EDUCATIONAL & LEGISLATIVE ALERT!
The letter below relates specifically to what is going on in Texas. However, the organization that is behind this, “massage therapy online” is aiming to market to 40+ states. Keep a watchful eye in your state! The idea that massage therapy can be effectively taught through pre-recorded lectures and hands-on work done at Massage Envy’s, etc. would result in an incredible dumbing down and de-professionalization of our profession!
Please help us to save the integrity of Massage Therapy. Laws are currently underway in Texas and other states to allow for unsupervised online instruction of massage therapy. We need help in communicating our concerns to the legislative laypeople who may not understand the ramifications this law could have on the future of massage therapy. Please see details below on the proposed law and how to contact the decision-makers so we as a united community can be heard.
Dear Massage Therapists,
There are currently bills in both the Texas House of Representatives and Senate to modify the massage therapy law to allow for the non-hands-on portion of the 500-hour program to be taught online. It seems inevitable that in today’s world this will probably be allowed. During the pandemic, we have been teaching many of our classes live/interactive online, and we have found that it can work quite well.
However, we have concerns that the changes made will allow for online classes to be taught using canned material or simply having students read content online. We further have concerns that in such a case there might be no way to confirm that students actually put in the clock hours to cover the material at all.
From the beginning (1986) to the present, the Texas’ massage therapy law has required the 500-hour training to be “supervised.” This has always been interpreted in the rules as meaning an instructor is physically present with the student. We believe that if an instructor is live online with the students during the clock hours, to teach, encourage discussion, and answer questions, this could reasonably be considered to be “supervised”. However, the Senate bill stipulates that online instruction need not be live, and the House bill does not address that issue at all. We are concerned that if the content such as ethics, boundaries, anatomy and kinesiology is relegated to a “teach yourself” mode of learning, the quality of graduates and then therapists will be lowered.
If you feel as we do, please help us protect our industry by emailing the talking points below to Sen. Kelly Hancock and Rep. Senfronia Thompson utilizing links provided.
Email Sen. Kelly Hancock - https://senate.texas.gov/member.php?d=9&lang=en
Email Rep. Senfronia Thompson - https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/email/...
*Here is an example letter, please feel free to copy the content and email to the links provided above.
Dear Esteemed Committee Chair,
The massage therapy law has always called for a SUPERVISED course of instruction. Up until COVID that was understood to mean IN PERSON, and that is how it was required to be done. Bills have been introduced into the Senate (SB 1130) and the House of Representatives (HB 3244) seeking to allow the non-hands-on portions of the training required for a massage license to be taught online. This seems a natural change in today’s world, but it should be done in a way that does not sacrifice any quality of education. All of the required hours are critical to the development of a skillful, knowledgeable, and ethical therapist.
The only way an online training can be considered to be supervised, as the law requires, is if the courses are conducted live/interactive, so there is an instructor doing the teaching in real-time, to encourage discussion and answer questions
Please do not pass these bills unless they stipulate that any online training must be conducted live/interactive.
We appreciate your participation in this pressing issue.
Thank you,
John Conway and David Lauterstein
The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School
John Conway & David Lauterstein