The head of the Bermuda Massage Therapy Association is calling for greater regulation of the massage industry in Bermuda.

Carola Cooper, president of the association since 2018, is concerned that anyone in Bermuda can set out their shingle as a massage therapist with no training at all.

“We have worked really hard with the Bermuda Health Council and health insurance companies to become a health profession like physical therapists, podiatrists and dietitians,” she said.

She said massage therapy is one of five unregulated professions the Bermuda Health Council has in its sights.

“It is a huge project that they have been working on with us,” she said. “We want to make it so not just anyone can call themselves a massage therapist.”

There should be standards you have to meet, she said.

The association has 20 members and has strict requirements for entry.

Successful applicants must have a massage diploma from an accredited programme with a range of training including 125 hours in body systems, such as anatomy, at least 200 hours of massage and bodywork assessment, theory and application, in-class and supervised and at least six hours of ethics training, among other things.

Association members must also have first aid, cardio pulmonary resuscitation and training from Saving Children and Revealing Secrets.

Ms Cooper said qualifications for massage certification can vary greatly depending on where the certification is obtained and the type of massage involved.

“In Canada, you have to train for three years to get certification,” she said. “In England, it is three weeks.”

Beauty massage therapists and sports massage therapists cannot join the Bermuda Massage Therapists Association.

“We learn different things in school,” Ms Cooper said.

A few years ago she grew concerned when a high school guidance counsellor started recommending a three-week British massage course to graduating students.

She reached out to them to recommend more in-depth massage education programmes.

Her concern was around ethics, privacy, transparency and accountability — topics she feels are not touched on much in a short-term massage programme.

Because she heads up the association people often reach out to her with complaints around other massage practitioners.

“If someone goes to a massage practitioner and they do not do things that make sense to the client such as making them undress unnecessarily there is no governing body to deal with that,” she said. “The client’s only recourse would be to go to the police.”

She explained that the norm is to only uncover the part of the person’s body that is being massaged. Clients typically wear a robe or towel for modesty.

If more intimate body parts are involved, there is usually a discussion with the client about it with a request for permission to carry out the work.

The association was formed 35 years ago for people who had been to massage school.

“Some of the original founders such as Claire de ste Croix and Glen Robinson are still practising,” Ms Cooper said.

She runs LifeThyme Wellness offering massage therapy and other services with Anne Marshall.