$100 Dollar Reward
L A couple of months ago I got a therapeutic massage from a student massage therapist at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts’ Massage Clinic. I had been operating a video camera and doing production for two days, taping for a Whole Foods Cuisine online class DVD. I needed some relief for my shoulders, back, legs, hands and arms. The experience was relaxing, rejuvenating and soothing to my sore muscles and joints. At $33 dollars for an hour massage, the value goes without saying. Yes, that is the student price–an hour massage with a SWIHA LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist) is also a bargain at just $45. While the student masseurs are still learning, they are professional and practiced in holistic techniques and traditional technicalities. The student therapists practice a wide variety of massage, energetic and spa modalities and, if you like to think of the experience as mutually beneficial, as you get your massage you are assisting them in completing their internships while indulging yourself at the same time. I call that a “win-win”. You’ve probably heard of the benefits of massage; Relaxation, increased blood circulation, alleviated muscle tension, improved skin tone and elasticity, treatment and prevention for certain types of injuries and illnesses and reduction of stress-related health problems. Available at SWIHA are massage therapies that you have probably heard of; Swedish, Deep Tissue, and Shiatsu, plus more. Also offered are a myriad of Spa and Energy therapies that go hand-in-hand (pun intended) with massage therapy; Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Reiki and much more. The professional practitioners who offer massage as well as these therapies and specialties go through vocational training to obtain licenses and certificates, and then are required to take continuing education classes in order to maintain their certifications and licenses. “In Arizona, massage therapists are required to take 25 hours of Continuing Education (CE) classes every 2 years.” says Lisa Richards, Placement Manager at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. “The requirements vary from state to state. 12 of the 25 hours may be taken online. A massage therapist cannot keep their license if they do not complete the required 25 hours in the state of AZ. It is illegal for a person to work as a massage therapist once their license has expired. If that happens, the therapist may have to reapply as though they have never held an Arizona license.” “Many of the classes at SWIHA may be used towards National Certification’s continuing education hours (48 hours every 4 years).” says Mary Donnelly, Director of Student Operations at SWIHA. “The AZ Board of Massage Therapy has made past recommendations of Southwest Institute of Healing Arts to massage therapists for their continuing education hours because of its solid reputation and 17-year history in the Valley. SWIHA is also nationally accredited, and has the widest variety of CE classes in the state.” For those who are considering a career as a massage therapist, here is some more great information from Southwest Institute of Healing Arts about Massage Trends and the Career Outlook for Therapists. For Continuing Education students, SWIHA has an amazing offer. It’s a: That’s $100 towards any program class, on-campus or online, when you register by August 31, 2010. Here’s more details. This is a great offer, but it’s not only about license requirements. The $100 gift may be used for any of SWIHA’s individual class costs. Continuing Education classes also may help an LMT reignite their passion for their trade or help them to overcome a problem they may be having with their career. Sometimes a therapist needs to learn a different way to approach massage because of injury or disability. SWIHA offers CEU’s in many of these areas and tries to stay current with the education needs of the professional therapist. Some examples are “Hand and Wrist Maintenance” for therapist self-care, or updates on current subjects of interests such as “Medical Massage, Oncology Basics”). CE’s are also a good way for a therapist to boost their earning potential. If the LMT has a more exotic or unusually effective modality (like La Stone Therapy, which is the use of soothing hot stones to create a deep, relaxing massage), the therapist can make more money per session by adding to their repertoire of therapies. All in all, CE’s are an awesome idea. And if you are interested in the $100-dollar offer, you will need to act fast. You can register for classes by clicking HERE. The economy is chipping away at pretty much everything, including college and university tuition. Students heading to the three public universities this fall will face steep tuition hikes, according to this Arizona Republic Article. SWIHA is not immune, but considering the tuition at public and private post secondary schools, this $100 offer from SWIHA comes in order to offset a slight $1-dollar per hour tuition increase, from $13 to $14 an hour for all classes beginning September 1st. So take advantage of this great offer now. In the meantime, I am heading back to SWIHA’s massage clinic very soon. La Stone? I think I need one of those. -Merry L. Suzie McLaughlin, SWIHA Science Liaison contributed to this blog.
