The way CE works for many is that they just look for any class to fulfill their CE credits and they do it at the last minute so that they do not have many options in classes. Many also think of CE as a burden and expense rather than an investment in their careers.  Many also focus on technique classes to further their training even when they do not have the clients that they need.  Many think that finding the right technique will help them in working with clients and help them magically have the clients that they need.  (Of course I am speaking in generalizations here and not all massage therapists do that.  I couldn’t really figure out another way to bring it up.)

There are also very few really quality sites out there that help you decipher and pick the best massage continuing education class for you.  The so called ‘economy’  is also causing massage therapists to take classes based on what they can afford or taking the cheapest classes to save money.

Massage Continuing Education is really the future of the massage profession.  Massage school is just the very beginning.  They only teach you how to do massage – not necessarily how to become a professional massage therapist.

One of my first findings in my little survey on massage ce shows that massage therapists don’t have the clients that they need yet they do not take classes in business and marketing or do they engage in supervision.  Unless you have a background in business and marketing these classes are imperative.  What good is all the money you spend on a new technique if you don’t have any clients to use it on?

So some of the things I would like to see change in the area of CE are:

• A CE resource website that rates and reviews classes and teachers
• A CE resource website that allows people who have taken the classes or experienced the work to write about it.
• CE providers learning to write more from the massage students perspective.  The bottom line for massage therapist is usually will it help me get more clients or make more money.  How will your classes help massage therapists do that?  What support do you have for therapists in integrating what they learn in your classes into their massage business?
• Eventually a certifying agent to monitor CE Providers other than the NCBTMB.

What else would you like to see happen?  What do you need to know from CE providers about their classes or techniques?  Why do you take CE classes?  What would you like to see in CE?

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Maybe it is me being in the profession for so long and having read so many articles and magazines and online articles but I think there is a real need for real information to be communicated between schools, massage products, continuing education providers and massage therapists.

My biggest thing is Does it Work? and how do you make it work or will it help a massage therapist to be more successful.

Out of all of these products and continuing education providers and products – how do you (the massage therapist) know what will help you the most in building a successful career in massage?

So there was page after page of products/services/ce classes and a separate page written by someone from the company promoting the product or whatever.  The main questions they asked were:

• How can learning to use your product or service increase a massage therapists income?
• What should massage therapists teach their clients about?
• What should massage therapists focus their continuing education on?
• Describe why learning about self care is important for massage therapists.

I think all of the answers really missed the boats.  They were all thinking about how they could promote their classes.  They were thinking more about what is in it for them rather than thinking from a massage therapists perspective.  To a hammer – everything looks like a nail!

Back in the mid 90′s I spent 5 years in a CE intensive training and thousands of dollars.  After investing all of that time and money, I left with a skill that I eventually had to give up because it was too painful for people to go through.  It became too painful for me to even receive and I found other ways to deal with my own physical challenges that were less painful.  There was so much politics in the organization that taught me I was also left with a bad taste as far as CE in massage was concerned.  There was no support for marketing or presenting the work to potential clients.  That is what is lacking in most massage ce classes!

With all the various products and techniques there wasn’t any mention of business classes or website building classes.  There was only one I think that talked about creating presence in your practice.  There wasn’t any classes on ethics or supervision which is of course my hammer.

I see the future trend in the massage profession to go beyond techniques and turn to focus on the development of the massage therapist and working on their underlying issues around money and success and helping.   How could this help massage therapists make more money?   By becoming clearer about who you are and what you want, it provides the motivation and clear desire for getting what you want – success in the form of a rewarding career working with people and enough money to take nice vacations and retire when you want to!

All of the techniques will only get you so far.  If you don’t have the support in the way of a supervisor to take your work beyond techniques themselves and to get the support you need to build the confidence in asking for $85 an hour and more  so that you can  get a regular massage every week for self care and whatever else you need – what good is knowing the best way to release fascia or whatever is the latest technique.

Continuing education is the way to taking the massage profession a step further since the initial 500 hours of training for most is only just the beginning.  Knowing what products work and what ones don’t is also the goal of my website at www.massage-career-guides.com which is expanding to include many sections where you can rate and review products.

What do you want to know about a ce class or product?  What is most important when it comes down to choosing a class or product?

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…a FREE live presentation with noted massage therapist David Kent who’s going to be looking at Headache Treatments and Triggers

There’s no cost to attend, but you need to register now at www.worldmassageconference.com

Mark the time out on your calendars now.
When: Wednesday, October 28th at 8PM EST
Where: Simulcast on the web and by phone (you’ll get details sent to you after you reserve your spot)
Cost: FREE

Attend this presentation and you’ll get a sense for what it’s like to attend a “virtual conference”.

In this one hour live broadcast David will show how you can design customized treatment plans and educate your headache suffers using posture analysis and trigger point charts. The techniques you learn can be used immediately. David is an engaging speaker and I’m sure you’ll find that this is a fun, energetic and information-packed seminar.

Login now to ask David any questions you have regarding headaches and their treatment. He’ll answer as many as possible on the live broadcast.

Just a reminder too that you can hear over 70 of the world’s top massage experts by registering for the World Massage Conference. This is a “virtual conference” that you access through your computer. Right now you can register at half price. I’ll be there and I hope I see you there too!

Take care,

Julie Onofrio
www.thebodyworker.com

PS If you can’t attend the live broadcast with David Kent, reserve a place anyway and you’ll get access to a recorded replay.

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I was a big supporter of the event because it was revolutionary and really a great idea!  No one else had ever attempted this online in the massage profession.  The presenters were some of the biggest names in the profession.  It was a great way to get tons of information out in an efficient way.

I had been working with the promoters and had planned on promoting it again this year but I have to say I just can’t get any of them to respond to my simple emails and get help with their affiliate program.   With seeing such poor customer service it made me start thinking about just how wonderful it actually is or was.

If you signed up for the conference last year – how did it go for you?  Did you get the access you needed at the times you needed?  Did you get help when you needed it?  Were the classes informative and helpful?  Did you get the CE credits that you signed up for?

Just wondering if this is a program I should promote again.  Any and all feedback helpful!

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The World Massage Conference is a “virtual conference” which you can attend from the comfort of your home or office. It brings together more than 70 international massage therapy educators and experts who will be doing live presentations over the Internet for the six day event. Talks will cover the latest developments in massage techniques, research, treatment, educator skills, business and self care.

Speakers include: Sandy Fritz, Paul St John, Judith Aston, Thomas Myers, Ruth Werner, Linda Tellington-Jones, Leon Chaitow, Cherie Sohnen-Moe, Gil Hedley, Tiffany Field, Ralph Stephens, Steve Capellini, David Kent, James Waslaski, Eric Brown and dozens more renowned massage experts.

Registration fees start at $59 and give participants access to all presentations. “Accessibility has been a driving principle in the development of the conference,” emphasizes Eric Brown, who has been largely responsible for the technology behind the event. “Anyone can afford to attend. And from a technology perspective, even people with slow dial up connections can listen to the sessions without any problems.”

“It’s truly a green conference,” explains Melanie Hayden, another of the organizers. “There’s no travel involved. Participants just log into the website at the time of a live presentation to listen to some of the top minds in the massage industry. And everything is recorded and archived so if you can’t attend live, it’s not a problem. Just listen in when it’s convenient.”

For a limited time, you can register for Full Access at half price, only $99, by referring a friend to the site.

Full Access registration includes access to all live broadcasts. Participants can ask speakers questions online before and during the presentations. If participants can’t attend the sessions live, recordings will be available for replay. Broadcasts can also be downloaded to your computer, burned to CD or put on your MP3 player for listening on the go. Transcripts of selected presentations will be available and most presentations are eligible for continuing education credits.

An exciting element of this year’s show is the Virtual Lounge where you can meet and interact with your colleagues, meet new friends and learn from the experiences of fellow massage therapists from around the globe. You’ll be able to discuss various issues through online forums, chat in real time, discuss presentations as they are in progress, IM or email individual participants, share pictures, videos, and more!

For more information about the conference

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Taking classes is also another thing.  There are people who take many classes and love taking classes and plan to take the classes that are of interest to them.  Then there are those who wait until a month before their license renewal is up and then try to find classes to take within that time period.  They really don’t care what it is.   Then there are those who don’t take classes and make up their own classes or have friends vouch for them and create fictitious classes.   Yes I have actually seen that happen.

Then what about year long training programs that people take or even four year training programs or like I did when I took Zentherapy training – going for about 100 hours of classes a year for 5 years.   What did that count for?  It just fulfilled my CE’s for a while but I don’t get any recognition from my state board that I did that.

There is also no system set up to find reputable massage continuing education providers.  There are a few online directories and here in WA we have something that is called the Continuing massage education calendar that is sent out once a month with a list of the ongoing classes.  It is very expensive to advertise in for teachers and is not an exclusive list of classes in the area.

How do you choose a CE class that will help you in some way in building your business or working more efficiently with clients?   What do you look for in a class?   Something that is cheap? On a specific day or time?  How do you choose a technique to learn and practice?

Then there is the part that just taking a weekend workshop in something makes people think that they are an expert in something or that you can give yourself a specific title.   Does taking a weekend workshop in deep tissue, Hellerwork, cranio-sacral therapy or lymphatic drainage qualify you to call yourself a Hellerworker, deep tissue therapist or other specialist?  Hardly, but many do start adding listings to their business cards.

What do we need in a continuing education class?  How can we find reputable teachers and classes with teachers that know how to teach?  Many have never taught before.  There is an art to teaching that can be learned but you also have to start somewhere with teaching.

While the NCB has a process of certifying massage teachers but this is all that the require of applicants (pdf):

To become an NCBTMB Approved Provider we ask that you read each item below. If you are unable
to meet these prerequisites, please do not submit at this time. For a detailed explanation about each
prerequisite requirement, please refer to the Reference Guide.
You must be an established provider (individual or organization) that has taught at least one
course once in the last three years.*
Your course(s) must be appropriate to the field of massage and bodywork and exceed a basic
500-hour core massage therapy and bodywork curriculum per NCBTMB criteria.
Your course(s) may not be longer than fifty (50) hours in length; if so, we ask that the course be
offered in segments, e.g., Section 1 of 2, Section 2 of 2, etc.
*Membership, association, or accreditation organizations sponsoring one-time course offerings
for monthly membership meetings, annual conferences or symposiums are exempt from “the
teaching a course once in the last three years” rule. Content must meet our criteria for
continuing education.
* If you are another type of organization, i.e., school, institute, etc. – a non-membership,
association or accreditation body, you may also use this format when sponsoring a conference
or symposium.

They only have 1400 CE providers in the whole US.   That’s about how many massage schools there are.  I would think that there would be tens of thousands of approved CE providers but then there is the whole politics and supporting the NCB or not.

What is the future of Massage CE?  Are CE’s even useful? Are they even needed really?   If people want to take classes and learn from them that is one thing but if people are just taking them to get their credits and forget the classes or they don’t care about the information or classes what does that mean for the profession?

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