Tracy Walton & Associates

Caring for clients with Cancer

  • Home
    • About Tracy Walton
      • Writing and Publications
      • Research
      • Awards
      • Massage Therapy Practice
    • Quotations and Stories
    • Practical Pathology
  • Training Schedule
  • Courses
    • Oncology Massage Therapy 4 Day Intensive Course
    • Advanced Mentorship
    • Opening to the Mystery with Cal Cates
    • Setting Fees and Discounts for Oncology Massage Therapy and Hospice Care
    • Research and Ethics in Oncology Massage and Hospice Care
    • Oncology Massage Clinic Intensive
    • Oncology Massage in Action
    • Online Courses
    • DVD for Caregivers
    • Short Presentations
    • Testimonials
  • Questions?
    • Will I be certified in oncology massage therapy?
    • Are there jobs in oncology massage therapy?
    • Are courses approved for CEUs in my state?
  • About
  • Blog
  • Book
    • Practical Pathology
    • Textbook for Schools
    • Reference for Practitioners
    • Look Inside
  • Resources
    • Bibliography
    • Other Trainings
    • Relevant Links
  • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

Am I Certified in Oncology Massage Therapy?

June 30, 2019 by Tracy Walton 4 Comments

After 20 years of offering oncology massage therapy education, I should be able to answer that question. In 25 words, tops.

It is a Larger Question — “What do I Call Myself?”

This relates to your professional identity. It is part of who you are, and what you do.

The terms certify and certification are used unevenly–not only in massage therapy, but in many professions. MTs typically use them to indicate a past accomplishment–successful training in an area.

But certification also implies maintenance in the present day. There’s a re-certification built into certification. You “keep up” your certification by meeting periodic CE requirements, retesting, or other activities.  At specified time points, you report to a certifying body or organization. Among their oversight functions, they track and hold you to those requirements.

I know of no oncology massage therapy training–in the US at least–that actually certifies anyone in this way. There is no upkeep or oversight. No single educator, instructor, school, or CE provider can actually certify you or issue certification after a CE course.*

In fact, aside from Board Certification, there are few actual certification programs in the massage therapy field in general.

Yet the term certification is baked into our language on business cards, websites, job applications, and classrooms. Our confusion is evident, but it is not unique to massage therapy. It happens across many fields.

The Good News

1. After you attend and participate in a course, most oncology massage therapy educators provide a certificate of completion. There’s something to hang on a wall, and report on a resume, and use to meet various CE requirements.

2. Most consumers don’t care whether you’re certified or you hold a certificate of completion. Nor do most employers. In this climate of confusion about massage credentials, most people hiring are not paying close attention to how you finish off the word: -ied, -icate, or -ication.

They Care about Preparation

A client requesting oncology massage therapy wants an MT who is prepared to deliver it. They are searching for signs that they can trust the therapist to provide safe, effective relief of symptoms and side effects. From the first interview question to the last touch, they need to feel seen, heard, and served.

Credentials encourage that trust. Letters and certificates suggest a degree of preparation and readiness to serve.

So it’s important to report credentials accurately. It is time to drop the terms certified and certification and use more truthful, verifiable terms. Even when no one is paying close attention, it’s the right thing to do. Ethics being all about what we do when no one’s watching, right?

If you received a certificate of completion, which most of us did, then the best thing to indicate is that you received a certificate of completion.

Those words don’t work for all environments, like a business card or a title. You might wonder then, “What do I call myself? What’s on my website? My business card?”

You Have Options.

I have little jurisdiction over what MTs call themselves. I am not the decider. To me, a more interesting question is: What do you do? For people? How do you serve? Oncology massage therapy works for me. I think the therapy part is important. I try to include it.

And here is my favorite language to squeeze onto a business card:

“Massage therapy for oncology support.”

“Massage therapy for cancer care.”

I like this language because it’s accurate. It describes what we do, and it hints at a proud, yet humble professional identity. It’s truer than “certified,” and it’s clear. Pair it with oncology massage therapy, and boom. Done.

Well, maybe not quite done.

Credentials in Oncology Massage Therapy

I put together a short set of guidelines and ideas for what to call ourselves. Please visit it. It’s more than 25 words, but it lays out levels of credentials. Find yourself there.

There, I describe how the world of oncology massage therapy credentials just got more interesting. The NCBTMB has added a Specialty Certificate in oncology massage. (Spoiler alert: even if you qualify and pass the test, you won’t be “certified,” and you still won’t have a “certification.”)

The page describes a pathway of coursework to the new credential. Of note, our online OMT Advanced Mentorship Course is one of the options along the way. Paired with our foundational course, it gets you 70% of the way through the coursework.

But please don’t skip to the exciting certificate part. Read the whole page. I labored over it.

Language Matters.

So does service.

In my years in massage therapy, we’ve gotten our language wrong and we’ve gotten our language right. We’ve gotten other things wrong and right, too.

At this point in our story arc, massage therapy is growing in popularity. We see an uptick in requests for massage in cancer care. There’s the opioid crisis, and a new requirement that hospitals offer non-pharmacologic pain relief. People need us. That tap on the shoulder could come tomorrow.

If you don’t already have oncology massage therapy training, consider getting a solid, foundational course behind you. If you already have done so, now revisit how you describe that accomplishment.

This is a good time in history to polish up our language along with our skills.

Then we’re ready to step up and serve.

***

(*Thanks to Sandy Fritz and Whitney Lowe, who have already moved this large, awkward certificate ball down the field.)

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Jennifer Prosser says

    July 8, 2019 at 9:58 pm

    I have been thinking so much about the language I use when speaking of this work. I have finally settled on “Massage Therapy for those Living with Cancer”. A mouthful, but seems the most accurate, truly. And I say I have had specialized training through your highly respected course. I am doing volunteer hospice work so I can learn how to work with people and be comfortable in these situations. I have moved into this work slowly, and will continue to proceed slowly as I learn.

    Reply
    • Tracy Walton says

      July 8, 2019 at 10:21 pm

      Accuracy is worth a mouthful, for sure! Good luck in your work!

      Reply
  2. Lauren Cates says

    July 10, 2019 at 12:32 pm

    It is, indeed, time to stop being inaccurate…and unethical. Bravo, my friend. Let’s just be enough and do good work.

    Reply
    • Tracy Walton says

      July 10, 2019 at 3:27 pm

      Let’s! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

What’s New

Why take a course in oncology massage therapy?

There are so many good reasons. Here are a few:

Service. During cancer treatment and beyond, people need support. They need symptom relief. They need sleep. Oncology massage therapy (OMT) can help people cope during cancer treatment, at end of life, post-treatment, and during diagnosis.
Practice building. With the right skills, you can meet growing client demand and build your practice. You can be part of cancer care. It is better for your business to be able to work with people right then, right where they are, than to refer them out or send them home.
Career satisfaction and longevity. OMT is immensely satisfying work. Your steady presence and your hands can make a huge difference in someone's day or week. You might even find our approach to be easier on your hands and alignment. We offer new ways to provide comfort without effort and "deep tissue" work.

To practice OMT, massage therapists need to know what to ask clients before the massage, and how to use the client's answers. They need to know how to think through what to do, and how to communicate with clients in difficult circumstances. They need confidence, sensitivity, strong interview and table-side instruction. They need to learn from actual case studies and real-world exercises, and good chances to practice.

We provide these learning experiences in our 4-Day Intensive, Oncology Massage Therapy: Caring for Clients with Cancer.

Learn more...

Join Our List

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • An Open Letter about Re-Opening — to Massage Therapy Employers
  • A Pandemic Infographic – Why We are not Ready to Return to Massage Therapy
  • Therapy for my Hands and my State of Mind
  • COVID-19 and Closing – What do Love and Bicycles Have to Do with It?
  • COVID-19, Massage Therapy, You, and Me

Blog Categories

Blog Archives

Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 · Tracy Walton & Associates - All Rights Reserved

X