Laura Allen’s Blog

Posted on

Problem Solving in Your Practice

Every day, I get emails and calls from therapists who want some advice on problems in their practice. I usually can’t give an answer off the top of my head without questioning the therapist for further details, and visiting their website if they have one (and by the way, not having one is a problem in itself.) Even though two therapists may be  having the same problem, there are a lot of factors that are different from one practice to another, that potentially have a bearing on my answer.

The most common things people contact me about are clients who don’t rebook, and not having enough business in general. They will give me a list, of “I’m doing this, this, this, and this, and I’m still not making it.”

Let’s look at the first problem: Clients aren’t rebooking. There are a lot of reasons why clients don’t rebook. The biggest one is probably that the therapist doesn’t ask! Besides “Thank you,” the most important phrase for your business is “When would you like to schedule another appointment?” When I was a brand-new therapist, I was worried about appearing too pushy if I asked a client to rebook. Get over that immediately, and ask every one at every appointment.

If you are asking every client to rebook, and either they aren’t doing it at all, or it’s a very low percentage, I’d look closer into that problem by taking a searching and fearless inventory. Perhaps your technique–or your level of expertise–is just not what they were looking for. Not every person who gets a license to do massage is a great massage therapist. In my traveling around and getting massage in different places, I’ve had massage that’s mediocre, and unfortunately had some that was downright bad….then again, massage is a subjective experience. The massage that I thought was unskilled and sloppy might suit another person just fine. So how do you know?

There are some indicators. If the majority of people come out from the massage praising you to the high heavens, that’s an indicator. And if they don’t, that’s an indicator. If many of the people you’ve seen have referred someone else to you, that’s an indicator. And if they haven’t, that’s also an indicator.  Judging by comments I hear from successful therapists, most have a rebooking rate of anywhere from 50-100% (yes, some folks do have a practice that has evolved only to regular clients and standing appointments.) If your own rate is extremely low–say 20% or even less, that could be an indicator–maybe not of your skill in performing massage, but of something else.

The biggest complaint I hear from consumers is about therapists who talk all the time. Many people just want to get on the table and relax, not have a conversation with the therapist or just listen to the therapist rattle on. I’ve also heard complaints about people who had offices that were less than clean and cluttered with junk. And therapists who impose energy work or other non-massage practices on people who don’t want it…I had a client tell me that a therapist she saw walked around the table chanting before commencing the massage. And I  hear about therapists who are dressed so sloppily they could be mistaken for a homeless person. If any of that applies to you, you might want to take some corrective measures.

One mistake I often see with practitioners in general is so simple it jumps out at me–but it isn’t occurring to them, and that’s the name of their business. What does the name of your business convey about what you do? Does it convey what you do at all, or is it something that the public would see and say “Mmm, wonder what kind of business that is?”  I don’t want to pick on anyone here or insult any of the hundreds of MTs who are in my social networks by inadvertently choosing their name as an example, so I’ll just say I’ve seen some business names that had absolutely nothing to do with massage; the potential client who hears the name isn’t going to automatically associate it with massage, unless that is spelled out as part of the name.

I’m not picking on therapists who incorporate energy work–when that is what the client wants–but I will say this: are you trying to be known as a massage therapist or not? The other day I looked over the website of a struggling therapist, and the first thing I noticed was that Reiki was in the top spot on the menu of services. Massage was listed below the energy modalities on the list. If you’re trying to build your reputation as an energy practitioner instead of a massage therapist, that’s going to work for you. If you’re not, it isn’t. There are a certain amount of people who will immediately decide you aren’t the therapist for them and not read any further. This is also a problem with practitioners who do a modality that the general public isn’t really educated about. For example, if your business identity is Mary Jones, Craniosacral Practitioner, you are apt to attract the limited clientele that already knows what craniosacral is. If that’s what’s on your signage and your advertisement, you are not getting a message to people who are seeking a massage therapist. That’s fine–if craniosacral is all you want to do and you don’t care about attracting new clients.

I’ve heard a few other complaints from the public…like therapists who smell like smoke. Therapists who smell like garlic. Therapists wearing perfume. Sheets and face cradle covers that smell of old oil. Cats and dogs in the office. Therapists who ask nosy personal questions that don’t have anything to do with the massage. Therapists who try to pressure sell retail items or sign up clients for MLM companies. Therapists who go outside their scope of practice and give diet and nutritional advice, or psychological advice, when they have no qualifications to do so. The list goes on.

If you take your searching and fearless inventory, and you aren’t guilty of any of these offenses, then consider a few other possibilities. Did you do a market survey before opening your business? Did you ascertain how much competition is in the immediate area? Did you choose to open your business in an environment that’s already saturated? Are you charging a lot more–or a lot less– than your nearest competitors? Is there a parking problem? Are you in an upstairs office with no elevator? Is your entire office handicapped accessible? Do you keep regular hours, and are they plainly posted?

Simple mistakes are sometimes at fault. Like using your cell phone for business and answering with a “Hey, what’s up. Leave a number and I’ll call you back.” That should be “You’ve reached Laura Allen, massage therapist. Please leave your name and number and I’ll call you back within an hour,” or whatever is the shortest time frame you can offer.

The biggest mistake therapists make is sitting around the office waiting for business to come to them. You have to go out and get it.  If you’re struggling, don’t give up on yourself just yet. There’s a solution to every problem–and identifying that there’s a problem is the first step in solving it.

Posted on

“Ownership” of Clients

If you’re an employer of massage therapists, or you are a massage therapist who’s is employed by someone else, who “owns” the client? The short answer is, no one. People have the right to go where they choose, and to patronize whatever massage therapist they choose to patronize. The long answer is a little more complicated.

A friend of mine who employs other therapists in her practice was upset last week when an employee gave clients a reminder call from her own cell phone on her day off, instead of calling them from the office. The issues there were ownership of the client’s information and a concern about HIPAA violations…and two clients actually called the office to ask why they were being called from the therapist’s cell phone, since previous calls had always come from her office.  She not only fired the employee, she also went to the police about data theft and filed an ethics complaint with the NCBTMB. The business is in an unregulated state, or she would have filed an ethics complaint with the state board, as well. She had plainly stated in her policies and procedures manual that taking the phone numbers and or other information of clients was prohibited, and discusses that fact with each new person she hires. The therapist had done more than just take the phone numbers; she had also downloaded all the treatment notes, etc., including those sessions performed by someone else that she was not involved in. The owner was perfectly within her rights to fire the employee and take the other actions, based on that policy.

I run things differently in my office. Nearly all of the half-dozen therapists who work at my clinic as independent contractors have the phone numbers of their regular clients in their cell phones (remember, my friend’s staff members are employees). It’s our procedure to ask clients if they would like a reminder call or a text message, and it’s my own desire for the therapists to make those calls personally instead of depending on me to do it. I’m the office manager and chief bottle-washer at my place of business, and in addition to the therapists, I also have an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, a clinical herbalist, and an aesthetic nurse there. I make the reminder calls for the chiropractor. I expect everyone else to make their own.

Some people would say that I am making it easy for them to steal clients, in the event they were to leave my practice and go elsewhere. That’s true, but I choose not to look at it that way.  First and foremost, my staff is what has made my business successful. I’m just the ringleader. Everyone there genuinely likes, supports, and refers to each other; it’s a family atmosphere. Staff turnover has happened so rarely that in 8.5 years of owning my business, I can count on one hand the number of people who have ever left. The few times it has happened, I can only think of one of those occasions when a few clients left my business to follow the departed therapist. I don’t begrudge them. They were attached to their therapist, and that’s okay. On the few occasions someone has left, I willingly gave their contact information to clients who called after their departure, if the client didn’t want to see someone else. It wouldn’t endear me any to the public if I was nasty about it. One of my former staff members opened her business less than a mile away from mine. I’ve given her number to quite a few people. It hasn’t hurt my business.

Some employers in our profession require their staff members to sign non-compete agreements, which usually state something along the lines that the person will not practice massage for X period of time within X miles of proximity. Here’s the reality: non-competes aren’t worth the paper they’re written on, unless you are the VP at Massage Envy, privy to proprietary company secrets. In that case a non-compete could stick, but as far as a massage therapist in the average privately-owned business, it is nothing more than an attempt to restrict free enterprise, and will never hold up in court. Of course, an owner with sour grapes can press the issue and cost the therapist time and money in fighting it, but ultimately, the chances of it being enforced are slim to none.

Client information is actually the property of the client. If any client walks in the door and asks for their file to take to their new therapist, you’re obligated to hand it over. You may (and should) keep a copy for yourself, since most state boards have a requirement about what length of time you’re obligated to keep records. You can charge them a copying fee, if you’re so inclined.

My friend was being rightly cautious about HIPAA violations. Since the guilty therapist downloaded client information onto her smart phone, if she were to lose her phone and anyone finding it could access client information, that wouldn’t be a good thing. The burden is on the owner of any business to safeguard client information. Unfortunately, HIPAA has not quite caught up to technology, and some of their wording in regards to the protection of and responsibility for electronic data is vaguely worded. The police department was actually having a hard time deciding what article they could charge the therapist under, because it isn’t very clear on the HIPAA website.  They have a statement on their site that they are “still developing rules.”

When you have been employed somewhere, and you take a different job or go out on your own, it is perfectly legal to take out some advertisements in the paper that say “Laura Allen, Massage Therapist, formerly of THERA-SSAGE, has opened her own practice at Wellness Way in Oxford.”  In fact, it’s a press release, if you send one in to the business editor.

The bottom line is, there are different strokes for different folks. If you are an employer, you have the right to set your own rules. One caveat–it is not enough for you to just tell people on the day you hire them what all your policies are. You need to have a manual, and/or an employment/IC contract, that spells out your policies and procedures in clear terms. And if you’re out there seeking a job, or you already have one, you are obligated to abide by the policies your employer has set forth. If you want to do your own thing, then open your own business. When you agree to go to work for someone else, you agree to abide by their rules, and that includes not stealing client information. It can cost you a lawsuit, and might cost you your license as well, if an employer files an ethics complaint against you.

Posted on

Rick Rosen: A Job Well Done

Rick Rosen, MA, LMBT, Founder and Executive Director of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, announced last week that he will be stepping down from that position effective November 30.

In his letter to Alliance members, Rosen stated that he is returning to his full-time duties at the Body Therapy Institute in Siler City, NC. He founded the school in 1983 and has co-owned and co-directed it with his wife, Carey Smith, for the past 20 years. Their beautiful school and 150-acre property is for sale, and they intend to move permanently to their new abode on the Big Island of Hawaii whenever it’s sold.

Rosen has been a massage therapist since 1978. There are very few people in this profession who could claim anywhere near the amount of hours he has spent volunteering his time, and working for the evolution of massage therapy – both on the legislative and educational fronts.

I first met Rosen in 2000 when he was a founding member and the first chair of the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, a position he held from 1999-2003. He was very instrumental in getting massage regulated in our state and in assisting the Board’s legal counsel in drafting the administrative rules and statutes. As a former Board member myself (2006-2011), I appreciate fully the countless hours of unpaid work, and imagine that to be so much more for a start-up Board.

Rosen has always had a fondness for getting in on the ground floor and helping to lay the foundation for the future success of organizations. He also served as the first Executive Director of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (2005-2006), and wrote the Request for Proposal that led to the development of the MBLEx as the licensing exam of choice.

In 2009, Rosen hand-picked some seasoned educators to help launch the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education. Under his leadership, the AFMTE has made its mark as the stakeholder for education among the professional organizations. Recently, the ACCAHC Board of Directors invited the Alliance to join its Council of Colleges and Schools as the designated education representative for the massage therapy field, further solidifying the Alliance’s role. Not bad for an organization only two years old.

Rosen’s school was the first to offer professional training for massage therapists in the Carolinas, and the first to offer post-graduate training. BTI was also the first school in the Carolinas to receive accreditation from the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation. He has presented massage education all over the country and in West Africa. He has been a professional member of AMTA since 1983, helped form the AMTA-NC Chapter, and was Chapter President from 1985-1987. He has authored a number of white papers, and was a contributing author to TEACHING MASSAGE: Fundamental Principles in Adult Education for Massage Program Instructors, published in 2008 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Rosen’s pioneering contributions to this field over the past three decades have been many, and often unsung. In fact, I contacted him and requested a copy of his resume before I wrote this – and I could write a book about all the things he’s done in the arenas of bodywork, education and government relations that I had no idea about.

I gave a list of “kudos” and “thumps on the head” in a recent blog, and I had included a kudo to Rosen for starting the AFMTE. I’ll repeat that here, along with an additional word of thanks for all he has contributed to the massage therapy profession. It’s been a job well done.

Rosen shared with me that he is leaving the door open to future teaching, writing and consulting projects that can continue to advance the field. I’m curious to see what he gets into next!

Posted on

The Forgotten Flier

Do you use fliers to advertise your business? In this age of Internet marketing, you’re probably overlooking the humble flyer as a way to get the word out. Don’t count it out!

Fliers are cheap and easy to produce. You can make them yourself using Word, Publisher, or many other programs. You don’t have to be an artist to make a professional looking-flyer. Follow a few simple rules and you’ll come up with the perfect one for your business.

First, you want the flyer to attract attention. Bright neon paper will get more attention than a piece of white paper. Bold type that’s large enough for people to read easily is a necessity. A picture or graphic is nice, and it needs to convey the message. This is about massage, so don’t put a picture of a flower or a yin/yang sign–put a massage-related picture. Don’t use your own logo as the main picture unless it truly conveys that this is about massage. I’ve seen thousands of logos that without the wording, people wouldn’t have a clue that it was anything massage-related.

You want the message to be short and sweet: who you are, what you do, and where you’re located. Leave plenty of white space; in other words, don’t try to pack so much on it that it ends up looking like an overload of information. You want it to be easy to read. Have the headline be a call to action–not the name of your business. Something catchy like “Don’t Put up With Pain!” or “Get Rid of  Holiday Stress!” Your contact information should go at the bottom of the page. Most people are carrying around cell phones and can easily enter your number, or you can also put your name and number on pre-cut tear-offs on the bottom of the page. Don’t forget to use the spell checker.

Now that you’ve got the flier, arm yourself with a box of pushpins. Keep them in a manila envelope in your car. Anywhere you go you see a bulletin board, put up a flier. They’re free, so why not make use of them? It’s a no-brainer.

Is there a university or community college in your town? There’s usually a bulletin board in every hallway. The Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, community halls, your church, grocery and convenience stores, the library, the health food store–there’s just no end to the places where bulletin boards exist. Visit local schools and ask the receptionist to put one on the bulletin board in the teacher’s lounge–maybe offering a first-time discount or an extra 15 minutes with their first session. Avoid mentioning any short-term sales or discounts that have an expiration date or you’ll need to go around and change them frequently.Works for me!

Posted on

Kudos, and a Few Thumps on the Head

The year is winding down; all the award shows have been on television lately, and I’d like to give out a few of my own, along with a thump or two on the head of those who need it. Call me a critic! These are my opinions only and should not be construed as the opinion of anyone else.

Kudos to Rick Rosen for starting the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, and to the organization for putting on one of the best meetings I’ve ever attended earlier this year, and for taking the initiative to set some standards for teaching massage. If you are involved in massage education and you haven’t joined yet, I suggest you quit procrastinating.

Kudos to the Massage Therapy Foundation for all the work they do in promoting research in the field, and in particular for offering classes in Teaching Research Literacy. And to Ruth Werner for being such a fabulous ambassador for the organization.

Kudos to the executive officers and chairs of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, the American Massage Therapy Association, Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals, the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation, the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards, the Massage Therapy Foundation, and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork for coming together this year at the Leadership Summit, and particular kudos to Bob Benson of ABMP for taking the responsibility for making that happen.

Kudos to Paul Lindamood, former CEO of the NCBTMB, for doing such a great job in putting that organization’s finances back in order. I was very sorry to see him go.

Kudos to AMTA, in particular the Oregon Chapter, and Glenath Moyle, National President, for putting on one of the best conventions in my memory. Kudos also the the thousands of AMTA members who volunteer at their chapters and the national level.

Kudos to ABMP for their generosity in allowing everyone, regardless of what organization they belong to (or none at all) to read Massage & Bodywork Magazine online for free, and for providing the huge forum at www.massageprofessionals.com, which is also open to everyone.

Kudos to Facebook. Not only are they my favorite place to hang out online, they are also spending millions of dollars building their new data center in my hometown, and providing much-needed employment in a very economically depressed area.

Kudos to Dr. Christopher Moyer, Bodhi Haraldsson, Paul Ingraham, Ravensara Travillian, Alice Sanvito, Rose Chunco, and the other folks out there who keep beating the drum for Evidence-Based Practice of massage.

Kudos to Jan Schwartz, Whitney Lowe, and Judith McDaniel of Education Training and Solutions. They don’t toot their own horn enough about some of the excellent work they have done for the Massage Therapy Foundation, the World Skin Project, and in general advancing excellence in online education.

Kudos to Angie Patrick of Massage Warehouse for her tireless work in the Sanctuary and raising money through massage for the Massage Therapy Foundation, the Liddle Kidz Foundation, and other worthy causes.

Kudos to all the massage therapists in the trenches, who give of their time in performing community service and their income to support deserving populations and those who can’t afford massage. I know hundreds of them so I just can’t list them all here, but every day, someone is out there donating the awesome power of touch in hospices, abused women’s shelters, the VA hospitals, homeless shelters, and hospitals. Bless them all.

Kudos to all those teachers out there who have what I refer to as “a higher calling.” Those who are teaching hospice massage, cancer massage, pediatric massage…There are too many to name, but they are led to work with the sick, the dying, the special-needs. Bless them all, and those they teach.

Kudos to any massage school and/or instructor who is teaching their students to be research literate.

And now, a few thumps on the head. The names have been omitted so as not to put the magazines who publish my blog in danger of a lawsuit, but you know who you are:

A thump on the head to the therapists who say “I’m better than any doctor or chiropractor. I will heal you when they can’t.”

A thump on the head to the therapists who say “I don’t refer out to anybody. No one is as good as I am.”

A thump on the head to the therapists who say to their clients “You really need this  (expensive water filter, nutritional supplements, foot patches, juice by so-and-so) etc that I am selling.”

A thump on the head to the therapists who say “I don’t need continuing education. I already know everything there is to know.”

A thump on the head to the therapists who impose energy work on every client who gets on their table, as if it is some God-given right, when the client hasn’t asked for it, doesn’t want it or believe in it, and it hasn’t been discussed.

A thump on the head to the therapists who are telling their clients that massage is detoxifying them and that they need to drink a lot of water to flush out their toxins.

A thump on the head to the therapists on massage forums who can’t behave and can’t have civil discourse, and instead resort to name-calling and personal attacks.

A thump on the head to the therapists on Facebook who are identifying themselves as MTs and posting pictures of themselves that look like they belong in the centerfold of Hustler.

I could thump all day–and give kudos all day–but I’ll save some for a future blog.

Posted on

Massage: The Big Picture

I was just cruising through my social media sites, and it has reinforced for me something that I’ve known for quite some time about massage therapists: they’re a caring bunch. That’s not exactly a big surprise; after all, our job is helping people feel better. I’d say a certain amount of caring and compassion is a prerequisite for becoming a massage therapist. We all care about our clients…even when I see posts from people who may not be working in their ideal situation, that’s pretty consistent.

I’ve written over the years about why I think it’s important for massage therapists to care about The Big Picture–to be aware of and involved in what’s going on around them, and I want to expand on that on several fronts. It’s the 4th anniversary of my blog. Humor me, and I’ll tell you why I think it’s important.

I get a lot of “I’m busy running my business. I don’t have time to think about it,” in reply to something I’ve reported about massage regulation and legislation. If you’re in Alabama, why should you care about something happening in Michigan? Here’s the reality check: When something detrimental happens in the regulation of massage, it sets a precedent and makes it easier for it to happen somewhere else. That could be anything from the consistent referencing of our businesses as “massage parlors” in legislative language, something we’ve all wanted to get as far as possible away from, to crazy zoning laws requiring massage businesses to be located in seedy areas zoned for heavy industry, prohibitions on having a massage therapy business located in a shopping mall, or prohibiting massage being performed after 8 pm. Yes, indeed, those are all realities, but if they’re not affecting you personally, people don’t want to think about it. Based on my questioning therapists in the classes I teach, not even 10% have read the entire practice act in their own state. They don’t know the letter of the law even where they’re practicing. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs. I get questions all the time from therapists wanting to know “is it legal for me to do so-and-so?” and while I pride myself on being a fountain of information, it’s all right there on your board’s website. Read it.

Massage is suffering growing pains right now…I think of it as the evolution and revolution of massage. We’re stuck in that place in between being an industry and being a profession. Some don’t care which way it goes. I do. If something affects my right to practice massage, my license, my certification, my teaching of massage therapy, I want to be informed about it, and I want to be in a position to take action on it. I’m a provider of continuing education, approved by the NCBTMB, so I want to keep up with what they’re doing–and any other developments in the realm of teaching CE. At the current time, the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards is working towards giving their own approval of continuing ed. I’m watching that like a hawk, because a) it could mean I have to fill out an application to get another approval from another entity–or even individual approval from each state I teach in b) it could end  up costing me more money for another approval, although that hasn’t been decided yet and c) if my class isn’t involved directly in public protection, it might not be approved at all. This initiative is still in the planning stages, and it serves me as a provider to stay informed and know what’s going on.

In the same vein of education, I am a member of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, and I encourage everyone else who has any involvement in education to join immediately. The Alliance is working on a project to define teaching standards on a national level…to spell out the knowledge, skills, and attributes that one needs to have in order to teach both entry level massage and CE. What if I don’t live up to those standards; will I be cast into the abyss? I don’t want to be clueless about what’s going on. I want to have some input into that project–and if you’re teaching, or aspiring to, you should want the same thing. This is going to happen; not overnight, but it is going to happen. I don’t intend to be the last to know. I’d rather make the effort to be involved in the process. I will never forget the statement made by Jan Schwartz at the last Alliance meeting: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” I don’t intend to be chopped liver.

Then we’ve got the massage therapy associations. A lot of people just sign up for membership because they want the insurance, and they don’t care about the leadership, or the government relations, the networking opportunities, or anything else. I personally do care who is running them–and what they’re actually doing. I personally do care what they’re doing on the front of government relations. State boards cannot lobby–that is the domain of AMTA and ABMP–and any special interest group who has the wherewithal to hire a lobbyist–like the chiropractic associations, for example, or PT associations who think we’re encroaching on their territory. And if I think one of my membership associations is doing something that doesn’t protect the rights of massage therapists, or serve the highest good on that front, I am perfectly capable of calling them up and giving them an earful–or taking my membership dollars right out of the coffers. Let me add that my legislators also hear from me, and if I don’t like what they’re doing, I let them know that, and I don’t vote for them the next time.

Related to education, to me anyway, is the state of evidence-based practice of massage and the need for research literacy. I support the Massage Therapy Foundation, and if you have a single dollar to spare, I suggest that you support it, too. Research literacy should be taught in every massage school. I’ll go further and say the teaching of that should be mandated by state boards who license schools. Frankly, any school who is not teaching their students how to be research literate is not worth their salt. That doesn’t mean you have to be a researcher. It means you have to know what constitutes valid research and how to find it…which in turn will lead to throwing out some of the long-standing “myths of massage” that are perpetuated. If you’re still teaching that massage is detoxifying the body and that drinking a lot of water after the massage will flush those toxins out, you’re in dire need of research literacy. I just completed my first peer review and site visit for COMTA, and I am happy to say that the teaching of research literacy is one of their required standards. I have a new appreciation for them after really delving into their standards and it would be a great thing for every school to seek that accreditation. Basically, for a school or massage program, it means “I’m doing more than the state requires me to do in the interest of higher standards.” Amen to that.

I think a major stride was made a couple of months ago when the leaders of the profession all came together for the Massage Therapy Leadership Summit. Ego and personal agendas had to be left at the door. ABMP, AFMTE, AMTA, COMTA, FSMTB, MTF, and the NCBTMB came together for the first time to discuss common problems. They’ll be doing it again in 2012. This wasn’t a “my organization is better than your organization” meeting. This was about The Big Picture.

So that’s where I’m at right now. I can’t roll along just surviving and only caring about my own clients and my own business. It’s not just about me. It’s not just about you. It’s about The Big Picture and massage therapy on the whole.

Posted on

Report from the AMTA National Convention 2011

I have just returned from attending the AMTA National Convention in Portland, Oregon along with about 1400 fellow therapists, and I must say I believe it was the best one yet! The folks at the Oregon Chapter were great hosts. I wouldn’t have expected anything less, especially since we were in the hometown (well, the adopted hometown) of President Glenath Moyle. Incidentally, Glenath is the most exuberant and delightful leader to come down the pike. She is a ball of energy and one of the friendliest and most approachable people on the planet.

I arrived on Monday night so I could attend the Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday. It was a great meeting, no big surprises, and just one good report after another. An increase in membership and finances in good shape, and in the present economy that’s good to hear.

Tuesday evening, I hung out with Xerlan Geiser-Deery and Christopher Deery, John Seigel, Michael Reynolds, and Allissa Haines. We went to one of Portland’s many brew pubs and enjoyed some great food and fellowship. Wednesday, the opening ceremony was hands-down the best. The keynote speaker was Kevin Carroll, author of Red Rubber Ball, and he had me both laughing and in tears before it was over. I later had my inaugural introduction to the House of Delegates, which was a great experience. That night, I attended the annual Lippincott Williams & Wilkins author’s dinner. We went to a great restaurant called Mother’s. I sat with Joe Muscolino and Celia Bucci and really enjoyed myself. Also in attendance were LWW staff members, including my lovely editor Linda Francis, without whom I would have never written a book, along with Kelly Squazzo, Pat Archer, MaryBeth Braun, Ruth Werner, Les Sweeney, Leslie Young, Anne Williams, Eric Brown, Diana Thompson, and probably a few people I am forgetting. It was a fun evening and we were the last people to leave the restaurant.

Thursday was more time in the House of Delegates. That is quite a process. Ann Blair Kennedy had authored a number of position statements and there was heavy debate before quite a few of them passed. Thursday night, we had a little blogger’s meeting in the bar, attended by Allissa Haines, Dale Favier, Kelli Wise, Kat Mayerovitch, Chris Widlund, John Seigel, and Lisa Santorino. All of us except Chris, who is pregnant and had a good excuse to stay in and rest, walked over to an Asian restaurant recommended by John and we consumed a copious quantity of all kinds of Thai and Chinese goodies. After we left we all headed out to the Rock Bottom to attend the Facebook Friends party. What a gathering! There were wall to wall people. I met so many FB friends I couldn’t name a tenth of them!

Friday I attended a great class in how to make research posters, taught by the newly-married Kim Goral Stevenson. I worked in a group with Rose Chunco, Kat, Jerrilyn Cambron, and another beautiful soul that my mind is going blank on at the moment! I knew I should have written all this down! Friday night, all the folks from the North Carolina Chapter attended the dinner cruise on the Spirit of Portland hosted by the OR Chapter. We laughed so much we nearly cried. The food was awesome and the company was better. It was a blast.

Saturday, I blew off the two classes I had registered for, hopped on the train, and rode around the city. I don’t usually duck out on classes, but frankly I was running on empty by that time…I went straight to Portland from attending the FSMTB meeting in Los Angeles and my poor old brain had absorbed about all it was going to by that time. I came back to the hotel in time to take a nap so I could attend the dinner dance. It’s fun for everyone to get all dressed up for dinner and dancing. The band sounded great. I didn’t stay late; I was just too tired to party until midnight, but it was definitely a festive gathering.

In between all the official festivities, I visited with a lot of old friends, especially the fine folks from my own chapter, and the GA chapter. That crowd is a bunch of characters and I just love them. I got a half-hour foot massage at the Sanctuary, and made several visits to the exhibit hall. One day I sat talking with Bill Brown, the Deputy Director of the AMTA for over an hour. He’s a great guy and I really enjoyed getting to know him better. I also spent time visiting with Sally and Ed Hacking, Kathleen Gramzay, Lynda Solien-Wolfe, Ariana Vincent, and too many more to count.

Another high point was the debut of Rise and Shine, the CD of music donated by massage therapists to benefit the Massage Therapy Foundation. I just got to listen to my copy today, and I am very proud to be included in such a talented group of people. The music is just great. Get a copy if you haven’t already!

Portland is a beautiful city. The train is awesome. The people were friendly. I never made it to Voodoo Donuts–but I did get to eat one provided by the folks from the American Massage Conference. If I had any complaints about the whole thing, it’s just that there were too many wonderful things going on at the same time. I hated having to miss one event to attend another, but that’s the way the ball bounces when that many people come together and try to accomplish as much as we can pack in to just a few short days.

The AMTA National Convention will be held in Raleigh NC in 2012. I don’t know how we’re going to top the OR folks, but we’ll give it our best shot! I hope to see you there!

Posted on

Report from the FSMTB Meeting

I spent this past weekend in Los Angeles at the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards meeting. It was a great gathering of regulatory board members from all over the US and Puerto Rico. As my own term as a NC Board member ended in June, I was there as an observer, not as a delegate this time.

The main purpose of this meeting is for board representatives to come together to discuss common challenges and hopefully, find solutions. One of the bigger issues this year was lack of funding for boards, and in fact, the Federation has given grants to a half-dozen boards so they can maintain their membership…no small contribution, since there is usually a flat annual fee as well as a per licensee cost to join or maintain membership.

Another hot topic was human trafficking. The National Certification Board started addressing this issue some time ago, to mixed reception. Some people don’t seem to realize that it is indeed a problem, and those that do realize it don’t always approve of the way their states are handling the issue. No one wants to see a big sign about human trafficking outside their massage business, and who can blame them? The primary problem seems to lie with Asian spas.  It’s doubly sad for these people, because they are brought to America with the promise of making money, charged a big fee for their transport and “sponsorship” and then virtually enslaved when they arrive.

Of course the issue of portability for licensing was a focus. At one point during the meeting, Executive Director Debra Persinger posed the question “Who thinks portability is a myth?” I was one of three people in the room to raise my hand. While it’s something I would love to see, I don’t expect it to happen in my lifetime. The states with higher standards are not going to dumb it down for the rest, in my opinion. The MBLEx may eventually be universally accepted among all the member states, but as long as education requirements vary from state to state, total portability is not going to happen.

The Federation is also working on a Model Practice Act. While I won’t go so far as to say it’s an exercise in futility, I don’t expect any state to throw over the practice act they already have in place in order to adopt the one the FSMTB comes up with. What I do expect to happen is that those states that currently have no regulation may adopt it, and any time a state is revising their current act, they may take bits and pieces from it, if it serves their purpose.

The FSMTB has also announced their intent to get into the business of approving continuing education. So far, that’s still in the planning phase. Nothing real to report on that front.

Elections were also held at the meeting. Current President Kevin Snedden reached the end of his term. Kevin has served the Federation well and has been a Board member for the past six years. I’m sorry to see him go, but equally glad to see Kathy Jensen of Iowa step into the role. I have no doubts that she’ll do a great job. Dennis Beye from Arizona is the new Vice President, and Jaime Huffman of North Carolina is the new Treasurer.

Along with the business, there was time for a little socializing. An opening night reception was well-attended, as was the Saturday night dinner that included a great jazz band. I also took a little trip organized by Chris Sluss…13 of us took a limo ride through LA to Venice Beach, Santa Monica, and we got out and hung out for a couple of hours on Hollywood Blvd. The Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club in Redondo Beach, where the meeting was held, was a beautiful place, nice without being ostentatious and a colony of sea lions was right outside my door. They were so loud the hotel provides everyone with a pair of ear plugs.

Any time people come together for the purpose of solving common problems, it’s a good thing. I’ve always thought the Federation is a good thing. If they ever do pull off total portability or total reciprocity, I’ll be happy to say I was wrong, and congratulate them for doing so.

Posted on

The Financial Health of Our Organizations: COMTA

This is my third year of doing an annual report on the financial status of the major non-profit organizations of the massage therapy profession. I am not an accountant or a financial expert. This information was taken directly from FORM 990, the Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is published on Guidestar.

COMTA is the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation. Obtaining accreditation from COMTA is a voluntary and rigorous process that few schools choose to go through; of the hundreds of massage schools and programs in the US, less than 100 have the credential. It is a banner of excellence, requiring that the school do an in-depth self-study and meet high standards meant to insure that they are offering a program and learning environment of the highest caliber.

Non-profits are on a different filing schedule than the rest of us; this form covers the fiscal year of COMTA from 03/01/09 to 02/28/10.

COMTA’s revenue increased by $167,345 over the previous filing. While they still showed a deficit overall of $98,102, it is a vast improvement over last year’s deficit, which was in excess of $277,000.  I guess this does go to show my ignorance on the financial matters of non-profits…COMTA isn’t the only one operating in the red, and you just have to wonder how our non-profits keep on going whenever they’re showing such losses. Presumably, some of that money comes from savings and other assets. COMTA’s assets have dropped by almost $100,000 in the past year, leaving them with net assets of a little over $93,000.

COMTA is a smaller organization than most of the other non-profits, because of the nature of their work. They are not a membership organization and they don’t have a big staff. Their Executive Director doesn’t receive anywhere near the amount of compensation of those in comparable positions in the membership organizations; Kate Ivane Henri Zulaski’s salary, including benefits, is slightly over $57,000. Only one other executive salary was paid, and that amount was a little over $14,000 to former interim director John Goss. COMTA also employs only one staff member. Site visits are carried out by volunteers who get their travel expenses paid and a $100 per diem. It’s great that volunteers will take time away from their offices to do the visits, as most would probably make a good deal more money if they stayed at home and did massage.

This is the second year in a row that COMTA did not receive any grant money from AMTA, and presumably will not be receiving it in the future. The future of COMTA, and their financial stability, is dependent on their ability to bring in income from their accrediting services and their ability to cut expenses to the bone. Their office expenses more than doubled this year; the costs of conference and workshop attendance also increased by almost $14,000. However, I won’t criticize the conference attendance; I think that’s a necessary part of networking and it gives them the opportunity to recruit new schools.

I’d like to see COMTA enjoy a substantial increase in the number of schools and programs they accredit. And of course anytime you’re working to increase business, you’re going to see a subsequent increase in costs. It costs money to recruit through marketing efforts, it costs money to train volunteers, and it costs money to do site visits. It’s a worthy credential that 93 schools and programs currently have. COMTA is the only accrediting body focused on the massage profession. There are others accrediting agencies, but some of them accredit everything from airline pilot schools to lawn mower repair programs. I appreciate the organization being focused on massage education.

The economy has been tough for all non-profits, and COMTA is no exception. Schools and programs that may want the accreditation have probably held off due to the recession. May next year be better for them and for us all.

Disclosure: I have taken the COMTA Peer Review training and will conducting my first site visit at the end of this month.

Posted on

Where I Come From

I was at the annual reunion of my mother’s family today. Any Sunday afternoon in the South, when you drive by a church fellowship hall or community clubhouse and you see cars in the parking lot, you can almost take it to the bank that a family reunion is going on. Just stop on in. The chances are really good that you’ll be welcomed and well-fed. There aren’t any strangers around here, just friends we haven’t met yet.

I see that note going around Facebook all the time, that you’re proud to be from the South where the tea is sweet, the people still say yes ma’am, no ma’am, thank you very much, and y’all come back. That’s where I come from.

I am proud of where I came from, and I think it has had a big influence on my life, and my work ethic. My mother was raised in dirt-poor Appalachian poverty. Her parents were sharecropping farmers, and the nicest and most generous people I ever met. If they were down to their last two biscuits, they’d give you one. They worked from sunup to sundown. They didn’t have anything, but they were rich in spirit. I think it’s a testimony that when my grandpa died, over 1300 people signed the guest book at his funeral. Imagine that…1300 people coming to mourn a sharecropping farmer.

Most days, I work from sunup to sundown…not because I have to in order to survive, the way my grandparents did, but because I’m a workaholic. I feel driven. I feel like I’m 52 years old, there’s still a lot of stuff I want to accomplish, and “daylight’s burning,” as my Granny would say.

Regardless of that, I have it so easy compared to the life they led. 12 hours at my desk can’t compare to 12 hours of plowing the field with a mule, milking the cows, growing and preserving all their own food, cooking three meals a day on a woodstove, washing clothes in a big cast iron wash pot over a fire out in the yard, drawing water from the well. I remember all those things. I plainly remember the day they got indoor plumbing in their house.

All I have to do is show up at the office, spend most of the day writing and filing, and do a few loads of laundry in my nice automatic machine. They never owned a car, and regularly walked the ten miles from their house to town and back . I jump in my car and go and cuss if there’s a traffic jam.

I’ve had a privileged life compared to what my mother had. She’s 72, and still working. She has retired three times and just can’t sit around. Like her parents before her, when she sees someone who needs help, she doesn’t wait to be asked. She just jumps in.

When I die, I don’t care about having my accomplishments listed. The people who matter to me already know about them. I hope my shortcomings aren’t listed, either; the people who matter to me already know about those, too. I’d just like to go out known as someone who tried to help people along their way. That’s where I come from.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial