Welcome to Massage Educator, a resource created exclusively for massage schools and instructors. Each newsletter is filled with classroom tools and activities, important industry information, and links to ABMP resources created for schools and instructors.
Want to know more about how ABMP supports schools, educators, and students? Contact us at education@abmp.com.
Current Issue
2026 Issue 2
- What Do Employers Have to Say About Massage Graduates?
- Help Students Build Soft Skills Muscles: Start During Massage Exchange
- Do No Harm Update
- Thank You for Joining Us In San Diego
- Massage Is for EveryBody—A Yearlong Celebration
- Here's What's Coming Up—A Calendar of Events
- Meet the ABMP Team
What Do Employers Have to Say About Massage Graduates?
By Karrie Osborn, ABMP Sr. Editor, Education
A recent ABMP survey of employers, CE providers, and spa directors found that new massage graduates are coming out of school unprepared to deal with clients. While they might come in with admirable, if not shaky hands-on skills, experts say new massage and bodywork professionals often lack critical soft skills needed to be truly successful.
The survey results, presented in part at the 2026 ABMP School Forum in April, indicate a historical issue that still plagues the field. Employers say professionalism, client communication, ethical standards, and critical thinking capabilities are the soft skills lacking from the field's newest professionals. Says one educator: "I presented at a seminar for school owners; I asked them if they thought soft skills were an important factor in positive outcomes. Every hand in the ballroom went up. Next question—'How many of you spend more than two hours teaching these skills?' Heads went down to check for imperfections in the carpet."
It begs the question:
Read more
How important do you think soft skills are to a professional's success and how many hours are you allowed to devote to soft skills in your curriculum? It's a hard balance—teaching the core curriculum requirements, while also giving students enough time to work on business acumen, client communication skills, professionalism, ethics training via role-playing exercises, and critical-thinking practice . . . all things necessary to be successful in the real world.
Critical thinking was highest on the list of missing soft skills. "Treatment planning and clinical reasoning are underdeveloped," says one clinic owner. "New graduates can often execute a technique but struggle to think through what a particular client needs and why. Moving from protocol execution to individualized care is a significant gap."
While a lack of soft skills was mentioned by all but a few of the employers surveyed, several also pointed out some even more fundamental misses—like a thorough understanding of basic anatomy by today's newest professionals. Says one employer: "I am often stunned at the lack of accurate hands-on skills. Simple anatomy. At a recent conference, we spent 15 minutes finding the spinous process of C2; and at a national conference, it took 10 minutes getting everyone to find the sternal head of the SCM."
Interestingly, about 12 percent of the survey respondents listed "timing" as a specific deficit they see in new hires. The complaint centers around these new professionals not knowing how to manage session time, often hurrying through their work and ending under the allotted 60 minutes. Clinic work is the best training ground for these real-world issues, giving students an opportunity to practice in a variety of scenarios. Do you optimize your clinic experiences?
One educator is hopeful that schools can find ways to adjust: "I think we need to move away from a strategy of content dumping in schools and work on developing more innovative clinical reasoning teaching strategies." What that looks like is the million dollar question.
Student clinic time, these employers say, is the best training ground. More real-world client communication focus, more hands-on practice, and more role-playing in the classroom are what employers are looking to the schools for as they train these up-and-coming professionals. Can schools meet the need?
Help Students Build Soft Skills Muscles: Start During Massage Exchange
When students are exchanging massage, make sure you are preparing them for the process so that they get the utmost out of the exercise. This can be uncomfortable space for students, which is why it's so critical. Getting them comfortable with the uncomfortable needs to happen in these safe environments so that they can then transfer that knowledge into the working world. When asked to provide constructive feedback to the giver, the receiver often feels obliged to say things like, "It was great." Obviously, no one learns or improves from that feedback.
Here are three tips to help students in the process:
- Be observational: You don't need to bring emotion, praise, or criticism into the feedback. If you felt the draping was a little loose, say "Could you lower the drape so I don't feel a draft."
- Be specific: Saying, "How you transitioned the strokes from my back through the gluteal muscles down to my legs was seamless." That's much more constructive than "That felt good."
- Give balanced feedback: find the positives and the negatives. Don't speak to only one side of the coin.
ABMP School Members: Log into ABMP Student Life to find the entire newsletter, "The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback," complete with "Student-to-Student Feedback" and "Session Exchange" forms you can download for your students to make their hands-on exchanges more meaningful.
Do No Harm Update
We hope you and your colleagues had a chance to speak your voice during the recent comment period regarding the "do-no-harm" earnings test, part of a rule being proposed by the US Department of Education. The comment period ended on May 20, and there was no new information to report at press time. ABMP sent a call out to every member, school, and instructor to weigh in on the topic in support of our profession, our students, and our schools.
We appreciate everyone's support in this effort. ABMP will continue to keep you informed as new developments unfold.
Thank You For Joining Us in San Diego!
We had an amazing time connecting with all the school owners, administrators, and instructors during April's ABMP School Forum. (And for those who missed out on the Forum fun, levator scapulae was the winning muscle in the Muscle Madness game!)
Our dates are already set for next year, where we'll see you in Boulder, Colorado.
April 23–24, 2027. Save the date!
Massage Is for EveryBody — A Yearlong Celebration
What Is It?
A yearlong, heartfelt campaign built on guiding principles that celebrate the benefits of massage, and the talented people doing this work.
- Did Your School, Students, Instructors, or Graduates Enter the 2026 Massage Is for EveryBody Contest?
Schools and individuals were asked to share the good work they are doing in the community. Winners will be announced during Massage Is for EveryBody Week. - Participate in Massage Is for EveryBody Week, July 19–25, 2026.
Plan an event in your school or community to celebrate massage and bodywork. Check out these ideas and inspiration.
Here's What's Coming Up—A Calendar of Events
June 17, 2026
Launch Lab
A virtual event for students getting ready to start their careers.
Register your students today!
July 1, 2026
Cornerstones: The ABMP Instructor Development Program
From July 1–December 31 ABMP is making the entire 24-module course free to the profession as part of the ABMP 40th anniversary celebration.
Watch this space for details: abmp.com/cornerstones
July 19–25, 2026
Massage Is for EveryBody Week
Get your schools and students involved in this national event!
Learn more!
Meet Your ABMP Team
Is your school part of the ABMP family? ABMP School membership includes a variety of resources for students, and lesson plans, tools, and presentations to help your faculty and students succeed. Learn more at abmp.com/educators or email our school liaisons at education@abmp.com with your questions and to request a 15-minute virtual school resource tour today!
Amber Levene
ABMP School Liaison
Amber@abmp.com
800-458-2267, ext. 1613
"My favorite resource to share with schools is Five-Minute Muscles. I would've given my eye teeth as a student to have the palpation, muscle-skeleton overlay, and dissection videos!"
Areas Covered: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming
Brian Sinclair
ABMP School Liaison
Brian@abmp.com
800-458-2267, ext. 1633
"My favorite thing about working with schools is being at the beginning of a student's journey to becoming a massage practitioner, and helping schools send amazing professionals into the world."
Areas Covered: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, US Virgin Islands, Wisconsin