Here is an update I wanted to make all of my Florida colleagues aware of:
As of July 1st, 2012, Florida massage therapists are no longer required to complete a minimum one hour HIV/AIDS continuing education course per biennial renewal.
This continuing education requirement was previously required by Florida Law – Chapter 456.033.
For more information on this change you can view Florida House Bill 4163.
Three (3) hours of HIV/AIDS education is still required for all new Florida licensees, and massage therapists looking to transfer their massage license to Florida.
Florida Licensees are still required to complete the following courses for the 2013 biennial renewal:
• Two (2) hours of Prevention of Medical Errors
• Two (2) hours of Professional Ethics (Ex: Roles and Boundaries – Standard V)
• Two (2) hours of Florida Law and Rules
These three courses are available in our Florida Massage License Renewal Package.
Because of the rule change, the HIV/AIDS course has been removed from our renewal package.
~ Ivy
Photo Credit: Trygve.u
Hi Ivy!
I’m so glad to have have found your site and your blog, and hoping you can share your expertise as you have helped so many others. My dilemma is a bit opposite – I was licensed and practicing in FL for many years and I’m now in Vancouver,Washington and have sights on Portland, Oregon – both on their states border and licenses easily transferred between the 2.
I came out here to be near my daughter and I’ve since taken Reiki 1 and 2, and although Reiki is not regulated here under the board of massage as it is in FL, I thought it would be a good idea to be licensed for job purposes. I have a good mind to just spend the money on advertising as a Reiki practitioner since I don’t need a license here for that after what I’ve seen of the requirements and hoops after having not been in massage school since 1993. Also, I can’t find one single certificate of CEU’s for all that time. I let my license expire in 2011, so I guess that my license is null and void after having missed 2013 as well. I naively thought my training would carry over, and have since seen school endorsements here going anywhere from $500 to $5000 to accept credit transfers.
The thing is, I read in a massage forum that WA recognizes FL as a jurisdiction (I thought the 1st step should be WA as OR still requires a practical) – I felt so encouraged but does that mean I wouldn’t have to repeat a lot of school or pay a lot of money or both? I thought all I would have to do is take a national exam and pay for a license and liability. I did look at the boards websites but I still can’t tell.
I am scheduled for the MBLEx next week, and I do have the 18 CE’s for Reiki, and would be glad to get the remaining 6 for med errors/ethics/law from you and get my license re-instated in FL, but the deal breaker would be having to appear before the board – there’s no way I could afford to make that trip.
There is some legislation proposed here about protection/exemption (for us), so that people would have access to us for their alternative healthcare, and we could afford to give it!
Signed,
throwing in the towel in the pacific northwest,
thanks for listening Ivy! Gail
Hi Gail!
Most of my expertise is people coming to FL, but I hope I can help you a little too. Do you know how many hours of massage training you originally had (massage school)? 500 hours is usually the minimum in most states. This is usually a big piece of the license puzzle, then the licensing exam, and then the other little requirements (HIV course and CPR for WA State – Practical in OR). If you have 500 hours and since you are taking the MBLEx, you should have most everything done.
I do not think your Reiki CE’s will be of any use, you can stop looking for those. Your FL license likely does not need to be active, they will just want verification from FL that you WERE licensed and didn’t get into trouble while licensed. There is no reason for you to return to FL Finding your school transcript, or the person in charge of keeping them, is usually the thing that most people throw towels around :).
You can do this! Best wishes!!