www.thebodyworker.com

After taking a week off from my massage practice to work on my website projects, it became clearer that my personal and professional mission is to bring the concept of Peer Supervision Groups to the Massage Profession.

After 17 years of practice, I can honestly say that Peer Supervision has greatly enhanced my practice more than any marketing or networking efforts. The key to building a successful practice is knowing yourself. The best way to come to know yourself is through interaction with others so that we can learn to see our blind spots.

Building a Practice Based on Empathy and Compassion and learning to be of service rather than always trying to “fix” and give advice will take you farther than any other technique, method or specific schooling.

With that in mind I have posted my manual on How to Create A Peer Supervision Group online at www.massagepracticebuilder.com

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All posts are moderated by me…you can’t post unless it is a valid comment….

I don’t allow any spam or business promotions on this blog.

My intention is to create a community where we can begin to share our stories so that we can all learn from them to take the massage profession to the next level which I feel is learing to be of service.

Registering with this blog is just a formality so that you can login and post. I don’t collect addresses or contact information nor will I ever sell your name to anyone…not ever.

Post away

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I have been obsessed with investigating my need to fix others and always be giving them advice. I came into the massage profession, thinking that is what it would be about. I could become an expert at something I enjoyed and was passionate about- health and pass it onto others.

Little did I know that you can’t make anyone do anything no matter how hard you try….and try I did…

Looking around at the massage profession, it is full of people wanting to “fix” others. The schools also begin by teaching you how to fix others. “Here are some techniques to use and a little information on the anatomy and physiology of the body so now you can go out and fix others…

and then there are the insurance companies requiring that we “fix” clients or they won’t pay for our services. We are required to be able to show that our services is medically necessary and our sessions can show improvement in a clients condition. Please fix this client or they can’t continue to come in for massage unless they want to pay for it themselves.

Fixing implies that something is broken…what if a tendon is strained…is it broken? How did it get that way? What was the person doing that caused the tendon to become strained?

The need to fix is not really a need - it is a strategy. What is the real need beneath the so-called need to fix? Fixing others implies that the other is broken and is in need of our help. Fixing can make us feel more powerful. Fixing others can make us feel needed by others. If we can fix them, they won’t leave us or abandon us. They will always need us. If we fix others - it will make us look good in the eyes of God.

For another article on fixing and resources

When we can honestly look at and address our need to fix others, you will see that it is more about yourself than it is the other person. When we can get to the real need underneath the need to fix, we can then figure out how to get that need met outside of our practice and not through our client interactions. When we can do that we can then stay more present for the client. Presencing is the key to healing. When we can stay present and make clear observations about their condition and avoid diagnosing, healing can happen.

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After 17 years of being in practice as a massage therapist, I have been researching and developing a theory based mainly on my own experiences and a few other massage therapists that I call the “Code of the Caretaker”.

Jack Blackburn in his articles on “The Hidden Addiction of Caretaking” says ” When we caretake, we assume responsibility for our clients’ healing.

When we caregive, we support clients in assuming responsibility for their own healing.”

-Jack Blackburn

Often what we find in healing professions such as massage is that the caretaker takes on the responsibility of healing the client…we are constantly trying to get rid of others pain. In reality is our own pain that we cannot bear.

What is it that you feel the moment after someone tells you about their pain and the second before you jump in to start giving your advice?

This is the moment that will make the biggest difference in the success of your session…Can you set aside your judgments, diagnosis, criticisms which are all due to your own pain and stay present with the client?

Giving advice to others is usually a sign of what we need to be telling ourselves.

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Here in WA, we are one of two states (the other is Fl) who mandates that all massage therapists and alternative health care providers be allowed to become providers with health insurance provider networks. What this means is that we can become providers with insurance companies such as Premera Blue Cross and Regence Blue Shield among others.

I became a provider around 2000, after having a full time cash practice for about 11 years. At first it was great, providing additional income. We were paid a fair amount (almost $100 per session), the clients benefits were great and allowed as many sessions as needed. Payments came in 2-3 weeks without many hassles - not many follow up phone calls to see where the checks were or to see what was wrong. Clients found me regularly through the provider directory which meant I didn’t have to worry about a steady flow of clients. That created somewhat of a relief..

So now after 6 years the story is quite different. The allowable fees are constantly being reduced which means the insurance companies are paying us less and less each year. The allowable benefits of each client are constantly being reduced. One company used to allow 45 sessions of massage/physical therapy combined now only allows 14. We all know if someone has a herniated disc or a serious problem 14 sessions wouldn’t be enough. Another company consistently asks for our chart notes to slow down the process of payment and asks us to prove medical necessity and then usually denies continuation of treatment no matter what was said in the chart notes.

I constantly am calling to find out where payments are especially with one company who was bought out last summer by another-talk about nightmares. I have had to send bills 3-4 times because they never got into the system. I am still waiting on a bill from Aug. 05.

One of the other little known issues is that automobile insurance companies are also members of one of the provider networks. We were told when we joined that there was a company that we would be providers for, but since they weren’t local I didn’t think it mattered. It turns out they are a third party network of auto ins. companies. This means when I am billing an auto ins. claim with one of these companies, I will be paid less than my billed fee which is quite a loss. We were never provided a list of these companies.

So what is happening here in WA State is a mixed blessing. We are able to become providers which does help with client flow but it is becoming less and less profitable. Even doctors are getting out of the networks. Physical Therapist are in the same boat too!

Why are they constantly reducing our rates?

What can be done to get paid what we are worth?

AMTA is working on it, but the political machine is slow moving and is like pulling teeth.

My prediction is that it will soon be affecting other states. All 50 states allow massage therapists to bill for auto claims. I think that soon every state will be making massage therapists join provider networks and reducing their allowable fees and allowable benefits.

It will take a professional stance against this issue and a unified profession with a clear definition of medical massage to make any difference.

I even would go as far to say that we should not join the provider networks and work to keep our profession a strictly cash business. There are also so many emotional issues related to having an insurance company pay for “your” health issues. I fell when we can be more accepted by the general public as a valuable profession, we won’t need insurance companies to pay for our services.

To do this we need to begin discussing issues like these and learn to heal ourselves and our profession first before taking on the insurance companies if we even want to bother by that time.

What nightmares have you had in dealing with insurance companies?

What keeps you from charging what you need to charge your cash clients to have a totally cash practice and not be a slave to insurance companies?

What needs to be done about this issue?

What do you think about getting paid less and less?

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