Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge (MTBOK) News

Hello all! My name is Chip Hines, and I'm the Project Manager for the Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge (MTBOK) Project. Im tremendously excited by this work which puts me in the middle of something that I think will provide great value to the Massage Therapy profession. At the same time, I get to work with a group of very talented and energetic folks who are creating the ground work for the project - a Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge.

A great deal of background work has brought us to this place, and I intend to use this blog to catch you up, and to help keep you informed.

The current topic is that the MTBOK Stewards have issued a press release to let you know that the members of the Task Force have been selected. Ive copied the press release below so that you can see what they said and who are the task force members.

But first, I want you to know that there is a lot of work that has already been done, and that the entire principle upon which this effort rests is on inclusiveness. Although the results of the task force - the MTBOK itself - will be independent of any specific organization, the project is sponsored by a group of "Stewards" from 6 of the major Massage Therapy related organizations.

As our work progresses over the next year, we will be offering both formal and informal opportunities for review and input from the full Massage Therapy and allied communities. But more about all this in future blogs. You can learn more by going to our website at http://www.mtbok.org.

Here is the press release issued just yesterday by the MTBOK Stewards:

Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge Task Force Announced

July 7, 2009

The Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge (MTBOK) Stewards are pleased to announce the volunteer MTBOK Task Force member selections have been made. Every attempt has been made to select a dynamic group of individuals who together represent what may be considered the broadly defined field of massage therapy.

Each of the MTBOK Task Force members were chosen for their experience, credentials and expertise as well as having a working understanding of at least one of the major areas impacting the current and future growth of the Massage Therapy profession. The members of the MTBOK Task Force are:

Megan Lavery

Kevin Pierce

Susan Salvo

Michael Shea

Steve Schenkman

Dawn Schmidt

Nancy Schmitt

JoEllen Sefton

The Task Force is responsible for initiating a profession-wide and unifying effort to articulate a common body of knowledge for the profession. Under the guidance of Chip Hines, a PMI certified Project Manager Professional, the Task Force members will begin work on the foundational elements of the MTBOK project in July, 2009. These foundational elements include:

* Definition of massage therapy

o Describing the Field (primarily to enhance understanding and appreciation of the profession by those outside the profession)
o Scope of Practice
o Terminology

* Competencies of an entry-level massage therapist (knowledge, skills, abilities)

The MTBOK project is expected to complete the foundational elements phase of the Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge initiative in approximately one year.

Six organizations have agreed to jointly steward the MTBOK initiative. They are American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), AMTA Council of Schools, Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP), Massage Therapy Foundation, Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) and National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB).

All stakeholders in Massage Therapy are encouraged to follow the progress of the project, and to provide comments, suggestions and make contributions. Specific instructions will be forthcoming as the project gets started this summer. Task Force bios and other MTBOK updates are available at www.mtbok.org.

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