Group Aims to "Save NCBTMB"

A group of 20 volunteers with the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) launched a Web site in late February to inform the public of alleged problems with the board.

"[We] are deeply concerned about the direction of NCBTMB, the quality of its leadership, and NCBTMB's future," reads a statement on the site's home page. "We have created the 'Save NCBTMB' web site to communicate our concerns and to provide an independent source for information about NCBTMB that we believe NCB certificants have a right to know."

Among the issues described on the site (www.geocities.com/glabella100) are the removal of two board members, the replacement of those board members "through improper procedures," issues related to the 2006 board nomination process and election, the volunteer force's low morale and high resignation rates, and what the volunteers call "mismanagement of the NCBTMB."

NCBTMB Director Donna Feeley told MASSAGE Magazine that a third-party, independent review of the volunteers' complaints had been initiated prior to the Web site's creation, and that results of that review were expected at the end of March (past this publication's deadline).

"We deeply appreciate the support this group expresses for NCBTMB's mission and goals and their desire to see NCBTMB have a successful future as a credentialing agency," Feeley said. "We share in this desire, and want this process to be as thorough, independent and transparent as possible, while maintaining any privacy or other legal requirements."

For more information, visit www.massagemag.com's news section and click on "Complaints Levied Against NCBTMB over Dismissals," posted Jan. 29; or see "NCB Reassures Stakeholders," MASSAGE Magazine, News (March).