ABMP Supports Your Students
ABMP Student Life is a free program available to all of your massage students! This program is designed to help students achieve their academic goals and build the skills they need to be successful professionals. If you’d like your students to have individual insurance for the classroom and off-site massage assignments, consider adding a Student membership with insurance for each of your students.
ABMP Student Life
- Access to ABMP Student Life providing helpful information such as technique videos, study guides and tips, and much more delivered right to the student’s in-box.
- A free website builder.
- Access to Student Success Guides. Get 12 different Student Guides that include goal-setting exercises, time management tools, academic support, charts, graphic organizers, and personal assessments to help students learn the skills needed to achieve academic success.
- Digital Massage & Bodywork magazine
- Online Student Resources: This includes note-taking graphic organizers, test-taking/study tips, personality/learning style inventories, sample cover letters/resumes, access to select discounts, a personal email account, and legislative updates.
ABMP Student Membership with Insurance
ABMP Student membership combines the protection of liability insurance with the outstanding academic resources available via ABMP Student Life along with business development tools, all for the low membership fee of $15 (or free for students attending ABMP Enhanced or Premier School Member programs).
Many schools require students to create a business portfolio as part of their business classes. The ABMP Student membership with insurance provides even more business tools that support a business portfolio assignment. This is an excellent learning opportunity that prepares students to market themselves when they graduate.
Student members with insurance receive all of the resources in ABMP Student Life, plus all these additional marketing and business tools:
- Client brochures students can customize
- ABMP’s Client Newsletter Generator
- A business card discount program
- Business and client forms
- Massage & Bodywork digital magazine
- Access to discounts from ABMP’s partners
- Liability insurance for school-sanctioned massage and bodywork
- $49 discount on first-year Professional membership with ABMP
Student Membership with liability insurance costs $15 for up to 12 months in school, and is free for students attending ABMP Enhanced and Premier School member programs.
Why Sign Up All Students In ABMP Student Life or as Insured ABMP Student Members?
The resources, of course! Schools want their students to have access to tools that can support their academic success and ensure their skill level as professionals when they graduate. Schools who sign up their students can easily develop student success workshops using ABMP's Student Success Curriculum, or utilize student membership materials and topics from the Student Success Curriculum in orientation. This pre-preparation for the challenges of massage school ensures that students are ready for the "heavy lifting" of anatomy and kinesiology classes. Research at the first-year college level indicates that schools that take the time to teach key study skills report lower attrition rates and higher grades for students. The online resources available to students through ABMP membership support instructors by providing structured tools to teach important skill sets such as time management, goal setting, note taking, textbook reading, and exam preparation.
ABMP Student Life and insured Student membership includes a free website and email account, as well as access to academic support resources. Students can get a head start on designing their own websites for their professional practice and start using their email account as part of business classes.
Many schools sign up all of their students as insured members of ABMP and include the cost of student membership in tuition. Why do they do this? Aside from the peace of mind that comes with insurance coverage, student members with insurance have access to additional marketing resources, allowing them to create their entire business portfolio including business cards, brochures, client newsletters, and business forms. This gives students a great head start on their careers and enriches business class activities.
If you want to find out more about our resources for your school and your students, contact your school liaison for one-on-one support.
Why Do Some Schools Require Students To Have Liability Insurance?
ABMP Student members have access to numerous tools and resources to assist with their academic and professional success. In addition, the liability insurance that is included in their Student membership provides unique, individual protection.
Many schools believe their institutional blanket liability policy covers all administrators, instructors, and students in all situations. This may or may not be the case depending upon how the policy is written. It may only provide coverage if the school is named in a suit, but not if individuals are named. It may cover negligence but not general liability. It may be limited to on-site activities and not cover internships or exchanges outside of school. It is important that you review your policy carefully to know exactly what your coverage entails and what circumstances may be exempt from your policy.
There are several benefits of providing students with individual liability insurance or requiring them to purchase their own coverage. Most importantly, it protects them in the event they are named individually in a suit. For example, if a fellow student or client in student clinic was injured, the massage therapy student's individual policy typically would provide coverage, minimizing the risk of claim on your school policy. It is not uncommon for companies to raise premiums or cancel school policies if there are significant claims. Providing individual coverage may decrease this possibility.
Injuries inflicted by one student on another are a high claims area for ABMP. Faulty equipment setup, inappropriate technique use, and failure to identify contraindications can all lead to serious injury. In one instance, an injured student was paid $2,750 by the school's policy because the responsible student did not have individual liability coverage. Another claim by a student injured after receiving stretching during an in-class exchange was paid by the responsible student's individual policy, saving the school over $5,600.
These instances seem minor compared to the $11,750 paid by a school's policy after a table collapsed with a student on it, or the $28,000 paid to a client injured in student clinic. Individual student policies can protect the school from these types of payouts.
To talk through your insurance options and find out more about ABMP's resources for your school and your students, contact your school liaison for one-on-one support.