By: Valerie Bowman, Secretary of the Board
APTA has partnered with the National Alliance of Energy Practitioners (www.naoep.org). The Alliance is a large group of organizations whose field of work is based in energy. The Alliance was founded with the ultimate goal of establishing a state-based licensing system for energy practitioners.
You may ask how APTA became involved with the Alliance. The initial driving force of the Alliance, Dr. Melinda Connor, contacted Lisa Nemzo to inquire about someone from APTA participating in the development of the organization. John Chitty, formerly a member and Treasurer of APTA’s Board, began working with the fledgling organization that became the Alliance. His crucial work at the founding of the Alliance established APTA as one of the Alliance’s founding members. John reported on his work on the foundation of the Alliance in APTA’s July 2018 Newsletter.
The Alliance works with its associated organization, the National Certification Center of Energy Practitioners (www.nccoep.org). The Certification Center has developed a national certification encompassing nine different categories of energy practitioners. Polarity Therapy falls in the category of “Full Spectrum” energy work. Dr. David Comings, a member of APTA’s Board, is also a member of the Certification Center’s Board.
The Alliance has developed a legislative package which is being presented to state legislatures with the goal of obtaining licensure for energy practitioners on a state level. This method for obtaining licensure may well be our strongest hope of achieving a wide-spread right to practice Polarity Therapy.
Due to APTA’ s involvement with the Alliance, the APTA Board has been working to ensure alignment between the Alliance and APTA’s processes. As a result, very little will be required from current BCPPs to obtain Alliance certification.
Certification Center requirements include the following:
- BCPP Certification: A copy of your current certificate is required as part of the
application package.
- Passing an exam on the Certification Center’s Standards of Practice. APTA’s
Standards and BCPP exam fulfills this requirement.
- Passing an empirical exam which uses testing equipment that measures energy and changes in energy. An alternative is a practical exam which is essentially giving someone a Polarity Therapy session and being evaluated.
- An anatomy and physiology class. Most APTA-approved training programs cover
all or most of the required anatomy and physiology material. APTA may develop an exam. Alternatively, there is an online class and exam.
- Ethics training and passing an exam. As above, much of this requirement is met
in most APTA-approved training programs. An exam will either need to be developed or the exam used by the Alliance can be taken.
- Proof of Professional Liability insurance.
APTA’s Board believes certification with the Alliance is a viable and exciting opportunity for BCPPs. Additional information will be forthcoming. We encourage you to check out the Alliance and the Certification Center by going to their websites (linked above). We realize this may not be desirable to everyone. Some people are opposed to licensing. Some people live in a state where they can legally practice Polarity Therapy without additional regulation. The beauty of certification through the Alliance is that individuals can make this choice for themselves. Personally, I am a BCPP and live in Texas. I am legally unable to practice because I do not have a massage license. I am very excited about getting my certification with the Alliance because eventually I believe energy practitioners will be licensed in Texas, as in every State in our Country. Now THAT is exciting!
e licensed in Texas, as in every State in our Country. Now THAT is exciting!