IT’s been a bit quiet over here at Rubbed the wrong way – I’ve been rolling out a new business model in my private practice so, I’ve not been focusing on the show as much as I should have been. I am however really excited to bring you the follow up episode to the national Conference episode we did a few weeks ago.
AAMT is touted as the peak national body repping massage therapist in Australia and I must admit I am biased to these guys as they are my association so, when there were some big announcements made on the first day of the conference about what the AAMT were going to be doing in their future, I was really excited to see what the board had in store.
There were a few things, the 2 bigs ones being a rebrand of the AAMT to Massage and Myotherapy Australia, so that the association could more broadly represent the trend of the industry moving to the myotherapy qualification.
And the introduction of the “Certified Practitioner” concept. In our latest industry newsletter Paul McCann – current President is quoted saying
Our new national Certification scheme gives us the opportunity to work together and set high, benchmarked, and consistent national standards we can be proud of. We have already received acknowledgement and in-principle support from key stakeholders such as state government departments, private health insurers and complaints entities, which confirms our commitment to leading this program.
Once established, we will promote the new ‘Specialist Titles of Practice’ widely, ensuring that at all levels, clients as health consumers and other key stakeholders will be more inclined to seek out Certified Massage Specialists.
The trademarking of titles needs to be inclusive of the word ‘certified’ (as in ‘certified practicing accountant’ or CPA). The proposal is not to trademark ‘massage therapist’ as an example, but to protect the term ‘certified massage therapist’ and the associated symbol, denoting quality assurance.
So that this can become a truly national scheme with all major stakeholders included, the Board announced the new Certification process in its early stage of development to allow industry to participate in the development of the specialisations and become a partner in the national scheme. All massage and myotherapy associations and therapists have a real opportunity to participate in refining the Certification scheme should they choose.
You are invited to participate in this important initiative. A series of member meetings will be held in various locations around the country and by webinar. These forums provide opportunity for you to discuss issues with myself and members of the AAMT Board. Until then I also encourage you to direct any inquiries or comments to me personally and I will endeavour to reply as soon as possible. 
Interesting times are on the way for the industry that is for sure.