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can a student massage therapist give massages outside of class to the general public as long as they don't charge ?

Hello every one i just became a member not to long ago. I tried looking in the forum, but could not find information on this topic. I attend a college in Ohio, and was wondering if i could do free table and chair massages to the general public. I had a thought to go down to the local police stations and fire stations and offer free massages, but i don't know if i should legally. Nor do i know where i can find out the info. One LMT mentioned that i could massage the whole packer team if i wanted just can't charge. just wanted to get a second option.

thanks for reading

Larry M

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Permalink Reply by Lee Edelberg on August 16, 2015 at 8:19pm

Check state law.

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Permalink Reply by Larry Mullins on August 17, 2015 at 6:01pm

I contacted my instructor and she replied that without insurance she didn't think it would be a good idea, but she said if i had insurance that it would be allowed in the state of Ohio as long as it was free.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on August 17, 2015 at 10:40pm

And it would not be against the law if somebody wanted to give you money. You can give money to anybody you want. Right?

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Permalink Reply by Darcy Neibaur on August 22, 2015 at 7:26pm

You can get Student insurance through ABMP. I massaged as a student once I had insurance. I was not allowed to collect money. Any money given to me I gave to the owner of the establishment where I was working at the time. I gained a lot of experience that way.

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Permalink Reply by Tara Doyle on August 28, 2015 at 10:12am

Hi Larry, you can practice massage as a student on whoever is willing to be a “body”. You should have insurance if you are going to work on the general public and you can’t legally charge a fee, accept donations, or accept tips. For insurance to cover your work, your volunteer activities, and outside massage, exchanges must be sanctioned by the school and some type of supervision must be provided. You might consider setting up a volunteer day (maybe as part of Everybody Deserves a Massage, which is a weekly event every July) where you and your classmates work on fire fighters/police officers with supervision from a volunteer massage instructor. If you don't already have insurance, check out abmp.com/students and please give us a call at 800-458-2267 if you have any other questions.

-Tara

Social Media & Marketing Coordinator, ABMP

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Permalink Reply by Larry Mullins on August 29, 2015 at 7:02am

thank you all for the wonderful advice i think that would be a good idea to get insurance was thinking abmp their student rate is only 45 dollars. im glad i found this place lots of very nice people and great advice :)