Vision:
Our vision is to advance the therapeutic massage and bodywork professions by strengthening and elevating educational practices and standards through supporting, credentialing, and engaging educators.
Mission:
The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education serves as an independent voice, advocate, and resource for the massage therapy and bodywork education community.
The Goals of the Alliance are to:
- Promote the National Teacher Education Standards Project that guides and informs effective teaching of students and professionals.
- Have a Certified Educator of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork in every course or classroom.
- Advocate for the interests of members through collaboration with stakeholder organizations, governmental agencies, and regulatory bodies.
- Provide educational opportunities for educators and administrators.
- Provide resources to members for professional development and classroom enhancement.
- Support visibility of certified educators and member schools.
- Provide opportunities for service, support, networking, and camaraderie amongst our community.
Strategic Plan:
The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to provide a set of goals for a time period, strategies to accomplish those goals, and guidance on the use of resources. Each goal will be accompanied by who is responsible for the goal and a timeline for its accomplishment. The AFMTE Strategic Plan is maintained by the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) that is composed of a Chairperson and a Board Liaison appointed by the President with the approval of the BOD and the assistance of the LDC and other members as needed. The SPC is charged with developing a Strategic Plan for the BOD of the Alliance that focuses on the main goals of the organization as well as other items that address the needs of the organization. The SPC is further charged with the periodic review of the Plan at the behest of the BOD. You are invited to view the most recent HIghlights of AFMTE Strategic Plan 2021 – 2022
Rationale and Structure:
As the field of massage therapy moves forward in its evolution, it is clear that the education sector must have a champion of its own. In fact, nearly all long-standing professions have an organization of this type. In light of the many challenges and opportunities that exist today, the Alliance stands for the interests of the education sector, and has taken its place among the other stakeholder groups that comprise the massage therapy and bodywork field. And by strengthening and improving massage and bodywork education, the Alliance will bring great benefit to schools, teachers, practitioners, and resource partners, along with everyone in the general public who receives massage therapy and bodywork. The establishment of the Alliance moves our field one step closer towards becoming a full profession.
Membership: The Alliance is comprised of five primary membership groups:
- Schools (for institutions offering training programs in massage, bodywork and somatic therapies)
- Teachers/Administrators (for instructors or administrators in those institutions)
- Continuing Education Providers (for those individuals, businesses or institutions whose primary educational activity is offering post-graduate training)
- Allied Member (for companies that provide products and services to the education sector)
- Supporter Member (for individuals who support the work of the Alliance. Supporter members are NOT teachers, school owners, or CE Providers, but wish to be support the mission of the AFMTE)
Also there are many ways you can get involved with the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education to support our efforts in massage therapy and bodywork education that do not require membership, like Corporate Sponsorship.
Structure: The Alliance is incorporated as a non-profit organization, and has been granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(6).
Bylaws: Click here to download the Bylaws of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education.
Code of Ethics: Click here to read the Alliance’s Code of Ethics.
Governance: The nine-member Board of Directors is the leadership and policy making body for the Alliance. The Board is comprised of two Directors each from the School, CE Provider and Teacher membership categories, plus three Directors-at-large. Board members are elected for a three-year term. The officers of the Board – President, Vice President and Treasurer – are elected annually by the Directors.
About the Alliance logo and name: The leaf symbol was chosen to represent growth, change and our connection to the natural world – essential elements in the learning process. The overall design of the Alliance logo embodies flow and movement, which are qualities indigenous to the healing arts. The choice of name was based on the fact that “massage therapy” is the descriptor most widely associated with this discipline – by the general public, the business community, organizations outside our field, and by state and federal agencies. Institutions from the broad spectrum of massage, bodywork, and somatic therapies are welcome to join the Alliance.
Staff:
The Alliance currently has one staff member, a part-time virtual assistant named Shae MacNett.
Shae (they/them) is a virtual assistant and virtual polymath. Their educational background ranges from rhetoric & composition to kinesiology to Russian history to information sciences (and beyond). They’ve worked in massage therapy, wellness, academia, marketing, digital asset management, and operations, and interned with institutions as diverse as the Law Library of Congress and the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. They’re excited to learn literally anything. When they’re not working, they’re probably gardening, identifying mushrooms (or moss or conifers or birds), writing short stories, practicing a new language (currently Korean), or doting on the 130(ish) houseplants they live with.