The Green Mountain Massage School (GMMS) program is 9 months, and provides 630 hours of massage and bodywork training. It consists of a two semesters, and has a combination of in person and distance learning. There are 40 face-to-face/hands-on days (18 days in semester #1, 22 days in semester #2), running from 8:30 am-4: 30 pm (7.5 contact hours + 1/2 hour lunch), there are 4 extended days in the Fall semester of 8 hrs; for a total of 302 face-to-face hours. The remaining 328 hours will be taught in a distance learning/hybrid format using an open source platform called Moodle as our online classroom.
The face-to-face class time will be spent learning and practicing massage techniques, muscle palpation, and other bodywork modalities that are part of the GMMS program. There are guest presenters who conduct mini-workshops in their field of expertise. These practitioners are selected based on the subject matter currently being studied. Examples are: trigger point therapy, lymphatic drainage, special injury work, and sports massage. The GMMS core instructor will be present for these presentations. This structure allows for expert practitioners to interact with students in a way that their busy private practices usually do not allow for ~ which is a special experience for the students as they learn about the various modalities available in the field of massage therapy.
Under the instruction of the GMMS core teacher, students have multiple online assignments consistent with college level work, such as textbook readings, answering essay questions, multiple-choice exams, watching PowerPoint presentations, and weekly deadlines for the online forums. There are 5-6 subjects that are assigned every week, with specific research and discussion questions in Moodle. The assignments take into account various learning styles, which are incorporated into the learning process to help increase the knowledge, skill, and success of students.
Students will need to have an internet connection to access the online learning system (Moodle). There will be weekly assignments and discussion forums that require a word processing program (for example: Word, Pages, or OpenOffice.org a free office suite).
Students must show they have completed a First Aid/CPR/AED Certification from an approved organization (American Red Cross/American Heart Association) before the last class of the program. Upon successful completion of the Green Mountain Massage School, students will receive a transcript, a certificate of completion, and are eligible to sit for the MBLEx (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Exam).
The structure of the Green Mountain Massage School allows students to gain the necessary hands on contact hours for a successful massage career along with the flexibility of distance learning, which accommodates their busy schedules.
