Colorado Massage Licensing
Colorado made an attempt to license massage statewide but after their research decided that there wasn’t a need for it. You can read the about the process they went through to look at whether or not licensing is needed in Colorado. The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) in CO is in charge of consumer protection.
The report discusses the question of whether there is a need for regulation in order to protect the public from potential harm, whether regulation would serve to mitigate the potential harm, and whether the public can be adequately protected by other means in a more cost-effective manner.
The results show that there is no proof of harm or need to protect the public from harm.
Keith Grant gives us an update on his blog- ramblemuse.com
Part of the problem in licensing massage is that there is no clear definition of what massage is or isn’t. There are also no professional competencies created to guide the profession in determining what massage schools need to be teaching. Right now the testing procedures are multiple choice questions (some not even directly related to massage) that do not tell anything other than a person has studied how to take a test. It doesn’t show whether they really can do massage.
One of my goals for the next year is to keep looking into the licensing dilemma and start writing about it more. Part of the problem is that many massage therapists don’t understand the issues involved other than what it means for them to practice massage where they live. What happens to massage therapists in other states seems to be out of our hands, but it reflects on the profession as a whole.
Our lack of unity, understanding and a clear definition of what massage is nation wide is making the massage profession look unorganized and unprofessional. No wonder we are so often confused with prostitution and thought of to be masseuses and masseurs.
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