At the urging of members of
the American Massage Therapy Association, Representatives Sharon
Cissna and Bob Buch are considering introducing legislation to create
another layer of expensive bureaucracy and unnecessary regulation in
Alaska. Creating a Board
of Massage Therapists and imposing new education, testing, and
continuing education requirements for massage therapists in Alaska
will be detrimental to both Alaska’s massage therapists and the
public. The only entities that will benefit from such regulation are
the massage schools based in Alaska and the few outside educational
and testing agencies that will take the time, trouble and expense to
have their programs approved by the new Board.
Massage therapists will face high initial licensing fees and
annual renewal fees; the public will have more difficulty finding
therapists as part-time practitioners drop out, and will pay higher
prices as therapists pass costs along.
I would
clearly qualify for initial license under the proposed legislation: I
am licensed in Florida and Anchorage and certified by the National
Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB). I have a 750-hour certificate in massage from Dade Medical
Institute, an Australian Certificate IV in massage from Massage
Schools of Queensland (over 600 hours), and have additional training
and certifications in Thai Massage, Shiatsu, Myoskeletal Therapy, and
Rossiter System® Workouts.
I already must meet continuing education requirements for both
my Florida license and national certification.
I have been practicing massage since 2003 and have been
practicing in Anchorage since 2005.
Despite my
qualifications and experience, however, I am opposed to further
regulation of massage; and particularly to regulation through creation
of a new board of massage therapists.
Good massage is built on a combination of intuition, energy,
and knowledge. A
therapist with good intuition and energy can be great with little or
no formal education. Similarly, a person with 1000 hours of education who lacks
intuition and energy may not even be competent.
Clients can easily recognize a good therapist; bad therapists
do not stay in business long.
Massage and
bodywork are extremely safe; this is demonstrated by the fact that my
Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP)
membership—which includes a monthly magazine and professional
liability insurance—costs only $229 per year.
My business premises insurance, with lower coverage limits,
costs almost as much as my entire ABMP package.
Although injury is possible with massage and bodywork, it seems
clear that the risk of injury is actuarially lower than the risk from
walking through a store.
Massage and
bodywork is hard on the practitioner’s body; most long-term
practitioners, including myself, limit their practice to 20-25 hours
per week and work other jobs to make ends meet.
Most new massage therapists give up the profession within two
years because it is hard work and is not financially rewarding.
Extensive and expensive licensing requirements will make this
even truer, and will make the option of part-time practice even more
unrealistic, forcing talented and experienced massage and bodywork
professionals out of business, thus making it harder to find a good
therapist. This will
benefit no one except the schools which will churn out inexperienced
graduates and reap the benefits of forcing current practitioners to
take Alaska approved continuing education credits instead of more
interesting and useful unapproved courses available elsewhere.
I have already
gone through the long and grueling process of obtaining Florida
licensure after completing my massage education in Australia and
Thailand. I do not want to ever repeat that experience—licensing
requirements are a real consideration as to where to live and
practice. I am sure they are for other practitioners as well.
I have seen
the effects of regulation in Florida: it does nothing to benefit the
public and instead simply creates new markets for unlicensed “body
rubs.” Licensing costs in Alaska will be much higher because
Alaska’s small practitioner base will require higher fees to support
even a minimal program. These
costs will be exacerbated by proposed exceptions for energy work and a
broad range of specialized bodywork.
I
hope that massage therapists, body workers, and the public will speak
out in opposition to the attempt to add another layer of bureaucratic
regulation in Alaska.
Melody
Hall, LLC, is the manager of Thai Touch Massage and Bodywork. She
can be reached at 907-770-0559. Information
about problems with state licensing requirements can also be found on
the ABMP website at www.abmp.com.
Editor’s
Note:
To learn more about the specifics of this proposed bill, you
may view a pdf file online at: http://www.akamta.com/massagebill.pdf
