The time has come for Acupressure and Massage to take their rightful place among the Nationally Certified professions. The process has begun and will be a reality in the near future.

As of late spring 2008, the Equine Massage and Acupressure National Certification Examinations will be available through Hocking College which is hosting these online examinations. There will be many more details regarding this momentous process as the time gets closer to going live.

Late last summer, Nancy and Amy, founders of Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institute, met with Hocking College, a leader in the field of Equine Health Care, to launch the process of creating National Certification Examinations for massage and acupressure. Tallgrass instructors are Adjunct Faculty at Hocking College, which has had an Equine Sciences program for over 20 years. Additionally, Hocking is known for their two-year Equine Health Care & Complimentary Therapies Associates Degree program.

The next step was to select a core team of massage and acupressure professionals with whom to work on the project. The first task was to develop a Scope of Practice for each of the disciplines. Over the next months, Theresa Gagnon of the Bancroft School of Massage Therapy as head of the massage examination worked with Tina Romine and Bill Harnetty, DVM of Hocking College, Lola Michelin of the Northwest School of Animal Massage, Elaine Calenda and Barbara Maciejewski of the Boulder College of Massage and Barbara Chasteen joined in on a conference call to get the process underway.

This is the beginning of establishing these complementary therapies as career path. We have to begin somewhere and this is where we are. To hear more about it, go to the recent recordings on Animal Talk Naturally kindly hosted by Kim Bloomer, VND and Jeannie Thomason, VND.

Listen to a radio talk show featuring Amy and Nancy - Animal Talk Naturally