professional Associations and bodies

Being a massage therapist I belong to a number of associations and bodies, governing bodies that is, which can help give assurance to clients. As a therapist who is registered, you can be confident that I have been assessed and meet the national standards of competence and practice and thereby enhance your safety. The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council was set up with government support to regulate not only massage therapy, but all complimentary therapies.

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare council (CNHC)

The key purpose of the CNHC is to act in the public interest and enable public accountability of the therapists that is registers. This means that all practitioners have to meet certain standards and the council also provides an independent complaints procedure for the members of the public.

When choosing a practitioner, whether for massage or another complimentary therapy, it is important to choose someone who is CNHC registered. Complementary therapy practitioners using the CNHC quality mark demonstrate to members of the general public and other healthcare providers that they conform to national standards of practice in their work. To discover what therapists have to attain to be able to qualify for CNHC registration read here.

Professional associations

The key function of professional associations is to provide support for the therapists themselves. This is achieved variously in the form of setting standards within practice, providing courses for continuing professional development (CPD) and a range of other services such as information, industry journals and magazines as well as insurance services. The professional bodies play a crucial role in supporting us as practitioners and in furthering our professional development. I currently belong to The Complementary Therapists Association (CThA – read here for more information) as well as the Voice Massage organisation in Finland. I am very aware of the importance of keeping up my continuing professional development to further my knowledge of massage therapy, the industry and how new research affects how I practice. I attend seminars and workshops as well as courses to enable me to continue to practice as a Sports Massage therapist and Voice Massage therapist as well as ongoing self study through the literature available.

Receiving a massage from a registered therapist with both a regulatory body (CHNC) as well as with a professional association (CThA and Voice Massage) ensures you are getting a high standard of competence, enhanced public safety and the most up to date techniques available.

Timo Massage Therapy
Monday, 29 October 2012