presented an overview of the National Teacher Education Standards Project. Closely tied to our mission, this is a long-term effort intended to strengthen and improve the quality of massage therapy education. The project’s initial phase – development of the Core Competencies for Massage Therapy Teachers – was a focal point of the conference. As this document is the first of its kind in the massage therapy field, it outlines the foundational knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) needed for teachers to produce successful and consistent outcomes with adult learners in a variety of educational settings.

Conference attendees had the opportunity to provide direct input on the first draft of the Core Competencies in a half-day discussion forum. School directors, teachers and CE providers met in three concurrent sessions to share their perspectives and concerns about the standards, which were reported back to the full assembly. This high-level feedback will be used by the Alliance in the next stage of revisions before a second draft of the document is put out for public comment later this year.

The conference also included a forum to gather input on a forthcoming project that will create a new national approval process for continuing education courses and providers. As announced earlier this year, the Alliance will be partnering with the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) to develop these standards. In support of this effort, FSMTB Executive Director Debra Persinger facilitated a session in Charleston that invited CE providers (and other interested people) to share their experiences with existing approval processes in the field, and to provide ideas about what they would like to see in a new national process.

Along with the focus on standards, there was a wealth of other presentations that gave conference participants specific information and tools to use in their professional roles. Dr. Ben Benjamin led a keynote session on the SAVI – the System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction, a leading-edge communications approach. Jan Schwartz inspired the group to reach beyond the borders of the massage therapy field in her keynote on The Role of Massage Education in Complementary Health Care. In addition, the breakout workshops included:

• Strategies to Improve Learning Environments with Anne Williams
• What Educators Need to Know about Government Relations with Sally Hacking & Pete Whitridge
• Understanding the New USDE Program Integrity Rules with Dr. Tony Mirando & Demara Stamler
• Instructional Design for Inspired Learning with Cherie Sohnen-Moe & Iris Burman
• Creative Marketing Ideas and Powerful Lead Follow-up Strategies for Your School with Lex Filipowski
• Developing Competency-based Assessments to Evaluate Student Performance
  with Jan Schwartz
• Ethical Issues in Massage Education with Nancy Dail

Here are links to full videos of two of our keynote presentations. These are courtesy of Ryan Hoyme, (aka The Massage Nerd), and are posted to YouTube:

Tracy Ortelli, PhD(c), MS, RN, CNE
Creating a Culture of Teaching Excellence

Ben Benjamin, PhD
The Dynamics of Effective Communication:
Introducing the System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction

In addition, Ryan’s website includes a number of interviews with educators from the Conference, which are being cataloged as part of our Massage History Project. On the Massage Nerd site, do a search for “AFMTE” to bring up a list of these videos which highlight educators speaking about those teachers and mentors who were fundamental in shaping who they are today.

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All in all, this was truly a gathering that was greater than the sum of its parts. To expand on those sentiments, here are some of the reflections shared by conference attendees:

Gloria Coppola, a teacher of traditional Hawaiian massage observed: “It was truly the most cohesive and collaborative event of colleagues in my 25-year massage career! Thank you all so much for this event and for this organization. The future of massage education is in the hands of many well-respected and talented individuals. I am honored to be a part of this process and group.”

Noted teacher and author Laura Allen commented in her recent blog: “It was an excellent gathering from start to finish. Whether you are a school owner, program director, CE provider, or industry support partner, the Alliance is going to accomplish great things for the advancement of massage therapy education. This is an opportunity to have a voice and a partnership in many resources to support that goal, and I encourage my colleagues not to pass it by.”

Maria Schick teaches massage therapy at a career college, and had this to say about the meeting: “Thank you for an intense, educational and enjoyable three days. I am in awe of the “sweat equity” already invested in the Alliance and can only hope that I will have something worthwhile to add through my membership.”

Massage school owner and respected author Sandy Fritz shared: “I was pleased to be a part of this conference. It is gatherings like this with free exchange of information among peers that encourage me. There has been a lot of work done behind the scenes and that really came through at the meeting.”

Finally, therapist and CE provider Kathleen Gramzay gave this insightful perspective: “I anticipated that this would be a quality conference, but it far exceeded that expectation. This gathering was a unique combination of high-level professionalism, passion and vision for the future of massage therapy in term of Real World Relevancy. For me, it was humbling and inspiring to participate in this goal with so many mentors, teachers and authors I have long admired and from whom I continue to learn. It was also very satisfying to bring home new skills that I know will improve me as an educator today. I am encouraged that the Alliance – in its leadership and members – has the integrity, heart and fortitude to lead the way. I am honored and grateful to be in such outstanding company.”

As the Alliance approaches the second anniversary of its launch, this successful conference is a powerful affirmation that the organization has built a solid foundation. With the active support and participation of the massage education community, the Alliance will be able to carry out its mission for the benefit of all those who teach across the diverse spectrum of massage, bodywork and somatic therapies, and all who benefit downstream from that teaching.

The Alliance will present an overview of its National Teacher Education Standards Project, which is a long-range endeavor to create a culture of teaching excellence. Launched at the end of 2010, the project is in its first phase, which is focused on establishing the Core Competencies for Massage Therapy Teachers. These standards — the first of their kind in the massage therapy field — will outline the foundational knowledge, skills and attributes (KSAs) needed for teachers to produce successful and consistent outcomes with adult learners in a variety of educational settings.

Developed by the Alliance’s Professional Standards Committee, the first draft of the Core Competencies will be the subject of a special half-day discussion forum that will give Conference attendees an opportunity to provide direct feedback on the document. This valuable input from school directors, teachers and continuing education providers alike will be used by the Committee in the next stage of revisions before the standards are released to the full massage therapy community for comment later this year.

Those who are attending the Alliance’s Conference in Charleston, along with all Alliance members, will receive an advance copy of this draft document for review. A white paper on the National Teacher Education Standards Project, which describes the five phases of the project, is available from this link.

The Alliance is also active in the arena of standards for continuing education. As announced earlier this year, the Alliance will be partnering with the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) in the development of a new national program for the approval of CE courses and providers. The upcoming Alliance Conference in Charleston will feature FSMTB Executive Director Debra Persinger, PhD in a special workshop session that will provide the scope and rationale for this new approval program. She will also give CE providers (and other interested participants in this session) an opportunity to share their experiences with existing approval processes in the field, and to provide ideas about what they would like to see in a new national process. This input will be used as FSMTB and the Alliance begin work on this important effort.

Complete descriptions of the Conference educational program, logistical details, as well as information on the new 2011 Alliance membership options may be found in a free 16-page booklet available by clicking this link. Conference participants can earn up to 15 contact hours of CE credit.

Registration is still available for this event, and can be done through the Conference page on this website or by calling the Alliance Office at 703-506-2888.

The educational program includes workshops to meet the professional development needs of directors and administrators from massage therapy schools, along with massage school teachers and continuing education providers. The conference also features three keynotes with distinguished presenters:

In a presentation entitled Creating a Culture of Teaching Excellence, Tracy Ortelli, PhD(c), RN, will offer massage therapy educators a unique perspective on what it takes to establish teacher standards in a professional discipline, and the tremendous difference it can make in the quality of educational outcomes. Tracy is Vice President of Academic Affairs for Galen College of Nursing and a recognized leader in the field of nursing education. She directed the development of the Nurse Educator Certification Program for the National League of Nursing, and was a test developer for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

Ben Benjamin, PhD will introduce conference attendees to the System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction in a presentation on The Dynamics of Effective Communication. SAVI provides a state-of-the-art tool for analyzing and improving the effectiveness of verbal communication in all domains. The system focuses not on what we say, but on how we say it. In this presentation, you will experience how SAVI can be utilized from the classroom to the boardroom, and from the individual to the group level. Ben is one of the most highly-respected educators and authors in the massage therapy field. He is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he founded the Muscular Therapy Institute.

As massage therapy is considered part of the spectrum of complementary and alternative health care practices that are getting broad utilization by consumers, The Role of Massage Education in Complementary Health Care is the subject of the final keynote presentation at this year’s conference. Jan Schwartz, MA, will offer an introduction to the mission and goals of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), and will highlight ways that massage schools and educators can build bridges that facilitate collaboration with other health professions, and increase utilization of massage therapy services. Jan is a founding member of ACCAHC and serves on its Executive Committee. She is a former Director of Education for the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts and former chair of COMTA.

Complete descriptions of the educational program, conference details, as well as information on the new 2011 Alliance membership options may be found in a free 16-page booklet available by clicking this link. Conference participants can earn up to 15 contact hours of CE credit.

Alliance Members receive a $100 discount off the registration fee.

The Alliance has published a new 16-page booklet that features a complete description of the new membership and dues structure, with a focus on the Gold Level Membership Program. This premiere suite of benefits provides significant savings on important services for massage therapy schools, teachers and continuing education providers.

The booklet also provides complete descriptions of the educational program, logistical details and a registration form for the Alliance’s second Annual Conference in Charleston, South Carolina on August 18-20, 2011 at the Charleston Marriott Hotel.

With the theme of Bringing Teaching to the Next Level, the focus for this meeting is on how to create a culture of teaching excellence within the field of massage therapy in the coming years. This important gathering of the educational community will bring together directors and administrators from massage therapy schools, along with massage school teachers and continuing education providers.

The Alliance has created an outstanding education program for this three-day event. There will be keynote presentations and discussion forums for all participants, as well as specialized workshops to meet the needs of each of the membership groups that comprise the Alliance. Conference participants can earn up to 15 contact hours of CE credit.

This event has been created to provide valuable learning experiences with some of the leading educators in our field – along with ample opportunities for networking and enjoyment of the beautiful environment. It is the intention of the Alliance to provide a forum where educators feel inspired, nourished and well-informed… where their voices will be heard… and where their input will make a difference. The meeting schedule also allows for time to explore and enjoy the many historic sites, parks, restaurants, galleries and tree-lined streets that make Charleston one of the most loved travel destinations in the world.

A $100 early registration discount is available through July 1. Alliance Members receive an additional $100 discount off the registration fee.

The booklet can be easily accessed by clicking the thumbnail image on the right-hand side of any page on the Alliance website. A digital version of the publication will come up in your browser window. Using the navigation buttons at the bottom of the frame, you can leaf through the booklet, double-click to zoom in, print pages, download a PDF version of the booklet to your local computer. You are welcome to share this with colleagues in your networks.

If you have any difficulty accessing this digital version, you may download a PDF of the booklet by clicking THIS LINK.

The Alliance Career Center is an online recruitment resource for massage therapy schools that are seeking to hire new administrative staff or faculty members. In contrast to broad-spectrum employment websites, the Career Center will feature listings targeted specifically to the massage education sector. All those who are seeking teaching and administrative positions at a massage therapy school can post their resumés to the Alliance Career Center FREE of CHARGE. All massage therapy schools are invited to place their recruitment ads on the site.

This valuable service has been developed in partnership with Boxwood Technology, a leading provider of recruitment solutions for associations. The cost for a posting a 30-day job listing is significantly less than the major national boards. And Alliance Gold Level school members get a $100 discount off the regular price of each job listing. Until July 1, massage schools that become Gold Level members will get special introductory pricing on their first job listing on the Career Center.

The Alliance Online Training Center is a comprehensive resource to meet the ongoing professional development needs of the massage education community. The Training Center features more than 90 different courses in 10 subject areas – designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of massage school teachers, administrators and program directors, and continuing education providers. These highly effective learning experiences are facilitated by experts in each subject, and include the ability to interact with faculty who are available to coach the learning process and answer questions. The online delivery of these courses makes the process both affordable and convenient for busy professionals.

This service has been developed in partnership with MaxKnowledge, a leading provider of professional development for the career education sector. Access to courses is via Enrollment Key, and is available to the entire massage education community. Alliance Gold Level Members receive a $20 discount on every course, and their first full course is FREE. Both Alliance members and non-members alike may register on the Training Center to get FREE access to more than 20 tutorials and invitations to ongoing webinars.

The Alliance is proposing a dramatically different operational model for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB). This is needed because the core components of licensure and certification in the massage therapy field have been reversed.

According to Rosen, “Now that we have licensure in most states, entry-level certification has been rendered unnecessary and redundant as a first credentialing step for those coming into the field. NCBTMB now has an excellent opportunity to upgrade and reposition its existing national certification program to a graduate-level credential. This would take the place of its forthcoming National Certification in Advanced Practice, and would provide a solid foundation for future development of a series of specialty certification programs. Certification in specialized areas of practice is a major missing component that the field of massage therapy must have to become a full-fledged profession.”

The paper provides a historical perspective on how national certification for massage therapists came into existence as a voluntary credential in the early 1990′s, how its use shifted when the National Certification Examination was adopted by many states as a mandatory test for licensure, and how that landscape has radically changed now that more than 80% of massage school graduates are taking the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination.

As the Alliance is interested in solutions that both benefit its members and advance the field as a whole, a three-step reorganization plan for NCBTMB is outlined at the end of this document. In addition to the changes recommended for the structure of certification itself, NCBTMB is being encouraged to sunset its approval program for continuing education providers – and adopt the new CE approval program being developed by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards in collaboration with the Alliance. Once in place, this new single-source program will provide a unified system for the approval of both CE courses and providers.

CLICK HERE to download the position paper