The Association of Professional Massage Therapists of Québec and the Association of Massologists and Technicians in Massage of Canada (collectively the “Association”) are now adjusting their membership requirements to the Canadian standards and general requirements, concerning the number of hours and the practices of training in massage therapy and to other practices in natural and alternative medicine.

These standards and requirements are effective since June 1^st, 2008.

In order to become a member and to be recognized as a technician or practitioner in massage therapy, each new graduate shall provide the proof that during the year of membership, he will have a minimum of 1,000 hours of course and practice to his credit.

In order to be recognized as massage therapist, the applicant shall have completed the required training of 2,200 hours.

The applicant shall provide the proof of his training, completed or actually in the course to be completed.. He shall furnish the Association with ne name of the School, its address and phone number as well as the name of the person in charge. He shall also inform the Association of the profile of the courses offered by this school.

For the Association and its members, these changes are made to improve the knowledge and the skills of the technicians in massage, the massage therapists and the other practitioners in related manipulations and in alternative medicine, in order to offer to the general public professional and outstanding services.

Note: Schools that want to appear in the general information of the Association may send the profile of their courses, including an authorization to appear and the signature of the person in charge.

Being a member of the Association will provide you with many benefits:

• You will give your clients receipts that are honored in the entire province by the insurance companies (group or personal);
• professional responsibility insurance of $2,000,000 at an affordable rate;
• References for the public concerning the practitioner near his home or the kind of massage wanted.

In order to conform to the Professional Code of Ethics, the massage therapist or the specialist in various massage techniques must:

• clearly display, in his place of practice, the present Code of Ethics as well as his certificate of membership to the Association;

• honour the profession and conduct himself in a way that will merit the respect of general public;

• abstain from practicing his profession in a state or under circumstances susceptible of compromising the quality and dignity of his profession;

• exercise his profession with the respect fo human dignity conform to the norms of decency and never in any case demand on the nudity of a client;

• never claim to heal a person and never attempt to predict the number of visits it will take before the client begins to benefit from his treatment;

• make no distinctions of the race, religion, age, sex, social status, or even of the appearance of the client; He can however refuse treatment of a client suffering from psychological disorders or who does not respect rules of hygiene or morality;

• evaluate the problems of the client based on scientific methods and appeal to the traditional medical field whenever necessary;

• never offer a diagnosis on the state of a client's health and never criticize, in any case or at any time, the diagnosis of a traditional medical practitioner;

• never urge the client to turn to his services at the detriment of another health practitioner, let the client, at all times, be free to chose;

• never at any time divulge to whomever for whatever reason any information concerning the patient or any confidences made by the latter, the massage therapist being vowed to professional secrecy;

• be honest in all representation, advertisement or other, regarding his profession and his level of competence;

• avoid condemning any other clinical method or alternative that are not akin to his beliefs;

• abstain from criticizing another professional colleague in the presence of the client; address any serious complaints directly to the Association's disciplinary committee; the committee will then judge if an inquiry be necessary;

• admit that the exercising of one's profession requires self-discipline and that it is the practitioner's responsibility to set his own;

• accept and conform to the clauses stated above, if the practitioneer wishes to remain within the heart of the Association;

• expect to undergo serious investigations which could lead to his removal, if accusations put forth by a patient regarding the parctitioner'behavior would be proven grounds for his removal; this removeal would then be final.

     All rights are reserved by the Massologist and Technicians in Massage of Canada and the Association of Professional Massage Therapists of Quebec (M.T.M.A.C. & A.P.M.Q.). Any using , representation or adaptation, in whole or in part, of the present Professional Code of Ethics is considered illicit and constitutes a forgery and is sanctioned by the law.