For some, this may be the season to wind down, but those of us at Massage & Bodywork and Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP) are working hard to envision 2018 and decide how best to use your association’s resources to help move your practice forward and lift our profession. As ABMP celebrates its 30 years of service to the profession, we’re so proud and grateful that more massage therapy professionals and students trust us with their careers than any other association.
Along the way, you’ve inspired us and helped us become the thought leaders in the profession. Our award-winning communications speak for themselves. We know that traditionally, members joined ABMP to obtain top-shelf liability insurance. That hasn’t changed, but now practitioners are clamoring for quality continuing education. And we have so many ways we can answer your needs, starting with an amazing Continuing Education Center on ABMP.com. I enjoy talking to members at conferences and over the phone. Many know about the treasures that await them on ABMP.com, but some haven’t logged in!
Did you know that you can access 140-plus online webinars at your convenience? And more are being teed up every month. Just like in Massage & Bodywork magazine, the content flows from leaders in the massage and bodywork fields. They’re designed for your viewing convenience at 1–2 hours in length and range from anatomy to self-care and hands-on techniques to pathology—and they’re video-based to enhance your learning. All these opportunities are included in the price of your membership, which has now remained unchanged at $199 since ABMP started in 1987.
Of course, we incentivize our Certified members who are dedicated to their education through 16 hours of CE every two years; those members enjoy even more benefits, including ebooks for continuing education credit, significant product discounts, and quarterly music downloads from At Peace Media—for only $30 more per year.
Soon, we’ll have the scoop on our Spring 2018 online summit—a single day of education that will be available from the comfort of your home or office—so stay tuned. As you turn these pages, you’ll notice many CE discounts available from our impressive contributors. Even reading this issue of Massage & Bodywork can earn you free CE!
This is an intriguing time to be in the profession! Never before has the public acceptance of, and demand for, therapeutic massage been higher, but the numbers of massage schools and subsequent graduates continue to shrink. That means massage therapy professionals can pick and choose how and where they want to manifest their talents. Independent practitioner? Spa employee? Franchise contractor? A combination of all the above? The options really are all about you and your career goals.    
We hope you enjoy this season of renewal. Thank you to the profession for trusting us for three decades. We’re keen to move forward one practitioner, one success at a time.


Leslie A. Young, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
leslie@abmp.com