What does S4OM Recognition
of Instructors/Courses Mean?*
A priority of the society is that its professional and associate members
have a foundational education and hands-on experience in oncology massage.
S4OM Recognized Instructors/Courses provide a consistent standard by which
to measure a therapist’s preparation to work safely, therapeutically and
knowledgeably with cancer clients.
Early on the board requested that standards of education be developed by
non-instructors so that no single instructor or curriculum would be favored.
The board invited Laura Rose Boyle, Lucille Eddy and Nicki Hansen-Dix
(massage therapists with extensive oncology massage training from various
instructors) to form a curriculum committee to identify minimum standards
for instructors/courses.
Over a series of months, the committee defined a 24-hour “ideal” curriculum,
the minimum education a therapist would need before working safely with
clients with cancer. Their recommendations went to the S4OM board for
comment. Then they solicited comments from ten leading instructors. They
collated, discussed and incorporated the comments and repeated the
collaborative process. The board adopted the Standards for Recognition of
Instructors and Curricula on September 22, 2008. Most instructors applying
for S4OM recognition* modified their training in some way to meet the
criteria. They realized the value added by the collaborative process.
The Education Committee (Mary Aguilera-Titus, Cheryl Alderdice and Nicki
Hansen-Dix) reviews instructor/course applications. The Society now has ten
recognized instructors/courses [May, '09]. Any instructor of a foundation
course in oncology massage who meets the Standards can download the
application from the S4OM website, and apply for recognition.
What is a recognized S4OM instructor/course?
Any recognized instructor/course listed on the S4OM website fulfills the
minimum education requirement for an applicant for membership at the
Professional or Associate levels. Instructor and curriculum are considered
as a unit. A course alone cannot be recognized, nor can an instructor.
Presently, only foundation courses are recognized by the Society. Our
current priority is to expand the list of introductory instructors/courses.
S4OM does not yet “recognize” advanced courses. However, it will be listing
them on a members-only portion of the website for information only, not as
endorsement by S4OM. The Education Committee’s current development project
is determining how to recognize schools that offer oncology massage.
The Education Committee would love to add new members. If you are
interested, or if you have any questions about education, please contact
education@s4om.org.
*To protect both S4OM and the
instructor, the term “Recognition” is
used to avoid any potential legal exposure
from implied certification.
