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Moving Forward

On May 22, 2009, at the opening session of the Ontario Massage Therapist Association (OMTA) Educational Conference, the strategic plan for the profession was introduced to the many members who attended.

The President of the College, Peter Roach, RMT, along with Amanda Baskwill, RMT, and Chair of the Board of the OMTA, and representatives from the Heads of Massage Therapy (Community Colleges) and the Ontario Council of Private Massage Therapy Colleges (OCPMTC), presented the plan to the membership.

This strategic plan is unique in that it is for the massage therapy profession as a whole and is a result of the joint effort and collaboration among the College, the OMTA and the two school organizations. Each group has its own role: the College protects the public interest, the OMTA promotes the profession and the schools are responsible for the education of candidates to the profession. While mindful of these individual responsibilities, the three groups were able develop a shared vision for the profession and commit to collaborative efforts to move forward on the strategic goals.

The ongoing work is being accomplished under the leadership of the RMT Management Team consisting of four representatives from each of the three “pillars” supporting this plan. There will be opportunities for members to contribute to the achievement of the strategic goals through participation in surveys, focus groups and project teams.

The Executive Summary from the Strategic Plan Report follows:
As a profession, we are proud of our contribution to society. Through our strategic planning process, we fully recognize that we are a credible, viable, and sustainable profession.

Our vision, Valued Professionals, Compassionate Care, Optimizing Health for Life, is a powerful and enabling statement of our aspiration as a profession.

We are Registered Massage Therapists working in a system where we optimize the health of the whole person for the life of the person.

In order to achieve our vision, our future will need to be shaped by our investment in three key strategic themes:

• We, as a profession, have a clear and compelling identity
• We have created a systematic and cultural demand for the inherent value of the profession
• We have a prosperous profession that is economically and physically sustainable.

We must quickly adopt, deploy and manage the following three essentials to support our strategic themes:

• One profession, one vision, one strategic plan, and one structure
• Performance management and measurement system
• Member driven project teams

We know that achieving our vision, strategic themes and short-term deployment priorities will be a daunting task. We are, however, up for the challenge. It is our desire, and our passion, to ensure that our profession continues to enhance its credibility and embraces all future opportunities to fully integrate our profession into Ontario’s health and wellness sector. In order to achieve the strategy, significant engagement will be required by all members of the profession. 

The RMT Management Team is currently overseeing strategic plan projects of the development of a brand strategy and strategic communications plan as well as a survey project to gather important data about the current state of the profession. Both projects are being accomplished with the assistance of consultants.

The Strategic Plan is available on the College’s website (www.cmto.com) and the College encourages massage therapists to read and discuss it with their colleagues.

The following is used by permission from the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario: (reprint of the “From the Registrar” article, College Standard, Spring 2009 edition.)