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the new NCB recertification for massage therapists

I'm a little confused about the new recertification process as mine is due in September. Here is what I need defining 1) you say 24 cue's I already have 30 however you state 3 must be in research but in real and practical life we as massage therapist are trying to scrape a living in our careers with most of our experience as hands on work . 2) the majority of my work is in the spa industry which has a client confidentiality clause and we are not allowed to transfer client information outside of the spa at anytime for personal research would a 1099 tax document be accepted as proof of actively practicing for hands on?? and how does one research? 3) spas are not required to keep soap notes what then happens?? I have practiced for nearly 12 years and had no interest in scientific validation just to provide therapeutic benefits of reducing stress and to relax my guest how did you determine research as required?? so many exams have developed thru the years that between state license and national requirements its become quite expensive and with no one to protect the massage therapist but so focused on the “public safety” that we as practioners have to pay for not the public. It’s not that I don’t accept new developments in this field as I have always had a professional attitude towards my profession but we all don’t have private practices nor are we all spa owners. we are real world practicing massage therapist who enjoy what we do. but with so many changes and constraints that have developed I have noticed the new and upcoming massage therapist have not really grasped the hands on because of there preoccupation with academic requirements that precedes hands on practice only to have spas let them go because guest are not being satisfied with there massage, and that saddens me to see as these new therapist have worked so hard to develop there practice not understanding the” art of bodywork” that is being lost through so much academic documentation. so where do I go from here?? Thank you for your time and consideration............ I'm also interested in knowing if any massage therapist out there have expirenced the frustrations of constantly complying with local state regulations and Im aware that we should always pursue continuing education to enhance our knowledge base of adding differnet modalities to benefit our clients and guest as well as enhancing our competancy in the learning proccess but do you feel the ceu's can be costly and excessive?? and has anyone opted out of national certification and taken the mblex instead?? as Im thinking of doing this as it seems to be a more practical exam for us who have no interest in the letters behind my name for a seal of approval.. when I started 12 years ago the national cert was the only one available to to take as a profesional therapist. but Im seriously considering just going ahead to take the mblex..any thoughts would be apppreciated..

Runa

Fresh Hands

Posts: 2

Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:03 am

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Permalink Reply by JP on February 5, 2013 at 1:34pm

Rhonda, I feel for you. It is confusing!

I actually renewed mine early (was not due til April) by 31st December last year as it made the process simpler than what is happening now. I couldn't fathom some of it out so just thought I would take the financial hit and renew early. My renewal came through about 3 weeks ago so that is a relief.

I don't know if it is frustration having to constantly keep up with state regs as such but I know where you are coming from here also. I have maybe 70+ hrs CEU, regular monthly CEUs I pick up at FSMTA or conventions etc.and then the 48/50 hrs required by NCBTMB but I don't have all the right ones to renew in Fl, I need to do another x amount of live and the mandatory CEU's. So yes more expense required to comply. (I also have a establishment licence to renew and thankfully no more than a financial outlay for this)!

Now, my thoughts on MBLEx, don't know a huge amount about it, other than what I read and my own experience but I would think about hiring NCTMB before MBLEx and here is my own reasoning/experience. I personally know therapists who graduated from massage school who could not pass the NCTMB exam after numerous (3+) attempts and when the MBLEX came out in Fl they passed first time. I passed NCTMB exam 1st time and didn't think it was too hard but I was the first one in 3 months to pass it from my Uni so what does that say?

Is MBLEx a more realistic exam to our field or was it a dumbing down of the "academic" side of NCTMB exam? This is a truly genuine question and I am not meaning this to be offensive it is just my own thoughts spilling out and would probably come across better as a "conversation" . I am happy to be educated as to the pros of the MBLEx. I know a lot of industry folks have a downer with the NCBTMB these days.