Massage Therapy National Certification
One of the major misconceptions about massage licensing is that people think that the National Certification Exam will allow them to practice in any state that they want. There is also confusion over what you are actually being certified for.
Certification in massage is not necessarily what you need to be a successful and competent massage therapist nor is it the same as licensing.
The NCE is a test that is given by The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) and many states require that you take the test in order to get your massage therapy license.  The states may also require that you take a different number of hours of education than the NCE requires. You have to check each states licensing requirements and fullfill those requirements.
I am also looking into the facts regarding this as the NCBTMB also requires that you recertify every so often but it is not necessary to do that to maintain you license. Many often find the certification a waste of money and they do not renew their certification. I for one have never been asked in 18 years of practice if I was certified and I was only challenged on my license once and that was recently by a woman who appeared to be “off her meds”.
I have some personal biases against national certification mainly from the process of it’s creation that I witnessed early in my career.
There is a new agency being formed called the Federation of Massage Therapy Boards is in the process of anaylzing a survey they did on the profession and some of the early results show that most want some form of licensing but they don’t want different levels of certification or licensing.
I think people think we need to be licensed because they are buying into the fear being created by the NCE and different states. While most may think that it is necessary, there is no proof that it is necessary. Most are reacting thinking that it will mean that just anyone can go and hang out a shingle and practice massage. I see this more from people who have had advanced training and while I am not sure if it is due to their wanting to protect their status and legitimize having spent so much money for all of the continuing education or if it is truly something that is needed.
Even in licensed states there are people who are trying to practice without a license and they are being reported and prosecuted. Does that really mean that they are not qualified to do massage? Did they learn on their own? Who would just go and do massage on a whim without any experience or training -even if it was just from a book or video? I guess they are out there, but I would also guess if they weren’t any good that they wouldn’t be able to build or stay in business.
I don’t know where I am going with this but am just rambling…Where is the licensing and legislation debate going to lead the profession? What is happening to the art of massage? If massage has been around for the hundreds and even thousands of years that the history shows- why now do we need licensing all of a sudden?
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