Dec 15 2008
Massage Therapy Portfolio Success Story
I’ve not posted in a while. My bad.
But, I thought I’d share some success that happened this past October! After moving to Duluth, MN, I realized that I needed to apply for a city license to practice massage therapy. The City of Duluth has a requirement of 500 hours of massage and bodywork related education, as well as a criminal background check, in order to obtain this license.
The background check was easy, but the 500 hour requirement was a bit of a challenge. Since the State of Minnesota does not license massage therapists, I have been practicing for the last nine years without having to worry about these things. I practice under the Minnesota Unlicensed Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Law, which gives provides freedom of access to choose one’s own practitioner, as well as gives the right of any traditional healer to practice his or her trade within as state regulation. However, cities and other local government agencies are free to license massage therapists as they choose.
I have never “graduated” from a massage therapy program of 500 hours or more. However, I have taken many courses in massage therapy and related business, communication, ethics, and holistic healing methods from massage schools, workshops, and other independent study.
So, I gathered all of my transcripts from the two massage therapy schools I attended, as well as other training certificates, continuing education courses, transcripts from self-designed classes while in graduate school, and information about the conversion of semester hours to in-class “clock” hours from a national certifying group for massage, and made the case for myself that I had obtained the equivalent of 545 hours of massage, bodywork, and related education and training.
And within 3-4 weeks my license came in the mail!!
I believe that this is a huge success, and an example of the legitimacy of Portfolios of Learning as EQUAL to degrees and certifications. You can read my portfolio request for massage therapy licensure here (PDF), or click the PDF document image above.
