MT schools are institutions of training, knowledge transfer, professional and subsequent personal growth. Could they become more? In a profession riddled with isolation, slow progress on key issues and a divisive identity crisis, practitioners can return to schools for evening discussions to advance dialogue and debate the profession sorely needs.

It’s a natural fit to return to your Alma Mater, engage colleagues and former instructors on sticking points plaguing the profession. Or if you’re no longer living near your old college, any MT school could open it’s doors in the evening to become a mecca of deep, thoughtful, respectful discussion on all-things-massage. Perhaps live-streaming could be incorporated for those at a distance.

There is currently no gathering place for Massage Therapists to regularly engage, at length, on matters of interest and livelihood. MT schools can provide the brick-and-mortar structures for gathering, and nurture existing students in their critical thinking.

I recently attended a gathering at my training school, Sutherland-Chan, in Toronto, Ontario. Although Ian Kamm, presenter and SC instructor, let with mostly lecture and a final Q & A, it held the seeds of possibility.

I’ve included a summary of my thoughts, and you can read reflections on the evening by SC instructor Bruce McKinnon as well.

What say you…are existing MT schools the solution to professional isolation and stagnation?