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April 15, 2015
DIFFERENT STROKES
American Massage Therapy Association– Maine Chapter
In this issue:
 Board/Committee
contacts
President’s
Message
 NERC
 Meritorious
Hello All,
 Trainings
If you missed the New
England Regional
Conference, you sure missed a good one.
I know that 20-something of our members
did attend and hope they had fun and got
some education and/or much needed rest
while there. I saw several of you in the Exhibit Hall taking
advantage of getting worked on by the various vendors. Nancy
Dail, owner of the Downeast School of Massage was our
keynote speaker and delivered quite an uplifting speech
challenging everyone to find their own legacy.
It was also successful for me, sitting at the Hospitality Desk,
selling the pens I made and contributed to our Chapter for a
fund-raiser. I was able to sell all the pens I brought, netting the
Chapter $633. We’ll use that money for something special—
Any ideas?
Joe Harrigan has had to step down from his position as the
Public Relations Committee, so that means we are looking for a
replacement. If you think you are up to the task, just let me
know.
Information about the retreat (Oct. 23-25) will be going out in a
while, so save the date on your calendars…
Michael Whiteley
Scholarship Available To National Convention
August 19-22, 2015 Pittsburg PA
First-Time Attendee Scholarship covers early registration ($369)
for the convention which includes meals and CEU’s plus the
chance to network with other therapist you are responsible for
lodging and transportation. FMI contact Chapter 3rd VP
Deadline: June 15, 2015
Maine Chapter AMTA Board
President—Michael Whiteley— 672-9279
[email protected]
1st VP—Anita DeVito— 233-2805
[email protected]
2nd VP— Emily Rice—443-6005
[email protected]
3rd VP— Mary Maverick—712-7936
[email protected]
Secretary—Wendy Lessard– 460-4147
[email protected]
Treasurer—Wendy Coffin—890-9635
[email protected]
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Newsletter Editor
Jennifer Polley—458-2787
[email protected]
Website
Jeannine Foster — 232-2138
[email protected]
Membership
Amy Rolnick—712-0919
[email protected]
Education
Michael Whiteley — 672-9279
[email protected]
-- Public Relations– Sports— Legislation —
Opportunities to Volunteer
2015 House of Delegates
Jennifer Polley & Mary Craven
Wow! We made it. The New England Regional Conference (affectionately known as NERC), went out with a
bang. With over 300 massage therapists milling about at
the Sheraton Framingham Hotel, we learned, shared,
danced, experienced, shopped, won prizes, for the last
time. Your representatives from all 6 New England states
did a phenomenal job. Anita Devito and I are finishing up
the financial pieces and expect the books to be closed by
May 17th, 2015. This will close this chapter of the New
England Regional Conference’s 32 year history.
For those of you unable to attend, we have some treats for you. Nancy Dail’s keynote speech “ What is Your Legacy” can be heard on her website
www.downeastschoolofmassage.net/.
The committee (in large part, thanks to Lynda McGuire of NH.) put together a commemorative video with photos from past years conferences
which will be available soon for your enjoyment.
So now the question is, where will I get my CEUS? As you are aware, the Maine
chapter Education Committee does a great job providing us with ample learning opportunities, so be sure to keep tuned to their developments.
Emily Rice
Kelly LaCroix
New England Conference
Co-Chairs 2015
My hands are more aware this week, feeling more of the striations of the soft
tissue, more adhesions and more of the connections that I've been increasingly thinking of in my massages. This always happens after a good training,
and that's exactly what I experienced with Joe Muscolini, DC at the New
England Regional Conference (NERC). It was fascinating to be taught by a
chiropractor, to see where his training took his thought process in a different
place, and where his joint training overlapped with my soft tissue training. There were so many points of intersection and overlap, a reminder that
"it's all connected" is about the entire body. I also enjoyed the vendor space,
buying supplies and saving in shipping and handling, talking with the instructors, experiencing some Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) with a practitioner
so I could see a possible addition to my scope of practice. Connecting and
reconnecting with regional massage therapists was a
thread woven through this entire first NERC, and I am
grateful to our Maine Chapter for providing a First
Timers Scholarship so I could experience all of
this. It's hard to believe I didn't apply for a scholarship earlier; it more than repays me for my year's
membership, and helps me deepen my practice.
Thank you! Wendy lessard, LMT. Ellsworth, ME
I have attended many of the training sessions AMTA has offered since I joined a year and a half ago
when I graduated from Spa Tech. I was extremely
excited about the idea of attending a full conference
with a trade show but had a bad car inspection that
took a big chunk of my savings. I told this to Hedy,
whom I'd met through the Sports Massage Team as
well as the Bar Harbor Conference, and she urged me
to apply for a scholarship and look into a room share
and carpooling. She also passed along the unfortunate news that it would be
the last NERC. I knew I would need to try harder to make this happen! I applied for and was extremely fortunate in winning the Perry Plouffe Scholarship and found two other massage therapists to room with through the websites room share section. So I was on my way.
As a new comer I was ready to feel overwhelmed by the process but with the
help of the first timers orientation desk I was able to get all the information I
needed and lots of wonderful tips as well. The whole event felt well organized and the only time I felt rushed was in my own mind. There was always
plenty of time to get to where I needed to go.
Going into the conference I was
the most excited about the Thai
Table Massage class. At last
years AMTA annual meeting I
attended the Sciatica class and
learned a number of useful
stretching techniques. I use them
on many of my clients. They are
the most well received and commented on techniques I have in
my toolbox. I was looking forward
to learning more stretching to incorporate. The teacher, Rick Haesche, had a
wonderful laid back attitude. I was amused when he gave examples of what
his clients said. They all seemed to speak like hippies. In the two sessions
he taught it felt like I learned a very basic full body Thai routine. Both partners were able to work on both sides so when I got home I was able to better remember the moves and able to easily recreate them.
There was yet more excitement for me at this
years convention. Throughout, there was either a
large red lobster or moose wandering around selling raffle tickets.
I bought a bunch! I was feeling lucky. There were
so many amazing prizes. The raffle was given Saturday night during the dance and then the chapter
baskets were handed out as well. I thought it was
all over but there was one left to go. The grand
mystery prize. My name was read. There was
nothing handed to me but I was told to go to the
hospitality desk in the morning and ask about the table. Truthfully I hadn't
looked at the prizes, they were all so amazing I would have been ecstatic to
win any of them! I soon learned it was a lift table I had won. I was a bit concerned that I would have to try to fit it in my SUV. However it ended up that
the table was in Maine and I needed to pick it up at Mercy Hospital. The Rotary had donated the table to their oncology department 6 years ago and
they made wonderful use of it but in the last year they had switched their
program solely to chair massage. The hospital decided to pass along their
good fortune and donate the table to the AMTA.
I can't say enough good things about this whole experience. Thank you so much to all the hard working members in AMTA who made this event possible.
Pauline Schmitz, LMT
[email protected]
http://TheElementalBody.com
Maine’s Chapter Meritorious Award 2015
Jessie Greenbaum
Jessie has been a full time massage therapist for over 20 years in
Northeast Harbor, and has built a full time practice with a reputation
for therapeutic skill, integrity, and dependability. Wendy Lessard
nominated her for:

Being a constant advocate for the AMTA as an organization
that supports its members and forwards our profession to new
and veteran massage therapists

Helping to organize a regional group for local networking with
each other and allied practitioners

Becoming the “keeper of the list” for the local regional group’s
e-mail list – forwarding e-mails and keeping an updated list of
local practitioners, their specialties, contact information, and
town of operation

Was on sports team for 2-3 years, then due to family constraints and distance to events, left the sports team but became a regular presence at the MDI Marathon

Touts the Annual Retreat to local members, especially the
Ethics class, for all it offers

Worked with one other massage therapist to set standards for
credentialing for massage therapists at the MDI Hospital (e.g.
Minimum of two hours in certain areas, or a certification in certain areas, and/or a minimum of hours of massage performed
in a set time)

One of the first massage therapists in the area to accept insurance clients, broadening the scope of practice clients had
available to them

Currently works at a local health care clinic one day a week in
a special arrangement; as payment for some of the rent, she
provides massage education to the medical staff at the hospital: benefits of massage, demonstrating techniques from different modalities, sharing case studies of patients referred to
her, tracking statistics of people she treats (e.g. in treatment
of clients with low back pain, how many treatments needed for
clients to report improvement), leaving up large poster displays of benefits of massage during AMTA’s Massage Therapy Awareness Month

Mentoring area massage therapists
Jessie consistently strives to improve her skills, her personal health and wellness, and her practice. She attends
regular trainings, has done “training trades” with me after
we’ve done a class together, shared resources, and has
the industry as a whole, our local group, and her own
practice in mind with all she does. She has been a go to
person if I need help with an ethical situation, and her advice is always thoughtful, reasoned, and helpful.
Mark your Calendars 2015
April 25– Board Meeting-Emily’s/ Phippsburg
July 1st– Newsletter Deadline
July/August– AMTA House of Delegates Survey
August 19-22— National Convention in Pittsburgh, PA
October 23-25— Annual Retreat– Bar Harbor
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Contact for this newsletter is:
Jennifer Polley
168 Hankerson Road
Chelsea, ME 04330
207- 458-2787
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