ISRM or SMA membership???

:hippy:Hello Bubblehead,

I am not a member of the orgonisations you ask about but i am a member of the BACP, for counselling.all therapies now have to come under the umberella of the national health as stated in the white paper, go onto the net and type in what you are interested in it can tell you more.

take care

Hi, previously a member of SMA, now Sports therapy organisation, SMA are in my opinion frugal with the truth, tardy with information, unhelpful and as I understand it recently have been ostracised by the industry for their stance regarding the new move towards voluntary regulation. STO have 2 members on the new steering comittee and are very good at providing up to date industry information,
regards

Gaz

I have found the ISRM to be very proactive in providing members with information regarding industry developments, CPD and work opportunities especially if you are in London. They also pick up the phone and respond to your emails. The quaterly newsletter is better than the SMA one.

If you/intend to work in sport/remedial massage, you should join a Professional Association that is a member of the General Council for Massage Therapy (GCMT), which is the recognised Governing Body for massage therapy.

[DLMURL] http://www.gcmt.org.uk/work_members.asp [/DLMURL]

One thing I would add, just to add to what biggaz said, there is a huge mobilisation of sports/remedial massage therapists, to oppose changes to the sports massage standards. The vast majority of the professional associations, including those that teach/have members at level 3 and level 4, are opposed to these plans, as they dumb down sports massage, and the outcome is likely to be restriction of what a sports/remedial massage therapist can do. The only one that is in favour is SMA, and they have in fact steered these changes.

It is serious enough that a large amount of therapists are lobbying their MP's, local chamber of commerce etc, as it will affect their livelihoods.

If you require a letter to send to your MP, please PM me, and I will email it to you.

I am one of the minority of therapists who is a member of both organisations, although I am undecided as to whether to renew my SMA membership when it expires. I definitely agree that the ISRM (which is affiliated to GCMT) is much better than SMA at communicating with its members, and sets higher training standards (eg its core curriculum includes STR and MET). However at present there seems to be a bit of a ‘power struggle’ between GCMT and SMA, and SMA does seem to have good links with some of the established sporting bodies. Another contributor has reported (on the ‘sports therapies’ forum, where this has been discussed at some length) that

"a lot more sports governing bodies are approaching the SMA for therapists and some sports/teams are now only asking for SMA qualified sports massage therapists in their job advertisements."

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan,
any updates yet? has the SMA AGM takn place?
regards
BGFL

However at present there seems to be a bit of a ‘power struggle’ between GCMT and SMA, and SMA does seem to have good links with some of the established sporting bodies.

I dont think there has ever been a power struggle between GCMT and SMA, indeed GCMT invited SMA 'round the table' but nothing came of it. GCMT comprises of 11 professional associations, of these the majority have sports massage members, totalling around 8,000 therapists (plus another 17,000 who do other types of massage.

It is true that the SMA, did have a good footing in professional sport, however, this does not seem to be the case anymore (even if SMA were around, which they dont seem to be), the sporting governing bodies have realised that the discriminatory policy they had, using only SMA members (some poorly trained), was potentially very damaging.

Now that GCMT have accepted Sports Therapy, as a profession in its own right, into the fold, so to speak, we shall be seeing a lot more 'GCMT affiliated' (for want of a better word) therapists working in professional sport.

Hi Richard

I’m slightly surprised about your denial of any ‘power struggle’. At the risk of oversimplifying, the GCMT associations regard ‘sports massage’ as a branch of ‘massage’, whereas at least some members of the SMA were trying to establish it as a separate profession (and to assert control over it).

I’m interested by your comment

“the sporting governing bodies have realised that the discriminatory policy they had, using only SMA members (some poorly trained), was potentially very damaging “

My specific background is in athletics (and I have been a qualified athletics coach for considerably longer than I have been a qualified massage therapist). My understanding is that Joan Watt (the SMA president) still has considerable influence in Scottish Athletics, and that Viv Lancey of SMA and SPS still has considerable influence in Welsh athletics.

Do you have any up-to-date information about the recruitment policies currently being adopted by UK Athletics and England Athletics in selecting sports massage therapists to work for representative teams, etc?

(btw I would agree that nobody should join SMA at present – since, as we’ve discussed on the ‘sports therapies’ forum, it seems to have ceased functioning, and it is not clear whether it will reappear in its original form, or whether it will turn into a SPS 'puppet' organisation)

Regards

Alan