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New California law regulates massage therapy | Print |  E-mail
Written by Chris J. Magyar   
Monday, 12 January 2009

While the details have yet to be figured out, 500 hours is expected to be the new benchmark

Massage

In the popular imagination, a massage is often a luxury in a warm room with soothing music, a sensuous and decadent way to relax. For many people, however, massage is an essential therapy, helping them recover from a serious injury, or preventing the onset of chronic medical issues. Because massage rests in this halfway area between recreation and medicine, its regulation in America has been anything but uniform. Many places keep an eye on the practice solely for its unfortunate use as a cover for prostitution. Others treat the practice more as a health issue, stepping in to make sure massage therapists are qualified and capable of delivering the relief they advertise. California, until this year, had no state-level regulation at all.

On Sep. 27 of last year, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law SB 731, which tossed out the old language in the state’s Business and Professions Code, and replaced it with a nonprofit Massage Therapy Organization (MTO), which shall create a certification process for massage practitioners (CMPs) and massage therapists (CMTs) in California. The bill requires that all applicants be 18 years old, and to submit fingerprints to the Department of Justice for a background check. It also calls upon the MTO to set educational criteria.

The MTO will be made up of two members of each major massage therapist organization, and representatives from the League of California Cities, the Director of Consumer Affairs, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, and the California Sate Association of Counties. The law is, in its current phase, a voluntary one, but the plan is that it will gain teeth after four or five years when everyone in the massage industry—from masseuses to schools—catches up to the new requirements.

During the next nine months, the MTO’s main job will be deciding what those requirements will be. Shannon Lynn Brown of Sanctum Therapy in Santa Cruz, a longtime advocate for statewide licensing practices, says that the bar will most likely be set at 250 hours of accredited training to be a CMP, and 500 hours to be a CMT, with the CMP designation eventually being phased out. “The law is designed to give everyone a bridge,” she says. “Because California’s so huge, we don’t need a short bridge over a stream, but one of those mile-long Florida bridges.” Certification, whatever it eventually looks like, won’t begin until fall of 2009.

Brown, who has thousands of hours of training and currently teaches courses at Five Branches University in addition to her day job, says the main benefit for therapists who meet the new CMT standards will be portability. “I’m opening a branch office in Los Gatos right now,” she says. “Without a state license, I have to go through the whole process of proving my qualifications to the standards Los Gatos has set up, and pay their fees, even though I’m established here already.” By contrast, she points out that a dental hygienist graduate of Cabrillo College would have little trouble getting work in New York or Illinois, because that degree would be considered valid training almost anywhere. Many states use a standard of 500 hours, so California’s CMT license would be in line with other parts of the country.

While some of the schools in Santa Cruz County are already equipped to meet the higher training standards (for example, Five Branches offers 500-hour and 650-hour courses on top of the basic 200-hour one, and Midline School of Integrated Bodywork and Twin Lakes College of the Healing Arts also offer 500-hour certification courses already), some California schools are folding in anticipation of the more stringent guidelines. Brown says she knows of several small schools in Southern California who offered only 50- or 100-hour programs that are closing up shop. “Between the economy and the new law, they saw it was only getting harder, not easier, to license, and they’re deciding to throw in the towel,” she says.

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Are you kidding me?
0
I'll keep this brief. Contact me if you want to know more. (1)The first person assigned to the MTO, according to a recent article in the Bakersfield Californian, is Beverly May. (2) In 2003, San Francisco passed a massage ordinance which was endorsed by Robyn Few, of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, and Beverly May. This same ordinance was condemned by "Daisy Anarchy" aka Tracey Buel because of the lack of debate, the lockout of various stakeholders (no massage schools were invited, etc.) Recently deceased prostitution reform advocate Norma Hotaling described the SF ordinance with these words, "we create the loopholes for organized crime to exist". (3) When I told Beverly May that I thought therapeutic massage should be distinguished from prostitution, she told me I was part of the "establishment" and needed "transformation". She told me to get out of California, and to get out of her industry. **Please note, I personally met with Robyn Few of the Sex workers Outreach Project and Tim Barnett, author of New Zealand's bill decriminalising prostitution (as well as NZ's "gay marriage" bill) in Berkeley in 2006.

I always find it odd when people say "500 hours", but they don't say what the hours are spent doing. I have gone through the state licensure process for Massage in Florida, Utah, and Washington, and have often had difficulty getting transfer/acceptance of university level studies I've completed in anatomy, physiology, pathology, psychology, etc. which are more rigorous than anything taught in any massage school in the USA. I could go on and on but I'll stop babbling now...
Brian K Goodwin / Longcor , January 12, 2009 | url
A few rejoinders
63
Brian,

Unfortunately, space constraints prevented the article from explaining a few aspects of the new law fully, so I'll attempt to address some of your concerns here.

The law does specify that any MTO standards must include "a minimum of 250 hours that incorporates appropriate school assessment of student knowledge and skills. Included in the hours shall be instruction addressing anatomy and physiology, contraindications, health and hygiene, and business and ethics, with at least 100 hours of the required minimum 250 hours devoted to these curriculum areas." The schools that will be allowed to perform this instruction must be "a facility that meets minimum standards for training and curriculum in massage and related subjects and that either was recognized by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education pursuant to Section 94931 of the Education Code."

As for the makeup of the MTO, another representative from the massage industry, and the one who will be taking a leading role in crafting the new standards, is Bob Benson of the ABMP (Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals) based in Golden, Colorado. He has helped several states in this capacity before. The difficulties you cite in having your training recognized here are a direct result of the state's lack of standards until now. Ideally, the work the MTO does this year will correct that.

As for some hidden agenda from the sex worker industry to legitimize prostitution, it's doubtful that anyone who will pass through the law's mandatory fingerprinting and background check with the Department of Justice, plus 500 (not cheap) training at an accredited institution, will be doing so solely to have a cover for providing sexual favors. The law will likely have the opposite effect, since the letters CMT after a therapist's name will signal legitimacy, and there will be clearer lines between houses of good repute and ill repute.
Chris J. Magyar , January 12, 2009
Florida Licensed Massage Therapist/ Coronado Island, California Massage Therapist
0
It was a shock for me when I moved from Miami to San Diego and found out that my State of Florida License meant nothing in California. That I had to go the Police Department (!!!) to get what I consider a permit not a license to work as a Massage Therapist. To my dismay they had me fill out a document entitled "Application for Massage Parlor..." I told them that in Florida the term massage parlor is and will never be used for a legal massage business or therapist. They said: someday we'll have to change the title of the form.

When the State of California certification for Massage Therapists take effect, are they going to have reciprocity for Therapists like myself, who have a license issued by another state, with many, many hours or continuing education, specializing in numerous therapeutic modalities and 18 years of experience.
Jeannette Kasprzyk , January 25, 2009
Certified Massage Therapist, Boulder School Of Massage 1991
0
There are so many issues to address about the regulations and education requirements of Massage. The bigger issue is California education requirements which is joke! Can you imagine, practitioners need the minimum knowledge here then the rest of the country or world? We Californians call ourseleves progressive yet the body is that easy to learn about? The massage schools in California with their minimum requirements of 100,250 or 500 hours is a loop hole that allows for "anything goes" model including sexual interactions. I was recently told they had a sexual massage practice in our county and one woman told me she had an encounter because to her "happy endings is no big deal." Most consumers aren't aware or educated enough about the difference between practitioners and Therapist qualifications and are being charged the same as a Therapist would charge. The schools pump out these practitioners and don't have a mentoring program to monitor their progress and guide them. It's a free for all! The owners of Spas, health clubs and hotels are charging expensive prices with practitioners who have minimum education requirements and who suffers? Yes-you -the consumer. Most practitioners never go back to school and attempt to use skills they weren't trained in but claim they know because they went to another Therapist who did and had a session to copy the Therapists technique. I know of practitioners who have used gloves to work inside the mouth of clients and when I told them it was against the law, they didn't care. I've confronted more than a few who do what they want and in a session will pull out a book to find a muscle. It's astonishing how many practitioners are in Santa Cruz county alone and don't care about the laws because it doesn't pertain to them. It's a fast way to earn quick money and most practitioners aren't in this profession to make it better or professional. I taught for many years in Palo Alto and saw that this profession will never become part of the medical industry because of the lowest education requirements. Canada has a minium of 3,000 hours and have the respect of doctors there. I don't see anything changing even if the legislation finally gets enforced, then like SF-the police dept regualtes us and SF police dept did that to make sure the massage palors were paying their taxes to the city of SF. It wasn't in favor of Therapist but so the city could get a piece of the pie. smilies/angry.gif.....smilies/sad.gif
Lisa Ferguson, CMT , January 30, 2009 | url
a provide a legitimate massage and i am not certifed
0
i am a massage provider in california. no i am not certified i can not afford the proper schooling requirements of $9,200.00 (barely earning enough to stay afloat asw it is and i am not able to take out a federal student loan at this time. Many people just can not qualify for varies reasons-that is their personal business and no one else's)nor can i afford to be enrolled full time as i am my only means of support. i am a responsible person. i am attempting to wade through this muddy water of indignation and self importance spewed from so many of you CMT's senator's and i am appalled at the lack of knowledge many of you seem to possess.
you have all automatically assummed that anyone that has not gone through all of the formal train hours and now mandated is a hooker using massage as under cover...let me tell you where the problems really are. in each one of your communitites in the form of the asian massage parlours! those places are the problems. not massage providers such as myself.
i have been providing massage to family and friends for 20+. either you are born with the talent/apptitude and enjoy massage or you were not. we have all experienced a lousy massage by a 'trained' provider and we just couldn't wait until it was over or we stopped it our selves. you know the lousy ones by the inconsistency of touch, rushing through your appointment, general uncaring attitude that made you feel as though you were a number waiting inline to be called at the bakery, NEXT!!
those are the asian handjob shops (it is a cute nickname.) from speaking to my many clients, the men really are treated poorly, especially if they happen to be black, most places won't see them. if they have seen the guy more than once he is offereed the hand release or many times an actual oral blow job. sorry to be crude but it is what it is. that massage tech may have already seen 5 men or 15 or perhaps none, you won't ever know. men visit those places so i have been personally informed by estimate 100 men this past year, they go knowing there will be sex involved one way or the other. no kidding.
no take my situation. i chanrge for go to the client's home or hotel. and yes i have regulars. no i do not bring a table. why? i am petite 5'2" and i can not maneuver a tablew in and out of the car. they do not fold enough to make them manageable and i do not have $6-900 for the "liteweight"portable tables.
i run my ads for massage in reputable classifieds. i make sure to inform the reader that i am nor "certified" i also restate this on the phone while discussing the massage. i make sure to ask if there are any injuries, past or present as well as any broken bones and if they are under a doctor or chiropractor's care. i inform them of my background & history. also that i have experienced many different massage techniques over the years as a result of some formal training and being the reciept due to auto accidents, 4 in a 18 year period, none my fault. each accident worse than the last & the healing time it took, etc.
i inform the potential client that this is not an escort service so none of those services are offered and no prostate massages are ever offered.(yikes)over all i have had a good experience and maintain a terrific group or regular clients that flew in on business, until the primaries & election.
anyway, i have to be competitive. many people are not done with their day until 8 or 9 pm some even later. i have no choice but to make myself available all night long. i bring sheets and towels, all freshly laundered & bleached, wash clothes, soap, nail brush, sanitizer, ice packs, 100% all natural oils that i blend myself all minus any type of peanut oils or seaseme oils in case someone has the allergies.when was the last time you were asked if you had allergies to peanuts? and i refuse to use mineral oils or petroleum based oils that will clogs the pores and cause ache break outs. my oils are quickly heated under the hot water tap. i use great care to ensure that everything is clean and sanitary at all times.
so i ask you, from what i just informed you of, am i using massage as prostitution? no. i take great offense that at the snobbery i am assaulted with in this forum and others.
i am upset because if i read correctly, anyone with any type of legal issues in their past, felonies for example will be denied the certification through the back ground check and finger printing.
that is discrimination and elitism at its finest excuse. i can see if some one has been found guilty of sex crimes such as rape or child molestation but what about for any type of drug arrest in their past? even when the person has gone through all the court mandated programs and satisfied their required penalty? to deny anyone based on past mistakes is never allowing that person the right to correct themselves and continue on the 'good path' and to turn themselves around.
also,
what restrictions does this new mandate place on providers that are independent and do not want to work at a massage parlor? the freedom of working for yourself,at least for me is the only way to go, and at least 75% of all clients do not want to go to such places but want the comfort,security and peace of being seen at home or in the privacy of their hotel suite. what will happen if people like myself continue to see these clients at the client's convenience?
if no sex is being performed then what is the problem?
i do not understand the need to prevent someone from earning a living legally and at the clients level of safety and security. in my mind i am not breaking any laws. i don't even collect the massage fee upfront and i have never had a single problem getting paid.
in this day and age to get work you must market yourself and it is up to me to make sure that i am busy everyday obtaining work. clients are not able to come to an office between 9 and 9pm or 10pm.it just isn't possible. so by going to them i have business. if i doidn't i would have been homeless already.
i would appreciate informed responses regarding the law and what i am supposed to do.
massageprovider , March 14, 2009

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