NCB Reassures Stakeholders

The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) is reaching out and asserting itself as an organization dedicated to furthering the professional standards of the massage profession—and as one that hears the concerns of its stakeholders.

In a Jan.17 conference call for the press, new NCBTMB chairperson Donna Feeley assured participants that her style was one of "openness, inclusiveness and responsibility to the certificant population." Over the past two years NCBTMB has faced charges that it lacked transparency, particularly over the firing of former executive director John Page and the dismissal of two board members in November. (See "Complaints levied against NCBTMB over dismissals," News Headlines, January, www.massagemag.com.)

Feeley also emphasized NCBTMB's planned outreach into the greater health-care arena. Toward this goal, the organization will attend the American Hospital Association's annual meeting in May, and plans to work more closely with the American Holistic Nurses Association. "We are going to be reaching out in a much bigger way," she said.

In addition, Feeley highlighted NCBTMB accomplishments in 2006, such as decreasing certification-application processing from eight weeks to two weeks; producing a revised continuing-education provider handbook; creating a task force to conduct a job-task analysis; and hosting a meeting with state massage-therapy boards to discuss the development of a practitioner database. It also hired a director of education and a schools-outreach manager.

On track for 2007, Feeley said, is the hiring of a new executive director to fill the position left empty since July. The board has also hired communications company Penny Ohlmann Niman to help "enhance our image, enhance projects and to expand our communications," Feeley said.

"[We'll] keep targeting our message and listening to [certificants] and the schools. This is our first step. We want to be as active as possible," she added.

The NCBTMB is a nonprofit organization, established in 1992, that certifies practitioners of massage and bodywork through the National Certification Exam for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. More than 80,000 practitioners are certified.