The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE) announced the winners of the 2017 AFMTE, Biofreeze, and Bon Vital’ Educators of the Year Award.
LaWanda S. Allen, LMT, MMP, is the award recipient in the teacher category.
Ralph R. Stephens is the award recipient in the continuing education category.
The award honors excellence in massage and bodywork education and serves to foster a culture that supports raising the standards of excellence in massage and bodywork education.
Allen is the owner and operator of Allen’s Medical Massage. She has been practicing as a licensed massage therapist for fifteen years and has been an educator for more than eighteen years. She currently teaches at the Concorde Career College-Southaven Campus. She is a nationally certified practitioner for therapeutic massage and bodywork.
Ralph R. Stephens has been a popular continuing education provider for 30 years. Ralph has earned accolades as a past chair of the Iowa Board of Massage, AMTA National Meritorious Award recipient, inductee into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame, and a Founding Member of the AFMTE. A prolific writer and content creator, he has produced 18 videos on chair, sports, and medical massage, written one textbook, Therapeutic Chair Massage (LWW Massage Therapy and Bodywork Educational Series), contributed to three other textbooks, authored numerous articles in magazines and journals, and is the longest continuous columnist in Massage Today. Currently, Ralph is teaching continuing education programs in Neural Reset Therapy (NRT), mentoring new continuing education providers, and maintains a private practice.
For more information, visit www.afmte.org/education/educator-year.