"There's nothing of any importance except how well you do your work."-Atlas Shrugged 1957
~Updated 12/04/2007~
Leadership
A leader in developing and promoting massage therapy education since 1991, NIM is committed to supporting the profession at every level. Pursuing innovation and excellence in education, and policy, NIM's exceptional faculty, staff and administrators not only respond to current trends, they set them. Their dedication, their contributions as planners, practitioners, and teachers, and their collaboration with colleagues creates a powerful influence in the field.
Educational Leadership
NIM helped to form educational standards for professional massage therapists.
We compete with several other massage schools in our region; indeed, several more than just a few years ago. We communicate with directors and educators when opportunities present at meetings of the Limited Branch Committee of the State Medical Board of Ohio, the Ohio Council of Schools meetings, and Committee Meetings of the Council of Schools. Mr. Perkinson has advised the past two presidents of the Ohio State Massage Therapy Association (OSMTA) as well as the current president. In the past, he has been a member of the Anatomy and Physiology curriculum committee, the massage therapy curriculum committee, the curriculum committee, and Chair of the Legislative Committee of the Ohio Council of Massage Therapy Schools. He is presently the Chair of the licensure committee of the OCMTS. He is being considered for a position on the Massage Therapy Advisory Committee for the State Medical Board of Ohio. There are no relationships with higher education at the present time.
NIM is using the relationship with the Ohio Council of Schools to increase the amount of instruction and codify core curricular standards across the State of Ohio. Mr. Perkinson has submitted to the Medical Board, Council of Schools and OSMTA leadership NIM's model/goal core curriculum and lobbied to move the state regulations in that direction. While implementation was delayed, new administrative rules have been established that are in line with the direction we provided. This alone has enhanced NIM's ability to offer quality educational programs. An additional benefit is a set of state-wide accepted standards that are more consistent throughout the field of massage therapy education. This will enable students who need to transfer from one school to another to be able to transfer specific clock hours or courses and pick up the subject matter with less difficulty or delay. It helps standardize the material tested on theState Board exam and will insure the public a more uniformly professional field to choose from ifthey had to change from one massotherapist to another within the state.
Books and Publications
NIM produces proprietary books and study guides.
Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET)
NIM looked long and hard at accrediting agencies before choosing a partnership for quality. ACCET has been officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Education since 1978. As such, the agency is listed as “a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training provided by institutions of higher education and the programs they accredit.” ACCET has received back-to-back 5-year grants of recognition, the longest period provided to an accrediting agency.
In 1998 ACCET became the first accrediting agency to be ISO certified as a Quality Management System under the standards established by the International Organization for Standardization. As A Partnership for Quality®, the ACCET accreditation process represents both an organizational commitment to and a strategic plan for quality training. This peer review evaluation process serves to keep programs current, relevant and educationally sound.
ACCET and its accredited institutions are listed in the American Council on Education's AIPE Directory and on the CHEA website at http://www.chea.org/institutions/index.cfm which are widely utilized by government agencies, military services, and corporations for identifying credible education and training organizations relative to establishing tuition reimbursement policies.
American Massage Therapy Association
(AMTA) is a national professional association that works to establish massage therapy as integral to the maintenance of good health and as complementary to other therapeutic processes. It advances the profession by promoting ethics, standards, certification, school accreditation, continuing education, professional publications, legislative efforts, public education, and the development of members.
International Myomassethics Federation (IMF) is a national professional association that
International Movement Association (IMA) is a national professional association that
Ohio State Massage Therapy Association (OSMTA) is a state professional association that
American Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP)
National Education Dialogue in Integrative Medicine (NED) www.thecollaboration.org/affiliate/ihscons
Research Leadership
Massage Therapy Research
Regulatory and Policy Development
Rules and Regulations of Massage Therapy; Bodywork and Movement Education -