The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork or the NCBTMB is the organization who oversees the testing process for massage therapy licensing.
The organization has been very controversial since it’s inception in 1998. I wrote a summary of what I saw happening at the time and from reading some articles on it in Massage Magazine.
There currently has been a lot problems in dealing with this agency. They don’t return phone calls or emails. If you are a newly licensed therapist, there has been delays in getting your license and getting any help. I get a few emails a month asking me where they should go to take the NCE test or other questions about the exam. People should be contacting the NCBTMB.
The latest problem seems to be that their board members are resigning and there was some problem with board members keeping up their certification. The board members said they didn’t get any notice that their certification was up.
Massage Today (March issue) and May issue has some of the latest information, along with Keith Grant on his blog.
There is also a new organization being formed that will represent the massage boards. They did a survey and are taking matters into their own hands of creating an exam for the profession that will hopefully allow for reciprocal licensing and fair licensing.
I actually don’t understand everything that is happening in the political arena. I have tried to decipher it all and understand the process of what it takes and why we actually need licensing – if we do at all. There isn’t any one forum or information source that can really supply all of the information that one needs to make sense of it all.
Why do we need to be licensed? To protect the public? To protect ourselves? Is there any proof of harm? How is massage defined? What are the minimum requirements that a person needs to perform massage safely and competently? How is safety and competency defined? Who, what is behind all of this information that says we need to be licensed? If massage has been practice for the thousands of years that history shows, why do we need all of this licensing now?
Just some thoughts. I don’t know the answer. A part of me doesn’t really care because it is so overwhelming and there are such heated discussions about these issues. I know for myself that when I get triggered by things like this that is isn’t really about the issue at hand but something deeper in me, but most people don’t realize that and they continue to argue and fight amongst themselves. My focus is on what can I do to help massage therapists grow as individuals and as a profession and get a clear idea of what they are really doing and why.
At times I have thought that what our profession needs more is some sort of mediation to resolve all of these political issues by someone like Marshall Rosenberg or Byron Katie so that we can all learn to sort out our projections and get down to what we all really want which I am guessing is really the same thing – we want to practice massage and bring healing touch to the public.
Related posts:
- Can the NCBTMB be saved? The NCBTMB just announced their latest project – creating an...
- Licensing and Legislation Issues I have been working on a new section on my...
- Massage Therapy National Certification One of the major misconceptions about massage licensing is that...
- National Massage Board needs help The National Certification Board for Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) needs...
- Important Breaking News- National Certification Board Pizza This just in… NCBTMB will now be giving pizza discounts...
