National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is Oct. 20-26

AMTA’s National Massage Therapy Awareness Week^TM 2002 is the week of October 20-26.  National Massage Therapy Awareness Week (NMTAW) has become a major effort to promote massage therapy and is one of AMTA’s most successful member programs. 

As you know, this year’s theme is Massage Relieves Stress.  Journalists have told AMTA that stress relief is an important story, because of terrorist attacks, the war against terrorists and the difficult economy.  The National Office has had many calls from reporters who want to know if Americans are getting more massage to help them cope with stress.  This is a good opportunity to tell more people about this and other benefits of massage. 

The National Office will use NMTAW to promote the results of AMTA’s national consumer survey of attitudes about massage with a tie-in to local trends.  We will be looking for information from the survey that shows either that the number of people seeking massage for stress relief has increased or that economic woes haven’t affected the number of people who got massage.  This strategy to attract media attention should help you make a connection between trends you see in your area and trends revealed in the national survey. 

Keep in mind that the main purposes of NMTAW are to attract public attention to the value of massage and the professionalism of AMTA massage therapists. 

Once again, Home Depot’s Building Better Health Program is supporting National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, by encouraging their employees to get massage and suggesting that their stores work with AMTA Chapters for onsite demonstration events.  Please remember that this type of event can only be coordinated by Chapters.  Individuals should not contact Home Depot stores to arrange massage events they develop for themselves.  Home Depot’s Building Better Health Program also will promote massage for stress relief among its employees November through January.  They’ll recommend that their employees seek massage for stress relief and use AMTA’s Find a Massage Therapist^® national locator service to find an AMTA Professional-category massage therapist in their area.

Remember, your events and publicity efforts can be as simple or as detailed as you wish.  You may find that collaboration with an AMTA School Member can enhance the success of your events by connecting massage therapy with quality training, and by increasing the number of volunteers available.  Whatever you do for National Massage Therapy Awareness Week will be reinforced by national publicity.  National and local publicity promotes AMTA members and the profession. The collaborative efforts of Chapters, members, massage schools, and the AMTA National Office have demonstrated that AMTA’s National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is an important tool in educating the public and healthcare professionals about the benefits and efficacy of massage.

Watch the Members’ Section of the AMTA Web site (www.amtamassage.org) for information on NMTAW.

Please let us know about your activities to support MAW. You can call or write email or snail mail, or post your notice on the website in the discussion area of the members’ section.

This profession we build and promote feeds our bodies and souls, and nourishes our clientele. We have a great motivation to proudly promote our work and our right livelihood.