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Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals:
Advancing professionalism through practice support, ethical standards, legislative advocacy, and public education. |
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About
ABMP Membership: Insurance & Fees
We proudly present the broadest insurance coverage offered by any association serving the massage, bodywork and somatic professions.
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP) is a membership organization serving the massage, bodywork, and somatic professions. ABMP competes effectively for members by providing the best value and most responsive, knowledgeable service. Our business philosophy is summed up by our credo: expectmore Offering liability insurance, business support, educational materials, and legislative advocacy and updates, ABMP members are ensured we're looking out for their best interests. We offer three different membership levels as well as membership for skin care professionals. These include: Certified Level.......... $229/year Providing $2 million per incident coverage, the Certified level requires at least 500 hours of training and 16 hours of continuing education every two years. * Click here for more information. Professional Level.......... $199/year Providing our standard liability insurance coverage of $2 million per incident, the Professional level requires at least 500 hours of training. * Click here for more information. Practitioner Level.......... $199/year Providing our standard liability insurance coverage of $2 million per incident, the Practitioner level requires at least 100 hours of training. * Click here for more information. Optional Skin Care Coverage.......... (additional $30/year for Certified Members; $60/year for Professional/Practitioner Members Massage therapists who are also qualified/state-approved estheticians can select skin care insurance coverage ($2 million per incident) for a small additional fee. Membership to Associated Skin Care Professionals is included in this fee. For more information, visit www.ascpskincare.com. • As a condition of membership, practitioners must be in compliance with state requirements. Student Level.......... starting at $65/year (includes insurance; several options available) * Click here for more information. Why We're Here: Supporting Your Success Massage rapidly gains converts and social acceptance each year, and is now a therapeutic leader in the burgeoning field of alternative therapies. More than 241,058 trained therapists now provide massage and bodywork in the United States. Another 155,000 practice esthetics. More than 1,500 state-approved schools provide massage and bodywork training. Consumers receive 125-130 million massage sessions annually, for which they pay 6.5 billion to 8.8 billion. Though a growing number of therapists work in spas, salons, health clubs and chiropractic and medical offices, a majority still are sole proprietors. To build and sustain a successful practice, massage therapists strive to fulfill a number of needs -- to keep abreast of new theory and practice ideas, to learn how to market their services, to build working relationships with professionals in allied fields, and to protect their investment in training by having appropriate liability insurance protection. ABMP's core reason for being begins with an understanding and connection to those needs. We were not the first massage membership association in the United States. Indeed, we began operation in 1987, a full 44 years after a competitor organization. Despite our later start, ABMP has grown to more than 64,000 members. We believe that our membership growth reflects our ability to connect with member needs and to quickly develop high quality products and services which meet them. A Valuable Partner Leadership continuity, quick decision-making, a strong service ethic, an appealing lack of bureaucracy, and an attitude of openness to new ideas and somatic modalities allow ABMP to live up to its "expectmore" promise. Some prime examples: * Massage & Bodywork magazine, published nationally six times per year, is widely regarded as the most helpful member magazine in the field. It offers the latest research, historical perspectives, massage techniques, business information, professional trends and a variety of regularly featured columns. * A liability insurance program offering the best value and greatest flexibility. * Successful Business Handbook, the pioneer association publication focused on providing practical advice to help therapists establish and sustain a successful practice. * Body Sense, a consumer publication was created in response to members' desire for support in their client education and communications efforts. * A massage school relations program which in 10 years has resulted in 1,800 ABMP staff visits to 1,000 schools, creation of newsletters for students and school directors, and an annual School Issues Forum meeting for school owners and directors. In addition to these services, ABMP works with members and legislators at the state level to assure a fair regulatory playing field for all practitioners, communicates both to members and the general public through its five Web sites, offers Massagetherapy.com's online referral service to the public to find qualified massage therapists in their area, and extends favorable group pricing advantages to members on such services as disability programs, car rentals, hotels, legal services, travel, office products and a members-only credit card. We encourage professionalism - in our feedback and encouragement to schools to upgrade their programs, through the content of our publications, by offering several levels of membership while spurring members to reach for our top "Certified" designation, and by our stance on policy issues affecting the profession. All ABMP members pledge to support our professional code of ethics. We relate to members and suppliers of services with integrity. We advertise no more than what we are prepared to deliver. When it comes to public rules and regulations, we seek no advantage for ABMP members, but we fiercely work for a level playing field. Beyond that regulatory framework, we seek to give our members every possible advantage in learning to develop and apply their knowledge to build a fulfilling career. Delivering Value All this rhetoric, however sincerely embraced, is just words until it is implemented. It is our staff who animate our beliefs and commitment, who actually deliver prompt, responsive service to each member. ABMP has been fortunate to attract a warm, enthusiastic staff that embraces service to our members and enjoys working in the foothills community of Evergreen, Colorado. Our lean organizational form offers advantages in being able to quickly make decisions, to be within earshot of our members at all times and to respond aggressively to an opportunity or a challenge to the profession. Each of us is ever mindful that massage, bodywork, somatic and esthetic professionals have association membership choices. ABMP survives and prospers by working harder at service quality than our competitors and by steadily improving our membership value. Contributing to that value is a record of no price increases for our basic membership since ABMP was founded. Our business formula is simple: Continued growth in membership translates to improving value for each member. We have more than 64,000 reasons to suggest that our approach is working. It all harkens back to our credo. We invite our members and the public to "expectmore" from ABMP. To be able to live up to this promise, to summon the necessary creativity and commitment to responsive service, we have created an environment in which each of us takes ownership for challenges. We expect no less of ourselves. For more information on Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals, or to receive a referral to a qualified massage practitioner in your area, please call 800-458-2267. To apply for membership with ABMP, please click here. expectmore Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals 1271 Sugarbush Drive, Evergreen, Colorado 80439-9766 800-458-2267 * 303-674-8478 Fax: 800-667-8260 E-mail: expectmore@abmp.com Web site: www.abmp.com |
Why Should I Join and What Will it Cost?
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© Copyright 2007. Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals.