Sent:                                           Thursday, June 26, 2014 9:59 AM

To:                                               admin@bmbt.org

 

Subject:                                     Letter from the Coalition of Massage & Bodywork Instructors for the Ad Hoc Committee meeting on June 30th

 

Dear Committee Members,

 

Input has been requested from the Coalition of Massage and Bodywork Instructors, in regard to the NC BMBT discussions considering changing the CE Approved Provider process from the NCBTMB to the FSMTB. To that end we need to ask some pertinent questions so that we can have a context for providing usable input. Here are some questions that the coalition would like you to discuss at the upcoming meeting on June 30th. We are interested in being notified when the meeting minutes are posted so that we can gain more insight into what is being discussed, planned and decided in regard to continuing education.

 

1.   When does the Board estimate the approximate date to be when they will decide if a new CE approved provider program is needed?  

2.   What are the reasons (besides the 3rd party legal issue) that the NC BMBT has decided to embrace a whole new CE approved provider program? What problems exist with the current program that would not be solved by a contract with the NCBTMB? How will moving to FSMTB solve those problems?

3.   If chosen, will the FSMTB be approving CE Providers, or CE courses, or both?

4.   Will the NC BMBT continue to determine what course content is acceptable and/or not acceptable for LMBT license renewal? Or will this determination pass to the FSMTB if they are chosen to oversee providers?

5.   Will courses taught by teachers approved by NCBTMB continue to be accepted (Our preference)? If not, will there be an interim period? Can teachers currently approved by NCBTMB and who have been teaching for a number of years be ‘grandfathered’ in or given streamlined approval in the new program, should NC BMBT decide to leave the NCBTMB?

6.   Would the new FSMTB teacher approval program have to be approved and adopted by all the member states for it to go into effect?  Or can each state opt in or out or even have a custom made program administered by FSMTB?  The latter could create a patchwork of teacher requirements across neighboring states making it difficult for teachers and therapists to cross state lines to give and take CE courses.

7.   We are CE teachers and we are concerned about the quality of CE for therapists.  Collectively we have hundreds of years of experience and we would like to help you move forward in a way that benefits our profession and the public. So we want to be included in your decision making process.  But we can’t give useful input if we don’t know what proposals you are considering.  Is it possible for some of our members to attend the meetings of the ad hoc committee you have created for CE or at least receive a detailed report from the committee?

 

Thank you for your consideration,

 

Nancy Toner Weinberger

On behalf of the Coalition of Massage & Bodywork CE Educators

919-562-1548

weinberger@mindspring.com

http://www.coalitionofmbceinstructors.org/