Certification/Licensure

New Jersey Certification and Licensure of Massage and Bodywork

Current New Jersey law stipulates that a massage therapist is allowed to be optionally certified; it is not mandatory to register with New Jersey as a massage therapist. As a result, there are therapists in the marketplace who are allowed to practice massage on clients yet may have little or no training or have not participated in Continuing Education Units.

When a student graduates from Therapeutic Massage & Training Center, they have completed all the requirements to become New Jersey State Certified and Nationally Certified. TMTC encourages graduates to seek state certification and assists them in that process. Read more about New Jersey state certification and licensure… http://images.magnetmail.net/images/clients/ABMP_MEM/attach/NJproposedregsdec2011.pdf

New Jersey State Certification / License Requirements

Upon completion of the requirements to graduate, for an alumnus to become New Jersey State Certified/Licensed, the therapist is required to submit a completed New Jersey State application (http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/massage/massappl.pdf) and pay a registration fee to the state. At the time the application is submitted the graduate therapist will request that TMTC submit a transcript indicating completion of classes. At graduation, the transcript is free. After 1 year, it is a $25 cost for TMTC submission of the transcript to New Jersey State.

New Jersey will contact the graduate therapist and request they register with Sagem Morpho to be fingerprinted. When the graduate therapist completes fingerprinting, the New Jersey State Board of Nursing (as of 2010) compiles all the documents and registers the student as a Certified Massage Therapist (CMT). Until New Jersey notifies a therapist that they are certified they cannot use the term Certified Massage Therapist (CMT) on their business cards or represent themselves with that title to the public.

National License Requirements

Therapeutic Massage & Training Center also is registered with The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. TMTC assists graduates in the process to become nationally certified. Read more about national certification…[link]

To become nationally licensed, a graduate therapist must register with The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCTMB). A graduate will request TMTC to submit a transcript to NCTMB, who will then contact the therapist to help you register, pay the required fees and set a date, time and location to take the national exam. More information is available at NCTMB’s web site: http://www.ncbtmb.org/

American Massage Therapy Association – New Jersey Chapter

The following excerpt was taken from a bulletin update from the American Massage Therapy Association – New Jersey Chapter

On Sunday January 13, 2008, Governor Corzine signed our (AMTA NJ proposed) bill A4455/ S2536 into Law. S2536 was converted from our proposed Assembly bill A4455 when it went to the Senate Commerce Committee on Dec 3, 2007. On January 7, 2008 both the Senate and the Assembly passed the Bills A4455/ and S2536. Senate voted Yes {21} No {15} Not Voting {4}; Assembly voted Yes {72} No {5} Not Voting {0} Abstains {3}. And over the weekend the Governor signed it into Law.

The Law includes measures to protect and benefit the Profession of Massage and Bodywork.

AMTA, NJ Government Relations Update, April 2009

We (AMTA) are excited to report to our members that we recently learned from Molly Slingerland, our lobbyist in Trenton at Princeton Public Affairs Group that Governor Corzine has appointed the new State Massage and Bodywork Therapy Licensing Board.

NEW JERSEY BOARD OF MASSAGE AND BODYWORK THERAPY
Appoint Ronald P. Mondello, Esq. (Kinnelon, Morris)
Appoint Deborah K. Zastocki, FACHE (Randolph, Morris)
Appoint Alan G. Vonderahe (Sparta, Sussex)
Appoint Deborah R. Overholt (Mount Laurel, Burlington)
Appoint Christine Gill Rose (Toms River, Ocean)
Appoint Cynthia Sinicropi-Balena LMT, CMT (Belle Mead, Somerset)
Appoint Mark J. Carangelo LMT (East Brunswick, Middlesex)
Appoint Glenn H. Stoll, NCTMB (Ringwood, Passaic)

We have a new Licensing Law (A4455) and here is the link for you to become more familiar with this law. http://www.amtanj.org/archive/Chapter%20337%20license%20law.pdf

Moving Toward Licensing

New Jersey is moving to licensed massage therapy. The following information may prove helpful to massage therapists and those seeking to enter the profession.

Criteria for acceptance for NJ State Licensure:

The minimum criteria for becoming a massage therapist are that you must attend 500 or more hours of approved education or have passed the National Certification Exam.

You can apply if you have a minimum or 200 hours of approved education and have been working as a massage therapist for 2 years (full-time) or 5 years (part-time). The timeframe within which you can apply once applications are being taken by the Board is a 360 days. If you miss the 360 day deadline to become NJ State licensed, you will need to attend 500 or more hours of education or pass the national exam.

If you do not meet these requirements, you should begin preparation to meet the requirements for state licensure so you are ready when the law goes into effect.

If you are already an active New Jersey Certified Massage Therapist, you need do nothing. Your certification will be “grandfathered” into becoming a Licensed Massage Therapist. If you presently are New Jersey State Certified, be sure to stay current with your renewal, which occurs in November every two years (even numbered years). You are required to have a current CPR card and have taken 20 Continuing Education Units (10 CEU per year) to renew. If you allow your certification to lapse, you may need to re-apply for the state licensure.

If you are not New Jersey Certified (including those of you Nationally Certified), the New Jersey State Board will develop procedures to determine how you will apply to the state for licensure.

If you have previous education or are Nationally Certified, you may want to apply to New Jersey State for Certification now and avoid the mass influx of applications when the time comes for licensure.

Rules and regulations of the current voluntary State Certification Act:
http://www.amtanj.org/archive/NJBoardofNursingRegulations[1].doc

Applying to become New Jersey State Certified:
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/massage/massappl.pdf.

The phone number of the State Examining Committee Office responsible for the application process is 973-504-6430.

Contact information for AMTA is: governmentrelations@amtanj.org. The AMTA NJ Chapter office phone number is 973-376-5151.