FAQs

Once you master a particular modality or subject, the next progressive step is to become an NCBTMB Approved CE Provider. You must have full knowledge of the course you wish to teach and also have the necessary documentation created before teaching the course, including:

• Course description,
• Learning outcomes, and
• Syllabus/outcome of course.

Additionally, you must demonstrate that you meet NCBTMB's AP Instructor Qualifications:

• Holds a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree from a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, or a substantially equivalent accrediting body of a foreign sovereign state, with a major in a subject directly related to the content of the program to be offered; OR
• Has completed at least five years of professional experience in the practice of massage therapy; OR
• Has a minimum of two years teaching experience; OR
• Has completed a NCBTMB approved teacher training program in the area of interest; OR
• Has completed at least 100 hours of non-entry level education in the subject matter to be offered and has a minimum of two years of professional experience in the subject

Before submitting an application to NCBTMB for approval, you must have taught the course at least one time within the last year to a group of five or more participants. You must provide the participants with an evaluation requesting feedback on the course, instruction, and material. You may retrieve an evaluation form here.

Learning Outcomes: Learning outcomes are broader goals that describe what a student will digest, perform, state, describe, etc. upon completing a portion or all of the course. Learning objectives are building blocks of learning outcomes. There are usually multiple learning objectives per each learning outcome. NCBTMB requires one learning objective per hour. Both learning outcomes and learning objectives should be written using descriptive wording (i.e. Student will: list, define, verify, explain, state, perform, compare, recognize, identify, assess, evaluate or demonstrate).

Please also note that, as an Approved CE Provider, each course must be submitted, reviewed, and approved prior to offering NCBTMB continuing education hours.

Click here for a full breakdown of NCBTMB's AP Program Structure and Rules.

All Approved Providers are valid for three years from the date NCBTMB approves your application. Costs for first-time applicants, as well as renewal applicants, are the same:

• $225 for individuals for a three-year period
• $450 for organizations or conference/tradeshow providers for a three-year period
• $25 per new class submitted*
• Additional $50 per renewal charge associated with Approved Providers that want to be sponsored by NCBTMB to teach New York LMTs**

*Please note that each course must be submitted, reviewed, and approved prior to offering NCBTMB continuing education hours. Additionally, instructors teaching under Organization status accounts must first be submitted to and approved by NCBTMB prior to teaching and issuing CEs.

** NY will only accept CEs from a CE Provider that NY approves or that is sponsored by an entity that has been approved by the NY Board. NCBTMB is a New York approved Sponsor and will pass this sponsorship to its Approved Providers.

Each account created on the NCBTMB website must have only one function. This means that if you are currently Nationally or Board Certified, you must create a new and separate account as an Approved Provider. You can do this by visiting the NCBTMB homepage, and clicking "Register" at the top of the page.

Other important information for first-time applicants:

• The Approved Provider Application fee to both apply and renew is $225 (Individuals) and $450 (Organizations and Conference/Tradeshow Providers) for a three-year period.
• Each separate course submission for an Individual or Organization Approved Provider is $25.
  • Multiple courses that contain information about the same modality, working with different areas of the body are considered the same course.
  • Courses that are taught for different amounts of CEs due to teaching for different venues are considered one course.
• The application is equipped to list a primary course and the different courses that may be segmented out of the primary course.
• Organizations that hold a conference or tradeshow with four or more instructors must submit $100 for the review of the conference or tradeshow.
• All organizations that only hold conferences or tradeshows will submit $100 for the review of the instructors and courses being taught for the conference/tradeshow.
• Instructors teaching under Organization status accounts must first be submitted to and approved by NCBTMB prior to teaching and issuing CEs.

Important information regarding new course submissions:

• Each separate course submission for an Individual or Organization Approved Provider is $25.
  • Each course must be submitted, reviewed, and approved prior to offering NCBTMB continuing education hours.
• There will be an additional $50 per three-year renewal charge associated with Approved Providers that want to be sponsored by NCBTMB to teach New York LMTs.
  • NY will only accept CEs from a CE Provider that NY approves or that is sponsored by an entity that has been approved by the NY Board. NCBTMB is a New York approved Sponsor and will pass this sponsorship to its Approved Providers.

To apply to become an NCBTMB Approved Provider, it is first important to understand if you will be applying as an individual, organization, or as part of a tradeshow/conference.

• Individual

  An individual is defined as one instructor teaching courses. This instructor can have help (assistants) in the classroom and administrative help but is the only person that teaches under the Approved Provider Individual status.

• Organization

  An organization is defined as two or more instructors that work under one entity. An organization must have a primary contact person that oversees the entire Approved Provider Organization, its instructors, courses, certificates, rules and procedures and all other aspects of the organization. Instructors teaching under Organization status accounts must first be submitted to and approved by NCBTMB prior to teaching and issuing CEs.

• Conference/Tradeshow

  An organization holding a conference with four or more instructors may complete the Conference/Tradeshow portion of the Interim Course Submission form, rather than submitting each course for the conference. The provider will submit the marketing information for the course and list which instructors are currently NCBTMB Approved Providers and which are non-NCBTMB Approved Provider. Once this is complete, have each non-Approved Provider submit his/her qualification to teach, along with the courses that each teaches on the Instructor Qualifications form.

ALL: Follow the steps listed below to apply to become an Approved Provider:

• Go to www.NCBTMB.org and at the top of the page click “Register.”
• Create a profile and click “Submit.”
• You will receive an account authorization email. Copy the code found in the email, click the link within the email and paste the code into the box.
• Create a username and password.
• Verify all of your personal information.
• Click the “Verify” button at the bottom of the page.
• Click “Complete a Form” on the left hand side of the page.
• Click on “Approved Provider Initial Application.”
• Complete all of the information and click “Submit.”

For any additional questions on becoming an NCBTMB Approved Provider, or on the application process, please call 1-800-296-0664 or email ce@ncbtmb.org.

For additional assistance on the Approved Provider Application, please visit For any additional questions on becoming an NCBTMB Approved Provider, or on the application process, please call 1-800-296-0664 or email ce@ncbtmb.org.

The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) administers a certification program, Board Certification, accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Continuing education is a vital part of certification programs designed to credential professionals across the United States. Over a decade ago, the NCBTMB established its Approved Provider (AP) program to serve as a key component of its massage therapy and bodywork credential. The principal intent of the AP program was to ensure that certificants had access to reliable, credible, high-quality continuing education throughout their careers. By obtaining continuing education (CE), a practitioner demonstrates a personal and public commitment to enhance continued competence in the massage and/or bodywork profession, which is why it continues to play such a critical role in NCBTMB’s certification program.

NCBTMB recognizes its obligation to continue serving the profession by encouraging the personal and professional development of practitioners across the country. As the massage and bodywork professions mature, continuing education must also evolve. With this in mind, NCBTMB has reassessed the national AP/CE program and the evolutionary role it must play as massage continues to advance.

As in all aspects within the health and wellness continuum, nothing stays constant. What worked for massage therapy over a decade ago when the national CE program was emerging will no longer serve the profession today as we continue to advance into the future. More than ever, members of the public and healthcare professionals alike seek options - new ideas and answers to the age old question of how to better improve quality of life. For our profession to play a part, it must step up to the plate and evolve as well.

NCBTMB recognizes the critical need to ensure relevant and credible continuing education. The profession must define, differentiate and identify the educational level of the wide variety of modalities and subjects that practitioners study. Mature, advanced massage therapists desire access to accomplished instructors teaching appropriately advanced material. Conversely, recent graduates may need basic classes to refine newly acquired skills.

The primary objectives of the Approved Provider Program are to:

• Fulfill the roles, requirements and needs of Board Certification pursuant to its mission and purpose,
• Be a model that state boards, peer organizations, continuing education providers, certificants, schools, can acknowledge, support and when applicable, emulate,
• Utilize the knowledge of our educational leaders throughout the profession in concert to reflect the needs of the industry at large, and
• Further the knowledge of our massage therapists throughout the country.

This program will continue to evolve with the profession. Within the Holistic realm, there are many different modalities accepted for CE that are within the massage therapist’s scope of practice. NCBTMB does accept a wide variety of categories and will work with professionals, other peer organizations and state boards to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the profession.

Continuous upgrades of this program will be implemented as needed in the future. NCBTMB will be considering new processes that will help therapists and the profession grow.

Today in the United States relative to the massage and bodywork profession, a 500 hour (or more) core curriculum of entry level education is delivered to teach basic anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and pathologies of the body’s systems. It also incorporates entry-level bodywork, stress management, business, ethics and other types of modalities to gain students’ interests about the holistic realm. Upon demonstrated mastery of this information, along with hands on skills, an entry level massage therapist is judged to be competent to safely administer one to one hour and a half of full body massage.

This is simply the beginning of a therapist’s professional journey, a journey that must include some component of continued learning in both the educational and clinical (hands on) realms. In other words, an entry-level practitioner must do more to learn, retain and operationalize the necessary skills to maintain continued growth, awareness and professional competency, in addition to remaining vital and competitive within the profession.

Continuing education is one of the generally accepted methods which professionals and regulatory agencies use to ensure a therapist refines and builds on entry-level skills. It also is a means by which the larger health care and consumer communities can be assured that therapists maintain psychological, educational and professional high intentions in areas of ethical and operational excellence.

The purpose of continuing education is, more specifically, to:

• detour the development of bad habits
• acquire knowledge of more advanced modalities
• learn effective new techniques
• increase Practitioners’ awareness of other holistic modalities
• continue to increase basic, intermediate and advanced skills
• develop successful business/marketing methods and tools
• refine massage therapists’/bodyworkers’ ethical behavior and standards of practice with clientele
• discourage burnout due to repetitive bodywork
• increase massage therapists’/ bodyworkers’ knowledge of medical and holistic practices, psychology, science and massage therapy
• assist therapists, through additional knowledge and strengthened techniques, in remaining competitive within the marketplace