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- Posted by David at 1:48 PM PST
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- Filed under Massage Therapy Practice and the Law
This is really the first post I’ve done for the new site that my hero, John H. has devised as a medium for letting all who are interested know about my professional life.
I attended a couple of events yesterday that are really the beginnings of a process in which I feel compelled to participate and report.
The first cool event I went to with Johann Fultz (a licensed, independent massage therapist), who was kind enough to have a VIP pass for me at the door, was the Day Spa Expo, a yearly convention of spa owners and wellness vendors that attempt to woo and romance business owners into trying or buying their products. Products range from lip balm to organic clothing to high tech holistic and allopathistic equipment for better health.
I went with the intent on visiting the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork’s booth, since I was invited by staff member Jennifer Wagley to stop by while the NCBTMB was in Las Vegas February 5th through 7th. It was really enlivening to my professional sense to conversate, hypothesize, and conclude on a variety of subjects regarding professional development in the industry of massage therapy. We, of course, expressed our concern with the current MT laws and the subsequent City Council meeting we were to attend after visiting the Expo…and Jillian Kelly, School Outreach Manager at the booth was very interested to hear about our local issues and was astute enough to refer us to the pending appointment of the new Government Relations Director, soon to be announced. It is good to know that there is support out there for our industry and profession: good to know that well-developed and established, recognized organizations are willing to listen and help local efforts to improve the state of the massage therapy industry.
Some of the other vendors we visited along the aisles and on the way out of the Expo wanted us to come party with them tonight, but, both Johann and I are soooooo dedicated to the instruction and success of our students, that we thanked them for all the free products and an invitation to an open bar at a Wynn restaurant, and quietly left the Expo vendor floor with City Council agenda’s floating through our heads.
Well, you might be asking yourself: What issues are you talking about? Aren’t massage therapy laws in Las Vegas fair already? Isn’t it a perfect spa and independent practitioner’s world out there already?
Johann initiated an online petition last year regarding the cross-gender code in Clark County and the City of Las Vegas concerning its disservice to the clients in these municipalities who may only receive therapeutic massage from a practitioner of the same gender.
After we completed our unattached roles of Observer during the general meeting of the Las Vegas City Council, Johann took the mike during the Public Forum, and, for the record, submitted the current 225 signatures harvested from the current petition to present in support of changing the City of Las Vegas laws to reflect a more modern, acceptable practice of massage therapy by licensed practitioners in the city. He also firmly stated our case in the two available minutes, with a resounding “Thank you” from the Mayor Pro-Tem Reese’s chair, with no further action. Although there are many and varied, strong arguments for why limiting business owners (the independent massage therapists) and their clients for whom they work has a negative impact on operating businesses in Las Vegas and Johann did a great job (in 2 minutes!) of laying out the meat of our issues. In the Big Picture, the City Council meeting which we attended and Johann presented yesterday was marginally productive.
I’ve learned from this astounding response to a semi-prepared and -fulfilling presentation that we need to go into the office of the Mayor with an agenda item to be acted upon, meaning the law to be changed. The argument development is still in process of how we can approach the reasoning for the proposed change in the law and most importantly how it can be presented convincingly with a positive response in a vote from the City Council to change or propose change officially and permanently to the effect that any licensed massage therapist can perform outcall massage on any gender client with a need for therapeutic massage. If any one has suggestions that will move our cause forward, please contact me with your ideas and possible schedule for any involvement you may wish to contribute.
