Alaska Massage Licenses Must Be Renewed by September 30, 2017; You Must Complete 6 Hours of Continuing Education Before Then

All Alaska Massage Therapy licenses must be renewed by September 30 of odd-numbered years. That means that you must renew your current massage license by September 30, 2017.

License renewal applications will be available on the Board's website sometime after July 1, 2017.

In order to renew, you will be required to submit:

1. The completed renewal application,
2. A current certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation through the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, American Safety and Health Institute, or an equivalent organization,
3. A completed fingerprint card, with $60 fingerprint fee,
4. Certification of completion of 6 hours of continuing education (CE), and
5. The renewal fee, which will likely be $295.

The state will also send written notice to you at least 30 days before the renewal deadline. If you've recently moved, please make sure the state massage therapy board has your current mailing address.

Applicants licensed between 2015 and 2017 are required to obtain at least 6 CE credits prior to renewal. All of these credits may be met through Internet-based, state board-approved courses. After the 2017 renewal, you will need to have completed 16 hours of CE for each subsequent renewal (in 2019, 2021, etc.).

Approved CE courses are courses provided by:

1. A board-approved massage therapy school.
2. A regionally or nationally accredited institution of higher education (course must be directly related to the skills and knowledge required for the practice of massage therapy).
3. A local, state or national professional organization that serves the massage therapy profession including:

• ABMP (Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals)
• AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association)
• FSMTB (Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards)
• NCBTMB (National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork)

If you have not taken any CE classes yet, you should begin now so that you can have 6 hours completed by the time you submit your renewal application. As an ABMP member, you can take ABMP online CE webinars for free! More than 100 webinars are available. Just log on to www.abmp.com using your username and password, then click on Continuing Education/ABMP Online Learning/ABMP Education Center.

We should know more details about the renewal process once the renewal applications are available on the Board's website.

If you have questions, please contact nancy@abmp.com.