Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge

Comment

Comment by Carl W. Brown on October 27, 2009 at 6:51pm

I believe that the schools should also be cost effective. Setting the number of hours encourages bad instruction. This is why the university system is failing. When I wanted to study COBOL programming I had a choice. Either take two semesters at a college or 5 days at IBM and they taught the same thing to the same level. Later I had a similar experience when I went to ca local college for a business degree and as part of the curriculum I was allowed to take outside courses so I took a 5 days course again taught by IBM. They cover the entire business curriculum needed for a bachelor’s degree in that week and did a better job.

We need to set base standards that we expect at a minimum that should be required of all people doing massage and then build on that base to what we expect of people who want to be called MTs. The skills should be selected based on cost effectiveness where it is not unreasonable to spend the extra time and money because the effort will result in measurably better performance. If you are looking at doing medical massage then something like reflexology or body wraps are probably worthless. If you are doing spa work then physiology will be shortly forgotten. When I was studying lymphatic drainage which I use a lot, but the next course was breast massage which while I though would be nice to take, I could not see that being a man that I would get enough clients to make the expense worthwhile.

Ultimately we need to look at educational standards from the perspective of cost effectiveness.

Comment by Carl W. Brown on October 26, 2009 at 8:17pm

Darcy, I have had some good instructors, some excellent ones but my share of bad ones as well. I had one deep tissue instructor who as he crossed the room you could just see the students part like walking through the Red Sea because they did not want to be selected as his next victim. I had a lymphatic drainage teacher who could not explain the contraindications in the book and she wrote it.

If we can set measurable standards to the KSAs we will have a starting point because we can measure the effectiveness of the students and indirectly grade the teachers.

Teachers not only need to know the subject but they also have to be able to teach. Transferring knowledge especially when much of the education involves skills that don’t fit in to words.

Comment by Darcy Neibaur on October 26, 2009 at 5:36pm

My instructor I had for Swedish sat at the desk all during class and when he did not like what he saw he would holler across the room to the student instead of getting up and going to help the student individually. I personally was mentored by Mike while I was in school and learned much more from him than I did my Swedish instructor. So I agree with what you are saying about Standards for Instructors.

Comment by Gloria Coppola on October 26, 2009 at 4:33pm

Rudy, I think you also hit the nail on the head. I agree there needs to be standards for the instructors. I hope that this is on the plate as well for consideration.
It doesn't matter if a student is in a year long program if the instructors can't teach.
In my experience teaching and directing programs across the US, many schools had instructors literally out of massage school or within a year teaching, because they can't find "qualified" instructors. Some instructors would literally just read the chapter to the students.
Most of these schools are the technical type, not private schools.

And this following statement is a TRUE experience. I was solicited by a massage school asking me to teach A&P. I do not teach A&P I said and would never proclaim to be qualified. I rec'd 3 phones from the director. I said you must be desperate. He said Yes. I agreed to help out while they found a qualified instructor because they were in a pinch. I had 2 weeks to prepare...then rec'd a phone call the following day and was told I needed to be there in 2 days, because they fired the instructor. Unfortunately, this scenario happens quite often. Fortunately for the school, I am conscientious and dedicated and put a lot of time and effort as well as creativity to prepare for these classes. While the experience turned out to be wonderful for me as an instructor, I personally don't think it's the way to run a school.

I feel there should be more Massage Instructor programs out there. Individuals should assist first, as well and get a feel for the classroom dynamics, teaching skills, methods and interactions with students.

As for advanced certification, I agree with Carl. Practically everyone I know has done that after school and prefers that avenue.

While I don't have time to read all these discussions , I do appreciate that you are all contributing , thinking about this and acting upon it passionately.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 26, 2009 at 4:17pm

And they can after school, as well. Mentor programs work with some people. But like Keith says "a mentoring situation is dependent of the skills and qualifications of the mentor." Schools are either having a hard time finding these folks and/or won't pay those qualified enough to get them.

Then we have the problem of non "atypical" students. Mentoring success depends a lot on teacher-student communication and co-operation. If there is discourse, it then proves as flawed as the existing system. I say don't change the system, improve it and follow through on these schools.

Comment by Carl W. Brown on October 26, 2009 at 4:09pm

Mike. “Most therapists, I have talked with, wish to get school out of the way and get advanced certification in their chosen modality from an advanced practitioner, not go back to a classroom setting.” That is the beauty if title licensing. You can do the whole thing or work in stages but until you complete the whole enchilada you can’t call yourself a massage therapist and some job opportunities are closed. Personally I have pursued about a half dozen different directions in continuing education after completing my Swedish training. I also don’t believe that many people really know what direction they want to go until they gain some experience and consequently some perspective.

However if they want to do some thing that is very different or does not play well with others like Bowen, they are free to do so.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 26, 2009 at 3:07pm

Esalen is a great addition to your program.

Comment by Keith Eric Grant on October 26, 2009 at 3:03pm

Mike,

The Esalen program is atypical, in that Arthur Munyer, who has taught for years at Esalen (I took a trigger point class that he taught and a sports massage class that he co-taught the in the mid 1980's) teaches that at McKinnon. Of course, the Esalen program is also available down the coast at Esalen itself. Esalen Massage (tm) is a proprietary training and certification. However, we are pleased to be able to include this periodically at our site via a collaborative agreement.

Carl is both talented and atypical. And, yes, a mentoring situation is dependent of the skills and qualifications of the mentor. That said, it is a system that produced some of the greatest artists the world has known, particularly when the learner learns in an atypical manner, as did Einstein, Edison, and my younger son, who, at 13, composes.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on October 26, 2009 at 12:59pm

Keith,

Carl said,"There was no grading and when you were done with the series you too (do?) them all over again until you and your teacher felt you could move on." So if there is an instructor, that is not qualified, and him and the student wish to "move on"(?), that is education?

You have levels and continue to return to school. Most therapists, I have talked with, wish to get school out of the way and get advanced certification in their chosen modality from an advanced practitioner, not go back to a classroom setting. If they want that more and more colleges are setting up BA programs.

When I checked the site, I thought I saw the earliest, Esalen program next year. To me, that would be a problem. Pay as you go is like college. I'm not saying it isn't nice to help those in transition this way. It is.

But again, most therapists I talk with want to get actual schooling out of the way, more like Basic Training. You get your basics and then go to different schools for specialization and then you are ready to do the job. Our profession allows you to start earning income right after basic training. And many increase their fees as they recieve further training.

If what you have works in CA and it doesn't fall to sunset legislation, so be it. But Rudy, Carl and you are all from CA and are looking at the picture from that point. The BOK is looking at the picture as a whole. I don't think, your plan presented to the state boards, of other states, will be the plan they go with.

Comment by Noel Norwick on October 26, 2009 at 12:21pm

Rudy: I second your experience! That said, Do you think that should viable "standards for new students" arise from the MTBOK task force efforts, massage training institutions across the country will choose to employ only "instructors" qualified to teach them?

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