Texas Chapter President - Brenda Padilla | |
|
Happy Summer to y’all! I hope you are enjoying your summer as well as all the Texas
It has been a bit since the convention in April but boy it was a great time. The education was top notch, the vendor hall was amazing and the camaraderie was outstanding. From our meet and greet at Boomerjacks to our farewells on Sunday, I was overcome with the number of attendees and friendships shared. Planning and working on this convention for such a long time and then finally seeing it come to be was truly heartwarming. Many of you do not realize that meetings/education like this take over a year to plan and make it happen. I can’t give enough gratitude to our board and chairs. We couldn’t do this without you and your dedication to the Texas Chapter.
| |  |
|
Thank you all for your continued commitment to the Texas Chapter AMTA and your dedication to the Texas Massage Family.
Since the convention, the regions have been hopping with Monthly Meet and Greets and Regional Education. Check the website to see what is going on in your area or any other area that you would like to attend. I recommend that you make a vacation out of the regional events. Texas is truly amazing and great things are happening all around, take full advantage of them, they are part of your membership!
As you read this newsletter you will find that your board and chairs are busy with AMTA related training, classes and of course our Regional activities. I hope to see you at some of these activities.
Have a safe and enjoyable summer!
Brenda Padilla – Texas Chapter President
| |
|
My respect and thanks go to:
- Michelle Burns – Educational Chair/Regional Coordinator
- Sherry Scott – Technology Chair
- Michaelle “Shellie” Fisher - 2nd Board member
- Timeka Hunt – 1st Board member
- Carolyn Miller – Secretary
- David Falknor – Financial Administrator
- Monica Garza – Event Chair
- Kacie Owens – Social Media Chair
- Susanne Lucky-Rimberg – School Liaison
- Amy Scottino – Delegate
- Russell Rust – Government Relations Chair
| |
- President- Brenda Padilla
- Secretary- Carolyn Miller
- Second Board Member- Michaelle Fisher
- Delegate- Amy Scottino
The following members were recognized by the president as follows:
- President's Award- Jennifer Cardona & Amy Suriz
- Meritorious Award- Carolyn Scott- Naile
Here are your 2024-2025 AMTA Texas Chapter Board members:
- President- Brenda Padilla
- Financial Administrator- David Falknor
- Secretary- Carolyn Miller
- First Board Member- Timeka Hunt
- Second Board Member & Delegate- Michaelle Fisher
- Delegate-Amy Scottino Chair positions:
- Education Chair- Michelle Burns
- Event Chair- Monica Garza
- Technology Chair- Sherry Scott
- Social Media Chair- Kacie Owens
- Government Relations- Russell Rust
- School Liaison- Susanne Luckey-Rimberg
Members and guest showed up in style for the Honky Tonk dance, held after day two of classes. Dancing, food, mocktails, contest games were featured along with the chance to mingle with other attendees. Time flew by so fast that evening, my favorite highlight was watching everyone enjoy the festivities. We ended the last day strong as we said our goodbyes to old, new friends, and went home with more knowledge of massage therapy.
Thank you to the board members, instructors, vendors and attendees for making this year’s convention a success as lots of planning and dedication goes into the formation of our conventions. Stay up to date with our profession locally through regional meetings held throughout the state or in Tampa, Florida for this year’s national convention. If you would like to volunteer, there are numerous ways on local, state, and national levels and you can find more information on our state website or the national website.
| |
|
Financially, we are doing great with over $280,000.00. We have 115 new members in the last two months. AMTA Texas Chapter offers many benefits to our membership and they keep our chapter finances healthy.
Massage is growing as a profession and many students finish school not knowing what to do next. Think about becoming a mentor. Especially if you've been doing this for more than 10 years. Remember the time when you graduated from school and felt lost? Help a new massage therapist. Encourage them to step out. Sit down over a cup of coffee or glass of iced tea and answer questions. Mentoring is the process by which someone offers guidance to assist mentees in their personal and career development. Successful therapists benefit from those who are willing to support and encourage career development without compensation. Remember the mentoring relationship is not a substitute for formal training or education in massage therapy techniques or modalities.
We are in this together.
| |
|
Camaraderie, food, fun, and even some vendors for the first time in years. Thank you Monica Garza (Event Chair) for juggling contracts and vendors. I know people had a wonderful time because they didn't want to leave. Yes, I was the one helping people get their stuff outside 5 minutes before the door was going to be locked. Thanks also to Sherry Scott (Technology Chair) and Kacie Owens (Social Media Chair) for keeping us informed. Honky Tonk fun was organized by Carolyn Miller (Secretary) and Timeka Hunt (1st Board Member) and of course President Brenda Padilla kept us all on track. There is so much more than I can mention that goes on behind the scenes. I appreciate all the volunteers who help in any way anytime during the year. You encourage me to continue working with AMTA.
Most of you said you learned techniques that you would be able to use right away in your practice. How awesome and exciting!
Many of you have stepped up to help in your area with Regional meetings. These are a wonderful resource for everyone, but especially for those who aren't able to attend State Convention.
| | |
|
If you haven't visited a Meet & Greet, look for the next one in your area on the website calendar. Also start planning to join us for State Convention 2025 in a fabulous location. President Brenda will be making the announcement when contracts are signed.
I look forward to AMTA National Convention in Tampa.Hope to see many of you there. Amy Scottino and I are representing the Texas Chapter in the Assembly of Delegates. This will end my term serving as Delegate so be thinking about if you'd like to run during the next election. Thank you for allowing me to serve one more term as 2nd Board Member. I will continue to serve the Texas Chapter to the best of my ability. I'm also wanting to mentor someone who would like to serve on the board. Please email me if you are interested:
2ndboardmemberamtatx@gmail.com
Special shout out and thanks to the board, chairs, their kids and the local volunteers who did more than they expected because of a tumble I took the evening before the convention started.
Thank you for stepping up!!
Michaelle Fisher
AMTA TX 2nd Board Member
| |
As we work to bring our community together to support each other and our profession (cooperation, not competition), it is our season of MORE! More people in more areas are joining our efforts. We have more people volunteering as co-coordinators, more events, more regions and more education offerings. | | |
|
Michelle Burns
Education Chair
| |
|
In addition to the phenomenal continuing education classes offered at the annual convention in Grapevine (thank you Laura Allen, Laura Boozer, Cindy Spence and Susan Gee, Darin Puppel, Jessica Johnson, Sylvie Renault, Cynthia Pierro, and Mark Uridel), we're also providing 1-day, 2-day, and 3-day CE classes in regions. Currently we have 11 classes scheduled through the Fall all across Texas with a variety of instructors and topics – all at a very discounted price!
Class topics and instructors include:
- Terry Norman - Acupressure I & Tuina in San Antonio, Coastal Bend, and Southeast Houston
- Bob McAtee - Facilitated Stretching in Dallas and Ft Worth combined regions.
- James Waslaski - Manual Therapy to Eliminate Multiple Nerve Compressions in Austin & Heart of Texas Combined regions.
- Amy Scottino - A Cancer’s Journey in Southeast & Northwest Houston combined regions.
- Jessica Johnson - Intro to Integrative Lymphatic Therapy in El Paso.
- Amy Scottino - Gua Sha in Heart of Texas region.
- Indira Rubio - Trigger Point in Austin region.
- Ruth Bucher - Myofascial Therapy in San Antonio and Coastal Bend combined regions.
- Niki Peterson - Integrated Soft Tissue Scraping in Dallas region.
Several other classes are pending. See all the scheduled classes on the website calendar.
We now have 10 local regions holding monthly get togethers (Meet & Greets) which may include therapist exchanges, short discussions of techniques, what is happening in the legislature, or fun picnics to meet families. Each region helps determine what they want to see and do for their region. We now have regions in:
- Edge of Texas (El Paso/Van Horn/Big Bend);
- Fort Worth (Ft. Worth/Arlington/Grapevine/Granbury);
- Heart of Texas (Waco/Temple/Belton/Killeen);
- Austin (Round Rock/Austin/Buda/Bastrop/Dripping Springs);
- Coastal Bend (Corpus Christi/Port Aransas/Alice)
- North/West Houston (Tomball/Katy/Houston);
- South/East Houston (Houston/Friendswood/Galveston);
- San Antonio (San Antonio, Seguin, New Braunfels);
- Brazos Valley (Bryan/College Station/LaGrange/Smithville/Victoria); Dallas (Dallas/Plano/McKinney/Waxahachie).
| | |
|
Soon (July) Northeast Texas region will begin holding meetings and Big Country (Abilene/Brownwood/San Angelo) will hold meetings beginning in August. Eventually, there will be 16 regions in the state of Texas holding meetings and providing CE’s, so watch for meetings and classes coming to your area.
If you would like to help bring the community together in your area, please reach out to the Education chair at educationchair.amtatexas@gmail.com. We would like to start Meet & Greets in the following regions:
- Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa/Ft Stockton);
- Panhandle (Amarillo, Lubbock);
- Rio Grande Valley (Brownsville/MacAllen/Harlingen/Laredo).
All regional events can be found on the Regions page on the website and on each region’s Facebook group. Emails are sent out to each region before their event. If you will be outside your region and want to connect with other therapists, check the calendar to see if there is an event. You are always welcome to attend events in other regions. It is a great way to get to know other Texas therapists and build a strong referral network.
Curious what happens at events? Photos of events can be found on a region's Facebook group page and on the Texas Chapter website in the galleries which are linked from each regions page. These monthly meetings are always free and food is provided. These meetings are open to all massage therapists and students – you don’t have to be a member of AMTA to attend. We love it when you invite colleagues and friends to attend.
We are incredibly excited to be able to offer these classes and honored and grateful so many of you have volunteered to help make this happen. We currently have 53 people making these programs happen as regional coordinators. We would love for you to join our teams and help AMTA work for you.
| |
|
Certificate VS Certification
There is a great deal of confusion in our profession about the terms certificate and certification. We have an abundance of marketing in our field which advertises “certification” in particular modalities or technique methods. However, there is a misunderstanding about the distinction between a certificate and a certification. There is currently one major Certification program in our profession and that is the Board Certification offered by the NCBTMB. There are also certification programs offered by the Lymphology Association of North America (LANA), Certification Board for Structural Integration (CBSI), and one by the Certification Board for Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists (NAMTPT). Ther are other certification boards within our industry where you can obtain the proper qualifications. While many CE providers use the term certification associated with their training, most of them are certificate programs.
Certificate of Attendance or Participation
In this type of class an individual gets a certificate simply for attending an educational event. There is no test or assessment method to determine successful achievement of learning outcomes. Attendance or participation is enough to achieve a certificate. These classes will satisfy renewal of licensure. A CE class does not qualify you to be certified or advertise you’re certified.
Certification
A governing body or credentialing organization with representation from relevant stakeholders oversees the certification program. This body maintains control over all essential decisions related to the certification program. An example in our profession of a credentialing organization for overseeing our primary certification program is the NCBTMB. This will allow for advertising your credentialing and not be in violation of state rules.
Credentialing is an important part of helping stakeholders and other professionals recognize education or training benchmarks that have been achieved. It would be helpful if we could develop a greater degree of consistency within the profession around the naming of our credentialing programs, so they follow these defined standards. That would greatly help reduce confusion among professionals and the public as well. Personally, I have spoken to many potential clients over my 30 years of practice who have wanted to know if I provided a technique their previous therapist provided that was very helpful. When questioning one further she stated it was manual lymph drainage and understood that was very deep and painful, but it was the only thing that helped. There was no point in explaining that she was misled, and I probably could have help her with deep tissue massage, but I was not going to continue the deception and just stated unfortunately I was unable to help. Hopefully you understand the irony in her description and how previous therapist service was a dishonor to those of you who have spent the time and money to become certified in MLD.
I have included the section in Texas rules regarding your qualification’s advertisement.
(Whitney Lowe, Clinical & Orthopedic Massage, Massage Education, exerts from paper written on January 9, 2018)
Texas Administrative Code
Subchapter H
Responsibilities of the Licensee and code of ethics Rule 117.90
(t) A licensee shall not make any false, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, or exaggerated claim or statement about the licensee's services, including, but not limited to:
(1) the effectiveness of services;
(2) the licensee's qualifications, capabilities, background, training, experience, education,
certification or licensure, professional affiliations, fees, products, or publications; or
(3) the practice or field of massage therapy.
| | | | |
