American Massage Therapy Association – Michigan Chapter

‘Meet me in St. Louis’….where the National Board is having their board meeting, and Chapter Presidents from all 50 states have converged! That’s what happened June 3-5, and it was an experience I was excited to be a part of.

I don’t know if any AMTA members have wondered about how our organization is run, or thought much past what happens at the chapter level, so being a part of the ‘big picture’ really helped me gain perspective, and I’d like to share that with you.

In March, I attended a National board meeting with all chapter presidents invited. At that time, the board solicited the chapters’ input on forming a new ‘vision statement’ for our organization. In the past, and ‘way back since the inception of AMTA, the focus has been to legitimize the art and science of massage therapy, and to push for licensure in all 50 states. Also since that time, things like the ‘vision statement’ have been made at the National board level with national staff assisting the process. This time, involving chapter leaders and soliciting input through surveys and social media was really breaking the mold on how things have been done in the past. No sacred cows here, we were treading new ground.  Since Licensure is a goal that is close to fruition, and licensure has arrived in most states, as an organization it was time to find a new focus and redefine who we are as a profession, and to provide focus for the coming generations of massage therapists. Who would we be? What horizons did our profession want to move toward?

St Louis and its Arch are symbols of the ‘gateway to the west’ where our country expanded with its Louisiana purchase. Where did our profession want to expand, what as yet unknown territories did we want to explore? This is a time for change in the massage profession, and we had a chance to be a part of the next step!!! Based on the input from the March meeting, AMTA sent out member surveys online and through social media to look for areas that we should consider when redefining ourselves. The top 5 areas from this research were

1. Healthcare integration
2. Promote AMTA therapists to the public
3. Quality education, in massage schools and continuing education, even degreed programs
4. Research for evidence-backed massage results
5. Support members through government relations, education, and promotion of skills and abilities

Also in the March meeting we talked a lot about ‘branding’ and ‘portability’. These were classified as ‘goals and objectives’ with a three to five year work focus, the ‘vision’ statement that we were formulating was a 10-30 year plan, so we needed to ‘think big’.

In St. Louis, the work group from the National board pulled the data from all the surveys and the information from the March meeting and set us up in groups to refine the survey information into a cohesive vision statement. We were seated at round conference tables in groups of 5-8, with a National staff person and a National board member at each table, with chapter presidents as the remainder of the group. As a group, we went through the prototype of the vision statement that the workgroup had put together. Then, each table was assigned a set of worksheets with the vision statement broken down into segments that we discussed, picked apart, reformed, and made loads of suggestions and revisions to-and in some cases we just approved things as they were presented. After our working discussions, we came together as a whole and shared what each group had discussed. The National workgroup took all these critiques, and while the rest of us took a lunch break, they worked like crazy and came up with the next draft of our vision statement. It wasn’t really ‘voila, we are finished’ quite yet!! We repeated the process in a different format, scoring the changes, having more discussion, what we referred to as ‘wordsmithing’, and making sure everyone was heard. Again, changes were suggested and implemented.

It was really interested to see how some members were attached to words like ‘spirit’, or ‘power of touch’. There were involved discussions on use of ‘healthcare providers’ versus ‘health, care, and wellness providers’. Or what about ‘licensing’ vs. ‘effective licensing’? ‘Law’ vs. ‘enforcement’? Are we looking for ‘quality’ or ‘quantity’? Who is ‘the public’? Does ‘quality drive quantity’?? Does ‘education drive quality’??? By the end of the day, my brain was exhausted with trying to make intelligent decisions on wording that would provide the vision for my industry for the next 10-30 years. Fortunately, all our suggestions were handed over to the National workgroup for ‘polishing up’, and would be presented again before being approved by the National Board of Directors.

I understand from some of the National board members, who are also members of other non-profit organizations, that it is unheard of to bring together over 70 participants from different size states; with different regulations; in addition to National Board members, National staff, and Chapter board members to try to forge a new vision statement.

Areas that the vision statement covered were:

• Advocacy and Influence
• Industry Relationships
• Professional Competency
• Community
• Image and Awareness
• Research
• Member experience
• Government Relations

Each area had to have a stated Goal (what we wanted the outcome to be) and an Objective (the directive for how to accomplish this goal). This is where it was so wonderful to be a small part of a large group of passionate and committed people. And we all felt safe expressing our feelings (about ‘community’ or ‘research’ or ‘professional competency’) and everyone in the room, be they therapist, administrator, staff, volunteer chapter leader, or volunteer National leader, had equal weight given to their input.

Is this a great country, or what???

After much discussion and voting as a group, we had the bones of a great vision statement, something that we hoped would take our profession into the next decade or two. The committee then let us adjourn and take to St. Louis for some rest and relaxation, however they stayed put and worked until the document was polished and ready for a vote by the National Board of Directors. The finished product is what follows, and I hope that everyone reads it and weighs in on it. What do you think? Let us know and we will put some of the feedback up on the website. Remember, it’s YOUR association. Where do you want massage to be in the next quarter century???