First, an update - I wrote this letter a week or so ago and sent it out to our state legislators. Since then what I have heard is that A) the Oregon Board is only partially state funded; I don't know the numbers, so can't really comment on what that means, and B) it is highly unlikely that the suggestion of closing down our board will come to pass - it was just a small comment in a longer speech; it's not like our governor is specifically out to get the massage board. Again, I don't know what the numbers are; for all I know it would cost our state more money to put the oregon board of massage therapy staff on unemployment than to just keep the board. This all said, since I have received so much positive feedback from massage therapists who read the letter I wrote, I'm going to keep it up here at least for the time being. It seems that there are many many LMTs in Oregon who feel that our attachment to the board, and the panic around the idea of closing it, are not reflective of how everyone feels and that a balancing viewpoint may have its place. Again, I'm not out to have our board shut down, I'm just giving some perspective about priorities.
A Letter to Our State Legislators,
This morning on my way home from dropping my son off at school I listened to a story on OPB about how the state budget troubles may lead to cutting the number of stewardship foresters in Oregon. These are the folks who make sure that loggers follow the rules, don't take more than they are allowed, don't mess up the streams and hills more than necessary. Regardless of whether or not I think this is nearly enough to protect our forests (it isn't), it is something. But it's not really what this letter is about.
My husband is about to get his masters in teaching, and we have a school aged child; so as you can guess, we have been paying attention to the state of our school districts. We've been hearing about teachers being laid off, class sizes increasing, some school districts considering four day school weeks since they can't afford five. The state's financial troubles become our children's missed opportunities. But this letter is not really about that either.
My brother just got laid off from his job because he worked in an industry that is being directly affected by the recession. Yesterday he spent an hour and a half on hold waiting to talk to someone in the unemployment office. This is after three days of trying to call and only getting a busy signal. Clearly, our state does not have enough people working to help those without work. But this is not really what this letter is about.
What this letter is about is whether or not the state should suspend the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists (OBMT). Whether or not it would be prudent, in these troubled financial times, to stop spending state money to make sure that massage therapists pay their licensing dues, take licensure exams, and get continuing education. Because a little while back our governor suggested that maybe we might want to do this.
One of the big massage schools around here recently sent out an e-mail that is circulating through the local massage circles urging massage therapists to write letters fighting this idea. The e-mail that was sent around was full of thoughts of how suspending the OBMT would negatively impact massage therapists; but of course, it was sent by a school, and schools are really the ones that benefit the most from massage regulation oversight. After all, without someone making sure therapists have high mandatory training requirements and get continuing education, schools stand to lose money. Here is where I have to point out that I myself am the owner of a small school of massage continuing education, The Naga Center. And yes, my school would most likely lose money should this idea come to pass; and yes, this would hurt me directly, being the sole owner of this little business that I work my rear off to make work and still can barely pay the bills. But The Naga Center is an Ethics driven business with a capitol E. While most businesses have a single bottom line of financial responsibility, Ethics driven businesses have a triple bottom line of environmental, community, and financial responsibility. This means that our every decision must take into account not only will this decision make the business prosper, but is it good to the earth and is it good to our community. This isn't just another business getting in on the green bandwagon for marketing, this is the heart and sole of why I choose to create The Naga Center. Teaching healing is not only a passion of mine, but it has a low impact on the earth, and a loving impact on my community; two things that were vital to my choice of livelihood.
So in thinking about the fears being promoted around the idea of suspending our massage board, I cannot help but think of my greater community and how the state's financial situation is impacting it. With elementary schools considering a four day week, teachers losing jobs right and left; an ever growing homeless population; a school for blind children being closed; hospitals in need of equipment that can save lives, and an endless list of non-profit social and environmental programs that are not getting the funding they need to survive, it is hard for me to think that suspending our massage board is really the crisis it's being made out to be. I come originally from a state that had almost no massage regulation, and certainly no governing board. I had some of the most competent massages of my life there, and never once (even as a young woman) did I ever encounter clients who misconstrued what massage was about (not something I can say of my time in Oregon); so I am not afraid of a lack of an overseeing board.
Ah, but the issue of public safety. How will massage clients be protected if there is not a governing board prosecuting those who work without a license; i.e. proper training, and how will they be protected from those who use massage inappropriately, masking the profession of prostitution. To these fears I suggest we look at some everyday realities and follow the money. In the state of Oregon you can be a lay midwife. This means you can practice midwifery without any certification or licensure. It is clear to me that midwives carry the weight of human life and the risks therein far more than massage therapists. But with a greater number of people interested in the massage profession, there is far more money to be made in its regulation than there is in midwifery. You do not find giant corporate midwifery schools. Money clearly trumps public safety. Doubt? Massage therapists can get millions of dollars of insurance coverage for pennies a day. Insurance companies do not offer this from the goodness of their hearts; they know full well the statistical likelihood of massage therapists injuring clients. They know it is very very low, or they would not give us these rates. Schools like to promote the idea that we are in a highly dangerous profession (because of course, this equals need for more training which equals more money for schools), and yes it is true you can injure someone doing massage, but I would argue that massage is not one of the more dangerous professions out there. Carpenters are more likely to hurt themselves and others, yet can go to work building buildings without a days instruction. I am actually a huge supporter of massage therapists having lots of education; but I am leery of those who say that regulation is there for public safety. After all, Thai massage, the modality I teach, is one of the most complicated and potentially dangerous massage modalities out there, yet massage therapists are not required to have ANY training in it specifically to practice it so long as they are licensed massage therapists. There is nothing in a Swedish massage education (the kind most licensure prep schools provide) that prepares one for practicing Thai massage, but I have yet to see a single regulated state require any additional instruction to practice it. Why? Because the regulations and requirements are about money, not safety; the numbers of therapists doing Thai massage are in the minority, so it's not a big money maker for the schools.
As for the idea that having a governing board somehow protects the massage industry from being mixed up with the prostitution industry, it is patently absurd. Open any newspaper, phone book, free rag; go to craigslist, you will see prostitution operating under the guise of massage. The Oregon Massage Board does not stop this; they simply prosecute actual massage therapists accused of misconduct. While this is good, it does not address the much larger issue of actual prostitutes posing as massage therapists.
I do not wish job loss upon those who work for the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists, and for that reason I hope another way will be found. And of course, my own little school stands to do better financially if oversight of continuing education requirements continues. However, I cannot sit in fear of losing our board when I have seen states function fine without one, and I cannot ethically place it above many of the other needs for our state's limited funds. It would be hubris to think that my profession's oversight is more important than say, early childhood education or someone to watch over those who are destroying our forests and see to it that maybe they destroy them just a tad bit less. And besides, this will not put an end to massage, only to certain aspects of its governance, and (as I am an optimist about these financial times) it will be temporary. I say all of this only to provide a balancing point to the urging (coming thus far from massage schools, not, I find interesting, from the board itself) to write to our legislators in defense of our board.
My many thanks for your time. I know these are hard times, and our legislators are having to make many difficult choices. I hope in my heart of hearts that you will place our forests, our children, our homeless and hungry, at the top of the lists of where our money should go.
sincerely,
-Nephyr Jacobsen
