Happy Pride Month! At ABMP, we believe love always wins. This month, to honor the LGBTQIA+ community, we want to take a moment to celebrate the diversity of our members along with their clients, as well as provide educational resources from our magazine, CE library, and podcasts.
In July, we will celebrate Massage is for EveryBody Week, our annual event with guiding principles that promote the importance of bodywork for all. Every ABMP member agrees to follow the ABMP Code of Ethics to uphold the inherent worth of all individuals and never refuse service to any client based on disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, physical build, or sexual orientation; religious, national, or political affiliation; or social or economic status.
“Radical Liberation, Rest, Joy, and Wellness”—ABMP Podcast Episode 55 with Shana Chivon
“I would truly like you to step back in your day-to-day practices for membership, for hiring, for marketing, for expanding, for community outreach and apply a lens of inclusivity that includes you looking at your practices, looking at your establishment, looking at your organization and saying, ‘Are we truly reaching out and making it acceptable for those who feel othered?’ Now, othered can mean a multitude of things. Othered could mean black, other could mean people of a trans experience, other could mean queer, other could mean someone with a physical disability, other can mean a multitude of things, because I want you to see that inclusivity is not just about race and so I would just ask ... I think the biggest message for me is to apply a lens of liberation, apply a lens of decolonization, and apply a lens of radical wellness that means that you are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that everyone in your community, everyone within 50 miles of your practice, feels safe, feels that it’s trusted, and feel that they can come in and have the same experience that those who you have easily accepted have access to.”
Massage is for EveryBody Award Winner—“Walking the Transgender Journey” by Deckllan Hartte
“I specialize working with my transgender community. A community that has a hard time finding safe and supportive bodywork. I am passionate to create a compassionate and safe space by asking and using personal pronouns, acknowledging gender fluidity, honoring their gender dysphoria, and using specialized techniques for assisted healing of their gender-confirming surgery.”
“UnFixed: Do You Need a Good Relationship with your Body to be a Good Bodyworker?” by Kerry Jordan
“Today, Cal is fond of saying, ‘I’m not in the wrong body; I’m in the wrong society.’ I ask them if this sensibility, this new relationship with their body and their past dissatisfaction, affects the way they work with clients. ‘Yes,’ they answer. ‘Because I believe that’s where we all live for the most part. In this place of “Never quite what I want.” It makes me more compassionate, and it makes me able to hear what people aren’t saying with their mouths.”
“No Labels on the Table: The Transgender Client—What MTs Should Know” by Ellen Santistevan
“… I find it a helpful exercise to periodically examine myself, my motivations, and my attachments so I can be a better therapist. In today’s world, we are now experiencing greater visibility of many people who are ready to claim their authentic selves. They are tired of being erased for their race, ethnicity, body size, religion, sexuality, and gender. I welcome these societal changes because not only am I the mother of an adult transgender man, I cannot help but believe openness leads, eventually, to acceptance for all people.”
“Centering Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in Our Practices” with Shana Chivon
“I am not here to change your mind. I think of myself as more of a gardener. I’m here to sow seeds that when you water them and utilize the resources that I offer, can grow into change.”
“Cultural Competency for Massage Therapists” with Cal Cates and Kerry Jordan
“Culture is really a complex concept, and we’re going to take you through just how complex it is and how it’s everywhere, it’s unavoidable, and it’s affecting your treatment and the people you treat in all kinds of ways that you may not be aware.”
