Arizona increased the education requirements for massage therapy licensing from 500 hours to 700 hours on Jan. 1, 2008.
In Arizona, the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy licenses and regulates massage therapists. The Board has two licensing processes for massage therapists: If you have never had a state massage license from any state (city licenses or state certifications do not count), you use the Regular process. If you have a state massage license in another state, you use the Reciprocity process.
Education
For either the Regular or Reciprocity licensing process, you need 700 classroom hours of supervised massage instruction at a board-approved massage school. If your initial massage training was less than 700 hours, the board does accept continuing education hours from a board-recognized massage school as part of the required 700 hours.
Massage Exam
You need to take and pass a written massage exam, with two exceptions: You have a current state massage license and are using the Reciprocity licensing process, or you attended a Title IV School for massage in Arizona. The two exam options are the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam (MBLEx) given by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) or the exam given by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB).
General Application Process
You must submit a completed application form along with a completed and legible fingerprint card and the application fee. Plus, you must request that the issuing entity directly submit the following items to the board: a copy of your high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, written confirmation of a passing score on the NCBTMB or MBLEx examination (if required) and academic transcripts from your massage school.
Additional Reciprocity Process Requirements
If you use the Reciprocity process, in addition to the massage school transcripts, the school must submit proof of how the school was accredited in its state when you attended. Also, you must have the state massage licensing board submit verification of your license directly to the Arizona State Board. Another consideration is that if you have not held a state license for at least five years, or your license is not currently active, you must have passed the NCBTMB or MBLEX exam and have verification sent directly to the Arizona State Board.
License Renewal
For license renewal, the Arizona State Board requires 25 hours or more of continuing education every two years. A maximum of 12 continuing education hours can be from a correspondence or distance learning course.
Tags: Arizona State, Arizona State Board, massage school, State Board, continuing education, massage license, state massage license
