Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: License to teach

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    License to teach

    There's probably more threads on licensing like our old oNew York legislators want to license m.a. instructors thread, but I'm launching this one here because our dear Q&M subforum needs luv. This also affects Tai Chi & Yoga.

    Massachusetts Bill Threatens Consumers’ Access to Yoga, Reiki, Tai Chi, and other Healing Services
    PRESS RELEASE GlobeNewswire
    Jul. 24, 2018, 10:33 AM
    BOSTON, July 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Introduced as an “Emergency Law” and passed quickly and unanimously by the Massachusetts State Senate on July 19, 2018, Bill S.B. 2621 (https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S2621) has been referred to the Ways and Means Committee. It would mandate the licensure of all “bodywork therapists”* in Massachusetts. In a Catch-22, the bill defines “bodywork therapists” so broadly that thousands of Massachusetts-based healing arts practitioners and their clients would be impacted.

    If passed into law, hundreds of well-regarded businesses, whose practitioners represent professionals with established standards and ethics, offering services such as Reiki, Qi Gong, Trager, Yoga, Tai Chi, and many others may be forced to close immediately. This would leave potentially thousands of Massachusetts consumers without these services.

    “The problem with this Bill is that as currently worded it does not accurately or fairly represent the populations it impacts,” said Rita Glassman, a Reiki Practitioner and Board Member of Medical Reiki Works https://www.medicalreikiworks.org/ .“To support Massachusetts alternative health care providers, please contact your local Representatives https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator and urge them to stop this Bill’s passage. Every phone call and every email counts.”

    Although introduced as an anti-human trafficking measure, Bill S.B. 2621 focuses primarily on efforts to impose restrictive education and licensing requirements upon practitioners who are not typically licensed. Despite the very wide diversity of practitioners covered under the term “bodywork therapists” the proposed licensing board would include only two licensed bodywork therapists, a consumer familiar with the massage therapy or bodyworks therapy fields, and a law enforcement representative whose focus is human trafficking.

    There is no basis for requiring complementary and alternative health care practitioners to be state licensed with state mandated educational requirements. In seeking to combat the serious problem of human trafficking, this bill appears to be conflating bodywork with human trafficking, and as such, does not offer a fair hearing to those many constituencies that it will negatively affect.

    For more information, please go to Health Freedom Action Massachusetts (HFAMA) at http://hfama.org/current-news/ and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/hfama

    About Health Freedom Action Massachusetts
    The purpose of HFAMA is to ensure that the citizens of Massachusetts have the freedom to choose and access all healing arts and ensure practitioners have the right to practice legally. This is achieved by working on a local and state level to educate the public and participate in legislative, legal or public policy reform to accomplish the above goals. http://hfama.org

    Editor’s Notes: Spokespersons are available upon request.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Canada!
    Posts
    23,110
    Isn't this more concerned with massage parlours?
    Which do indeed have a high level of human trafficking attached to them.

    I am not sure how it would effect martial arts clubs or qigong and yoga classes?
    It does seem reactionary though. Maybe change the term that you function under in this case?

    Go by what a regular gym or fitness studio goes by? It's about legality more than what's on offer.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    CA, USA
    Posts
    4,900
    Keep in mind, there is a WORLD of difference between "massage parlors" and legitimate massage therapy centers (or legitimate private practices). I'm a licensed massage therapist (and also practice 'energy healing'), with both national and CA certification. This includes regular background checks. In the US, CA and NY are the states with the most stringent certification requirements.

    I have never heard of a legitimate massage/wellness center being involved in human trafficking.

    If a business advertises "Exotic Oriental Massage" or "Sensual Massage", you can be CERTAIN it's a massage PARLOR with untrained "therapists" (who are really indentured prostitutes), and NOT a legitimate therapeutic massage business.

    I HAVE on rare occasions heard of individual massage therapists engaging in inappropriate behavior, but you also find those types of individuals in all professions (cops, teachers, doctors, executives, politicians, priests, etc.). But the stereotype of the massage therapist giving "happy endings" or being involved in the sex trade is egregious, because it equates legitimate therapeutic massage with prostitution.

    Anyway, thank God I'm not in Massachusetts. I am licensed, so the proposed bill wouldn't threaten me anyway, but it's the sweeping, all-inclusive ignorance of the bill that bothers me.
    Last edited by Jimbo; 08-02-2018 at 07:59 PM.

  4. #4
    Greetings,

    There can be a positive side to this. Depending on how this is enacted, it makes it possible for those to pursue licensing in their particular field, such as Reiki. The thought of having to be a licensed massage therapist in order to practice your energetic disciplines has always been repulsive to me.

    mickey
    Last edited by mickey; 08-04-2018 at 08:59 PM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    CA, USA
    Posts
    4,900
    Quote Originally Posted by mickey View Post
    Greetings,

    There can be a positive side to this. Depending on how this is enacted, it makes it possible for those to pursue licensing in their particular field, such as Reiki. The thought of having to be a licensed massage therapist in order to practice your energetic disciplines has always been repulsive to me.

    mickey
    I'm a bit surprised they are including energy healing modalities in this, since I'm certain most people consider them a bunch of hooey, especially a bunch of bureaucratic types.

    BTW, mickey, I've never heard that someone has to be a licensed massage therapist to practice energy healing. I also don't see how being a massage therapist is repulsive. That's how I make my money, and has been for many years. Very few people ever request my energy healing services, even though many clients who have tried it have had excellent results (several clients have stated it was more effective than the qigong healing or Reiki they'd previously experienced from other practitioners, which I credit to the modality, not to myself). I also prefer doing energy work, but most people prefer to go with what they're familiar with (massage).
    Last edited by Jimbo; 08-04-2018 at 11:23 PM.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    BTW, mickey, I've never heard that someone has to be a licensed massage therapist to practice energy healing. I also don't see how being a massage therapist is repulsive. That's how I make my money, and has been for many years. Very few people ever request my energy healing services, even though many clients who have tried it have had excellent results (several clients have stated it was more effective than the qigong healing or Reiki they'd previously experienced from other practitioners, which I credit to the modality, not to myself). I also prefer doing energy work, but most people prefer to go with what they're familiar with (massage).
    Greetings Jimbo,

    I should have been more clear. It is done for the purpose of billing insurance companies. Another route would be a license in acupuncture. This is in NYC. I do not know how others fare elsewhere.

    mickey

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    CA, USA
    Posts
    4,900
    I have friends who are acupuncturists. In CA (or at least where I am), just studying and becoming certified in acupuncture is very extensive, and similar to going to medical school. I know someone who's going through the program at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) right now; it's a BIG investment. They also learn massage, though I don't know what their overall skill level is in that. It's not a route to take just to become certified to also practice energy healing.

    The massage academy where I studied and trained was pretty extensive, but not nearly as extensive as the program at PCOM.
    Last edited by Jimbo; 08-06-2018 at 04:58 PM.

  8. #8
    This favors those who seeks treatment to get services from legit practitioners

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •