a community of practitioners

Online CEUs for hands-on?

I'm sure it is possible to get a good quality education through reading or online if one is self motivated. Certainly, courses abound for those massage therapists who can't get to classes for one reason or another. Travel expenses, time off of work, babysitting issues, etc. can make it difficult (if not nearly impossible) to take a CEU class.

Because I am licensed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I am required to have 3 hours of ethics every 2 years. My first time, I took a "book" class. This year it's an AMTA online course. In my humble opinion, ethics, law, CPT codes and such are perfectly appropriate venues for non-class education.

But as a hands-on (or feet-on, if you do barefoot massage) professional, are other courses appropriate to take without the steady eye of an in class educator? For me, no. I need the feedback of someone who can point out my weaknesses and give suggestions to improving myself as well as a knoweledgeable teacher who can answer questions.

Comment

You need to be a member of massage and bodywork professionals to add comments!

Join massage and bodywork professionals

Comment by Michael Holloway on August 17, 2009 at 1:19pm: Yeah , well that is not a complete success. yes they did say 50 % of 24 CE;s need to be hands on, so now I get people calling me to see if they can take only 12 hours of a 3 - 4 day seminar. How ridiculous is this. Of course the answer is NO! We have produced a very lazy industry with such loose guidelines and standards.

Comment by Mary-Claire Fredette on August 16, 2009 at 9:13pm: I am surprised and saddened that I periodically hear commercials for online massage schools. How is that even possible? Yes, I totally agree with Michael's comments-how as a "hands-on" industry could we possibly learn the fundamentals of touch through reading?

The good news is, it's my understanding that Florida now requires class time for CEUs. Good move in the right direction!

Comment by Michael Holloway on August 16, 2009 at 9:31am: This industry is completly a hands on industry , I think it is ridiculous for it to be supported and allowed to continue our knowledge base by internet based or book, phamplet based education. The point of having hands on education is to better our selves, increase our knowledge and skills. To protect the general public from therapists who have not increased their skill base. Kinda like graduating from high school and letting that person operate on a person because they had 500- 600 hours of general A/P, geez. The industry bitches that it is not aknowledge by insurance companies and medical field do you think we might be the reason for our own problems? If you want to be respected and become a intellectual equal to the educated medical field then you need to do something about it in hands on education.