2022 A Year in Review
The year 2022 began cautiously slow, yet filled with anticipation of how life is going to be for us after “The Pause” of the pandemic.
February, some of our members began the year with a Community Outreach Event, Super Bowl Sunday Military Party in Newport Beach. An amazing way to begin the year in service! February also brought our first 2, In-Person, LIVE workshop of the year! Both SoCal and NorCal workshops were full! We hosted Teri Rogers in Ontario, and Cynthia Ribeiro in Emeryville. I don’t think we could have been happier to be together do discuss and learn about Psoas and Sacral-Illiacus (respectfully).
March, NorCal got to have the Psoas workshop offered to them, and again, it was full!
April, the Chapter hosted our Annual Massage & Bodywork Educational Conference, and we kept it virtual. We offered over 20 hours of Continuing Education Credits plus some personal enrichment opportunities over 3 days from the comfort of your own home with Miechelle Hwang, Tracey Lee Davis, Felicia Brown, Ruth Werner, Carolyn Tague, Melinda Naye, and Ariel Hubbard!
Our Annual Business Meeting was held a week later with our elections’ result; we said, “Thank you!” to Bonni Kelley and Karl Reid-Crammer for their service to our members and we welcomed Becky Thom and Anna V Beltrán to our board.
May, SoCal got to have the Sacral-Iliacus workshop in Studio City. Full class once again! We also had some of our members participate in the MS Los Angeles Coastal Ride in Ventura.
June had your Board in Kansas City, MO, for training and leadership development (and BBQ) and to “prep” us for more training in Cleveland. Again, a small Community Outreach event took place at Camp Pendleton. We provided massage to the wives of those Marines who were in the midst of their deployment.
July began some grassroots with the Interstate Massage Therapy Compact Review. The “What is this?” and “How can I get involved?” was held by National’s Government Relations team. We also continued in a series of virtual workshops with Ariel Hubbard.
August had some of our members back at Camp Pendleton for their Annual Beach Bash and the massage team that provided massages to the Marines and their families emphasizing a Family Day!
Then, coming together in Cleveland, OH, for the National AMTA Convention! This was our first convention since “the pause”. We had over 30 members from California attending. A week of training for your Board Members (Chapter Volunteer Orientation Program, Chapter Presidents’ Counsel, Chapter Leadership Training). 2-days filled for our Assembly of Delegates. 3-days filled everyone with an inspirational Keynote Speaker each day: Michael Phelps, W. Mitchel, and Mick Ebeling, plus, over 16 CEs in educational opportunities, networking, reconnecting, and finding your community, again! It was an inspiring, full, exhausting, and amazing week!
September, we hosted a few virtual workshops. One with Ariel Hubbard, and a couple with Ruth Werner, which would become a series with her. We also began a series of webinars with our National Government Relations team (James Specker, Christine Hoober, and Martha Rinker) to begin some grass-roots education as to The Difference between Certification and Licensure and with more to come. AND if we did not have enough going on, we did 2 live, 1-day, face-to-face workshops with Jeff Forman in San Diego.
October, we continued our virtual series with Ruth Werner, and we did a back-to-back, workshops from StrongHouse both in NorCal (San Jose) and SoCal (Santa Ana) the same weekend. Scott Raymond and Melissa Martini Colburn did an amazing job! We also had another one of the National GR webinars from their series, “The Value of Government Relations”.
Besides education opportunities, our members were able to participate in our first, Chapter Supported, Community Outreach Event, the MS Bay to Bay Ride in San Diego. Here, we not only provided massages to the TOP 150, we also promoted our 26th Annual National Massage Therapy Awareness Week® and FindAMassageTherapist.com® resource. While some were busy in San Diego, we had other members doing the same thing with the Best Buddies Challenge-Hearst Castle (which, due to re-openings, was moved to Skywalker Ranch, Marin County).
November, we concluded our education opportunities with another National GR webinar, “Understanding the Massage Therapy Practice Act: Next Steps in Advocacy”. Afterwards, we paused almost everything to enjoy the time with our families, friends, loved ones, recharge, and contemplate, “What’s next?” and “How are we going to make it happen?!”
2023 has some great opportunities for us as we began with Johnnette du Rand in Studio City for a 2-day, full, Oncology workshop. The following week, Sacramento hosted Jeff Forman for his 2, 1 day, workshops that were filled. AND nationally, our association begins its 80th Anniversary! AND reached a milestone in having over 100,000 members! Here in California, we began 2022 with 7,900 members, to finishing the year off with over 8,500 members! Watch Us Grow!
What’s next? Well, that’s not what this “review” is for.
From your Board, we were glad to have met you for the first time and reconnect with those we had met before. We are always happy to be able to have worked side-by-side with you while providing much needed care to our communities. We look forward to continuing to offer opportunities for your continued growth in your practice, education, self-care, and community.”
Thank you for being a part of this year with us, together.