by inclusion of some ‘rolfing techniques’ in many massage school curricula, and certainly by the fact most legislative licensing in the US keeps lumping SI in with massage. As a group, we need organizational foresight to present ourselves to the world as a profession with our own separate identity. If we don’t want the public to think of Structural Integration as a deep massage then we’re going to have to communicate this effectively. No one school, no one organization, is doing this currently. IASI is formed for this purpose.
To be effective as a profession, we must set standards (or eventually others will set them for us) for basic skills and knowledge required for the profession, and find a way to separate out those who have not acquired these basics. This means having credentialing, ethics guidelines and procedures, continuing education requirements, and public relations channels in the near term, and advocating with insurance and legislation, research, and curriculum development in the longer term. Most importantly, long term and short term, IASI is a vehicle through which practitioners can interface with each other, mentor, communicate, explore, and share hard-won knowledge. When we can experience ourselves as a whole community with an identity that marks us as unique then we will be well on the road toward a profession that the world can take seriously. When we can self-regulate we will be more comfortable as a community, and the public, other professionals and law-makers will be much more comfortable with us. We will be able to put to rest, or at least put in context, the factions and fragmentation that have marred our history, and we can proceed into the 21st Century as a whole—learning, debating, exploring, but supported by each other.
IASI is very much a work in progress. Membership benefits are coming on line as we can get them done and paid for. Currently, US members have liability insurance available to them through a membership affiliation IASI has developed with the ABMP. Until recently this was also available to Canadian members and we are looking for ways to reinstate this.
The first Structural Integration Yearbook 2004 is recently off the press and IASI members should have received their copies by now. This is a collection of about 20 articles from professionals in the field, representing most of the different schools of Structural Integration. If you did not get a copy or wish to purchase additional copies, contact IASI at 877-843-4274 or email Marilyn
IASI-certified Continuing Education courses are listed on the members-only page of the website, or by periodic mailings. Every two years we will be checking for CE compliance with our members. Also on-line, members can find listings of articles of interest to Structural Integrators. The IASI Ethics Standards and Guidelines is available on-line, as well as applications for membership, renewal of membership, and application information for becoming a CE provider.
IASI is very dependent on volunteer time, expertise and energies of many people. This is a grassroots organization developed by practitioners for practitioners with the intention of providing a service, not developing a self-absorbed bureaucracy. We are now close to 400 members strong, with fairly even representation from the “Big 3″—GSI, RI, Hellerwork®, and about a quarter of the membership from the smaller schools. This is a strong start and shows us that this is a welcome and needed next step for our profession. We look forward to welcoming the rest of the “tribe” from all the far-flung corners of the world. If you have already joined, or already have an application form, pass this one on to your fellow practitioners. Time is short for hassle-free application. Sometimes it’s a good time to act, sometimes it a good time to retreat. This is a good time to act.
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“Grandfatherable” Certified graduation from one of the schools below will allow you to grandfather into IASI until June 30.
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The Nuts Behind the Bolts
The December IASI Board meeting was a very successful and stimulating meeting of minds. The Board met in the morning and charted a course for the next stage of IASI’s development, and in the afternoon met with a variety of practitioners and students from different schools. The main topic of discussion was the certification exam and the differing opinions on possibilities helped us get a general idea of where to go from here. The meeting was a microcosm of what we hope IASI will become—a melting pot of different opinions, different trainings, different emphases within the sturdy background of Dr. Rolf’s work and based on the shared goal of keeping that alive.
To cope with our increased registration and IASI’s mounting administrative tasks, the Board hired Marilyn Beech as CEO, and authorized her to hire part time secretarial help. This will result in increased efficiency of IASI’s membership services and general development.
The following is a current list of all the people behind IASI. They can be reached via email if you have comments, opinions, ideas and feedback that you would like IASI to know about. If you have time and energy to volunteer please call the IASI toll free number or email Marilyn.
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