Offered twice in 2008: March 6 -or- July 10 | Thursday, 9:30am-4:30pm
6 continuing education contact hours | $135

Being a "professional" involves a lot more than just having clean sheets on your table and a friendly demeanor. There are many aspects -- both visible and invisible to your clients -- which have a powerful effect on the overall state of your practice.

Whatever hands-on techniques you may be using with your clients, you are always delivering them within a framework. This includes the way you manage your practice on a daily basis, your attitude and communication skills, the needs and expectations of the client, the nature of the relationship between therapist and client, and the treatment environment itself. External influences such as community perceptions of your practice, and prevailing laws, rules and codes of ethics are also parts of this framework.

All of these factors combine to shape how the client experiences your work, as well as how you feel about your work (and self!) on a daily basis. Lack of attention to -- or lack of awareness of -- this framework can diminish your therapeutic results, and increase the likelihood of ethical pitfalls and unhappy clients. It is the diligent attention to these “ethical essentials” that makes for a healthy and rewarding professional practice.

This lively one-day workshop will give you an opportunity to see your importance in the field of massage therapy; some ways to “tune-up” your practice; and help you develop a policy statement for distribution to your clients or for posting on your website.

Embodying Ethics:
Deepening Your Awareness of Client-Therapist Dynamics

with Wendy Marsh, LMBT

July 11 | Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm | 6 continuing education contact hours | $135
(no prerequisite for this workshop)

What does it mean to Embody Ethics?  How can we marry thought, feeling and action into a healing relationship that makes a difference in our clients’ lives? Why is the appropriate professional intimacy a “one way street?” Are there both benefits and pitfalls to dual relationships?  Who’s rights take precedence and when? What is the value of conflict and how can we access it?

In a culture deeply confused about touch and bodies, massage therapists are in a unique position to offer education and safe touch to their clients and communities. When we uphold both the legal and moral responsibilities of a therapeutic relationship, we model a potent, clear form of intimacy.  Sustained over time, our clients are nourished in ways that get carried back into their families and friendships. Ethics in this sense, is an expression of reverence for life. By inviting our own bodies and those of our clients’ into conscious relationship, healing follows.

In a thought-provoking day of interactive and experiential exercises, you’ll cultivate your inner ethical advisor – as you identify the cognitive, emotional and sensory resources to assist you in working with the challenges of your professional relationships.


NOTE: Both of these courses meet the ethics requirements for license renewal with the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, and for recertification with the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork.

Wendy Marsh has been practicing massage for 25 years in a variety of professional settings ranging from medical offices to private practice, and has served in leadership roles for the AMTA and FSMTA. Wendy is dedicated to assisting therapists in deepening their understanding of themselves and their professional practices, so that they may be of highest service to their clients. She is a NC Licensed Massage & Bodywork Therapist (#1111), a graduate of the Humanities Center School of Massage, and has a bachelor’s degree in human services development from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL. She is a former faculty member of the Body Therapy Institute, has a private practice in Fayetteville, NC, and is currently studying somatic coaching and leadership with Strozzi Institute.

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